Bruce Dickinson a better singer in 1986 or 2016?

Awwww man...why did my favorite album have to get the "bad day at the office" treatment on seemingly nearly every show on the tour?
 
It didn't.
There are many great shows from this tour.
The ones above just showcase the pretty bad nights. On the last one Bruce is ill.
If you want visuals seek out Paris or Gothenburg on yt. If just audio try the bootleg thread.
 
The Sheffield gig is weird because the other Sheffield gig (on the 15th) is also on YouTube, and he sounds really good on that. Better than the Paris bootleg, even. It's also very good quality sound wise so I tend to listen to that one whenever I feel like listening to Somewhere on Tour stuff.

Actually, for comparison's sake, here's Caught Somewhere in Time from that show. I think the tape runs a touch too fast, but it's still immediately obvious Bruce sounds way, way better than he does on many other performances of the song:
 
The thing is - even on the shows where Bruce isn't totally shot (like the first night of Sheffield that was posted above), his voice is still not very good in comparison to what it used to sound like (just compare his tone and phrasing from 1981-1982 to anything from 1986-1987 and you'll hear a huge degradation in his live voice). He strains to hit upper 4th octave notes (even on the early shows) and has trouble maintaining sustains and pitch in the upper register.
 
He must have been rather spent after the World Slavery Tour. The weariness is noticeable even in the studio.
 
It's kind of strange that almost all Maiden shows in the latter half of the 80s have some degree of vocal problems. Was it really just down to a lack of proper technique resulting in Bruce wearing down his voice and never really reaching a proper recovery until way later? It just feels a bit bizarre.
 
Ruflux said:
It's kind of strange that almost all Maiden shows in the latter half of the 80s have some degree of vocal problems. Was it really just down to a lack of proper technique resulting in Bruce wearing down his voice and never really reaching a proper recovery until way later? It just feels a bit bizarre.
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I think a combination of that + exhaustion + partying like a rockstar.
 
Not to mention the schedule- now that can build in some expansive breaks between tours/albums to recharge the batteries, but that wasn't in the case back in the day. It looks like all of them essentially lived out of a suitcase until they took a break at the end of the 80s.
 
The only hard rock / heavy metal singer i can think of, who preserved his voice on the same level that Bruce has, is Glen Hughes.
 
I'd also name Eric Adams. Though I haven't been following them that much lately, but I've always remembered him as very consistent (along with Hansi Kursch).

Oh, and how about Kiske? Or John Arch? IIRC, even Dirkschneider has kept his quality for very long. Again, with these, I'm not that knowledgeable 'bout the current state of things.
 
Pay heed to the latest monograph in Hard Rock literature:

Discarding Iconic Live Albums in Rock : How to make a Mountain out of a Molehill : a Guide / by JudasMyGuide.

Introduction:
JudasMyGuide said:
Bruce single-handedly f*cks up LAD for me (one of the reasons I've never been that crazy about that album).
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Forostar said:
Pay heed to the latest monograph in Hard Rock literature:

Discarding Iconic Live Albums in Rock : How to make a Mountain out of a Molehill : a Guide / by JudasMyGuide.

Introduction:
Click to expand...

I would paraphrase that statement as: Bruce is the weakest link on LAD, because his voice is fried. It was very moronic to record a live album on the last 5 concerts of a 190+ dates long tour.
 
I think LAD is good in spite of Bruce. I can see how his singing would ruin the album for a lot of people, but the rest of the band is really on fire.

That said, if fans had the luxury of multiple live albums in the 80s like we do now, LAD would not be held in as high regard. Beast Over Hammersmith is far superior.
 
LAD is great. Widely regarded as one of the genre's best live albums. A wonderful collection of songs and performances with absolutely perfect sound. Bruce's strained voice on the Death on the Road live album kills it more to be honest.
matic22 said:
It was very moronic to record a live album on the last 5 concerts of a 190+ dates long tour.
Click to expand...
Some songs are from 1984! If we take the 1995 re-issue, one third: 7 out of 21 songs.

This happened after Long Beach:
19 March 1985 Reno Lawlor Events Center
20 March 1985 Fresno Selland Arena
21 March 1985 Daly City Cow Palace
23 March 1985 San Diego San Diego Sports Arena
24 March 1985 Tempe Compton Terrace
25 March 1985 Paradise Thomas & Mack Center
26 March 1985 San Bernardino Orange Pavilion
31 March 1985 Honolulu Neal S. Blaisdell Center
Asia
14 April 1985 Tokyo Japan Nakano Sun Plaza
15 April 1985
17 April 1985 Tokyo Kōsei Nenkin Kaikan
19 April 1985
20 April 1985 Nagoya Nagoya Civic Assembly Hall
22 April 1985 Fukuoka Fukuoka Sunpalace
24 April 1985 Osaka Festival Hall
25 April 1985 Tokyo Nakano Sun Plaza
Oceania
2 May 1985 Canberra Australia Civic Theatre
3 May 1985 Melbourne Festival Hall
4 May 1985 Adelaide Thebarton Theatre
6 May 1985 Wollongong Shellharbour Workers Club
7 May 1985 Sydney Hordern Pavilion
8 May 1985 Newcastle Newcastle Civic Theatre
10 May 1985 Brisbane Brisbane Festival Hall
North America
23 May 1985 Portland United States Cumberland County Civic Center
24 May 1985 Uniondale Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum
25 May 1985 Binghamton Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena
27 May 1985 Rochester Rochester Community War Memorial
28 May 1985 Glens Falls Glens Falls Civic Center
29 May 1985 Springfield Springfield Civic Center
31 May 1985 New Haven New Haven Coliseum
1 June 1985 Allentown Great Allentown Fair
2 June 1985 Providence Providence Civic Center
4 June 1985 Columbia Merriweather Post Pavilion
5 June 1985 Pittsburgh Civic Arena
7 June 1985 Trotwood Hara Arena
8 June 1985 Evansville Mesker Amphitheatre
9 June 1985 East Troy Alpine Valley Music Theatre
11 June 1985 Toledo Toledo Sports Arena
12 June 1985 Clarkston Pine Knob Music Theatre
14 June 1985 Saginaw Wendler Arena
15 June 1985 Charlevoix Castle Farms
16 June 1985 Hoffman Estates Poplar Creek Music Theater
18 June 1985 Peoria Peoria Civic Center
19 June 1985 Cedar Rapids Five Seasons Center
21 June 1985 Madison Dane County Coliseum
22 June 1985 Seymour Outagamie County Fairgrounds
23 June 1985 Minneapolis Trout Aire Amphitheatre
24 June 1985 Fargo Red River Fairgrounds
26 June 1985 Des Moines Veterans Memorial Auditorium
27 June 1985 Omaha Omaha Civic Auditorium
29 June 1985 Morisson Red Rocks Amphitheatre
3 July 1985 San Jose San Jose Civic Auditorium
4 July 1985 Sacramento Cal Expo Amphitheatre
5 July 1985 Irvine Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre
 
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