Blaze touring issues?

[Formula409]

Steve also said at the time that people can be great singers and then it might be a different story when they get out on stage in front of 50,000*. He said that regarding ignoring demo tapes sent in from hopeful punters, but I think it applies to Blaze too. Wolfesbane would not have played to the crowds that Maiden did regularly, and there was also a negative reaction from some Maiden fans. At the gig I saw on the X Factor I remember some jokey chants of "bring back Paul Di'Anno", stuff like that has to have affected him.

*Maiden were playing in a lot smaller venues generally but in South America there was those sort of figures.

Yeah, that's probably right. And there was most likely also a conscious choice to go in a different direction - to move away from the operatic "spandex metal" 80's sound and trying to sound fresh with a different type of singer. Not saying it was the right choice...

 

[Magnus]

some jokey chants of "bring back Paul Di'Anno"

Not sure that was a joke.

 

[Spambot]

I seem to remember that it contains a bit about Nicko playing some tapes of Blaze live with Maiden to Steve to support Nicko's claims that Blaze was terrible.

When was this approximately?

Actually, it would be quite shitty from Nicko to make that comment no matter when. Then again, Nicko does seem like emotionally "shoot first, ask later" kind of guy, just remembered his comment about Bruce on X-Factor release party.

 

[srfc]

When was this approximately?

I believe it was after the end of the VXI tour, at one of the last dates of the tour in Brazil, Maiden didn't play an encore. The excuse that was put out at the time was that the crowd didn't call for one, but apparently they didn't play one as members of the band were disgusted with how bad Blaze's performance was.

 

[Ruflux]

Well, we know from a recent interview the band already knew the reunion was happening in Japan in November 1998, so I'm not really convinced that was the reason. I think they just weren't feeling it. Part of it may have been that Blaze was likely the one person who didn't know he was about to be replaced by Bruce next year and that soured the rest of the band's mood.

 

[Luisma]

I believe it was after the end of the VXI tour, at one of the last dates of the tour in Brazil, Maiden didn't play an encore. The excuse that was put out at the time was that the crowd didn't call for one, but apparently they didn't play one as members of the band were disgusted with how bad Blaze's performance was.

Virtual XI World Tour - December 2, 1998 – They didn't play the encore. Steve wrote a note in the official website stating that the crowd wasn't loud enough. Blaze says in his book (Blaze Bayley - At The End Of The Day) that he was ready to go back on, but the other members had left. This means they didn't play 'The Number Of The Beast', 'The Trooper' & 'Sanctuary'.

 

[Iron Lurker]

Ive read that one of the big reasons Maiden dumped Blaze was because of having to cancel lots of gigs because he was under the weather or couldn’t perform, or not performing well some nights. Is there anywhere to get more details on this? Is there a way to find out what tour dates were scheduled and cancelled? Google didn’t help much.

The one time I saw Blaze with Maiden was on the X Factor tour. They played a small club in Atlanta. Sorry to say Blaze was awful and he lost his voice towards the end of the set. He literally croaked his way through the encores. They were scheduled to play that same club for the Virtual XI tour but that never happened.

 

[chaosapiant]

Has anyone else heard the Bueno Vista bootleg from '98 with Blaze? He doesn't sound great, but not terrible, but the band is absolutely ripping through those tracks with such speed and power. At the very end Blaze yells about how they'd be back the following year. It's a shame that he was in a position where he was wrong and he had no idea.

 

[Forostar]

the band is absolutely ripping through those tracks with such speed and power.

Yes. Some people complain it was too fast, but I am telling you, that was great! Glad I've seen that era.

 

[chaosapiant]

Nah, that shit is beastly. I wish i'd seen them with Blaze at least once.

 

[Randalf]

I wonder if they had any kind of Ed-Huntour plans before Bruce's return and Blaze's departure came into play during VXI tour. Did they have any plans to promote the game+album with a tweaked VXI set and some rarities, perhaps more Di'Anno era stuff like Killers and Phantom thrown in etc.?

Just a thought. Not sure if they even dared to plan that far before seeing how things worked out with Blaze's second tour - and eventually not too well, but yeah, just wondering.

 

[phantomoftheicarus]

I think that the tour was booked regardless because having a tour to promote a new game seems slightly odd to have to celebrate the return of your main singer, you would expect them to have a properly named reunion tour or something. So I think it was planned and they just rolled with it

 

[GhostofCain]

Nah, that shit is beastly. I wish i'd seen them with Blaze at least once.

I beg to differ: songs played too fast, weak thin guitar sound, a singer that tried hard but was completely out of his depth... I saw them live with Blaze twice and I was really glad when it was finally over.

 

[Forostar]

When you dislike fast music.

 

[TheTalisman]

I wonder if they had any kind of Ed-Huntour plans before Bruce's return and Blaze's departure came into play during VXI tour. Did they have any plans to promote the game+album with a tweaked VXI set and some rarities, perhaps more Di'Anno era stuff like Killers and Phantom thrown in etc.?

It appears like that, Steve said they would be out touring in the summer of 1999 before making a new album:

In the corner of a deserted hotel bar, Steve Harris is intrigued to learn of McBrain’s earlier remarks about ’anging it up. “Did Nick really say that?” he frowns, looking puzzled. “Naaah, even if Blaze had stayed in the band we’d still have been touring this summer and making the next album abroad - even looking for a producer because Nigel Green [who worked alongside Steve on both ‘The X Factor’ and ‘Virtual XI’] isn’t available to do it.”

http://www.daveling.co.uk/doc-ironmaiden.htm#article

 

[GhostofCain]

When you dislike fast music.

I love The Ramones.

 

[Forostar]

When you are intolerant of speed deviation from a studio version.

 

[GhostofCain]

When you are intolerant of speed deviation from a studio version.

I really like how The Ramones sped things up when they played live!

 

[Deleted member 7164]

I put a time-tagged link, in case it doesn't work, go 1:39:53, right in the middle of the encores, The Trooper. Everything looks great, Blaze isn't good on Trooper but quite OK (notice his in ear monitors), the show ends on a very high note.

This is one of the best Blaze live performances with Maiden. Blaze had nothing to do with SA two date cancellations. Blaze's penultimate performance is also caught on pro-shot. It is of the same quality. So, Rio gig is 8.5k hall, Blaze is on the average/worse side and encores aren't there. Campinas gig is cancelled due to organization problems, Sao Paulo gig is not recorded, Curitiba is excellent, Chile they lost permission to play in, Argentina is excellent.

All things considered I'd say Blaze grew (vocally) to the level where he pulls better in front of 50.000 than in front of 5.000.

There's a lot that we don't know about this period. From the verified data we have, not everything fits in the same picture.

 

[TheTalisman]

His voice wasn't much different 2 years later from that show, detuned though, so he doesn't have to strain himself:

Even songs like The Clansmans and Sign of the Cross should have been detuned live (or recorded in a lower key from the beginning).

Listen to Blaze at 6:00:

That's how great he could have sounded on much of the material, if it had been in the right key.