Bruce Dickinson

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Navigate the Seas of the Sun - wow! The ending was a bit rusty indeed, but I believe it'll come together when they get some more performances of it underway.

I'm quite happy with the setlist and the little rotation there. Might mean that I'll get to hear both, Jerusalem and Navigate the Seas of the Sun, just the other or neither, if they'll bring something like Taking the Queen to the table or just don't feel like playing the more acoustic song at the shows I'm attending, but the song selection for this tour is pretty damn good, so either way, it'll be a brilliant set!

Book of Thel at the end of the show is quite tough one. I can see it's playing the "Hallowed" position there, but I think it'd make a good main set closer too. Then again, Darkside of Aquarius might be cemented to that place and while I first thought these two songs might be rotated, it doesn't look like it.

Anyway, this is great.
 
Randalf said:
Book of Thel at the end of the show is quite tough one. I can see it's playing the "Hallowed" position there, but I think it'd make a good main set closer too. Then again, Darkside of Aquarius might be cemented to that place and while I first thought these two songs might be rotated, it doesn't look like it.
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I think Darkside is there due to crowd participation. Oh oh oh's.

Bruce has learned from the master Oh oh oh crowd participationist S. P. Harris.
 
Dick Brucinson said:
Was it?? I thought Roy was never advertised for the tour at all since it was announced to be a Bruno solo tour, the rest was speculation.
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Roy was advertised. The original band was Moreno - Tanya - Mistherea - Z. Roy was even promoting it and posting photos. That's why they released a public statement / sent e-mails when the change happened.

Here is the original e-mail from February the 17th (announcement of the change and announcement of the Observatory show):

Ahead of the release of the album, The Mandrake Project via BMG on March 1st and the start of a four- month tour, Bruce Dickinson has revealed the addition of two new guitarists in the touring line up.

Swedish born guitarist, songwriter and multi-platinum credited producer Philip Naslund and Swiss session and touring guitarist Chris Declercq (who incidentally played on the current single, “Rain On The Graves”) will add their fire to band members Dave Moreno, Mistheria and Tanya O’Callaghan.

“Sadly, and with regret, guitarist and producer Roy Z will no longer join the band on tour due to some personal commitments,” explains Dickinson. “He will remain in LA to work on some re-mixing and re-mastering of the catalogue. We all know the show must go on though, and this project is too important to everyone to not be the very best it can be. I’m gutted about Roy because he assembled most of the album and touring band, introducing Mistheria & Dave Moreno to the project and mentoring guitarist Chris Declerq. I’m so excited about what both Philip and Chris will bring on stage together and now my only ambition is to grab a little piece of the audiences’ hearts every night.”

The first chance to see the six-piece live will now be at The Observatory, Orange County on April 15th.

“We’re not afraid of doing some growing up in public” explains Dickinson “so this show will be a close to a rehearsal as you can get – it’s exciting to think what these musicians can do – and will do, when there are over one thousand fans in the room!”
 
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Regarding the discussion around Roy Z, I'll quote myself (full of self-importance, I know):

Randalf said:
Not saying that (assumably) Bruce is the easiest person to work with (or for), but...

We know Roy Z isn't so much into touring . He's had those... potentially drunk ramblings on Facebook every now and then and, correct me if I'm wrong, hasn't been that much out there, like performing publicly etc. for a good while.

We also know that Bruce respects him a lot and has spoken very highly of him very recently as well.

All these things considered, I'm wonder if Roy's physical ability (and maybe mental state as well?) to commit himself to an intense touring for three months was never 100%, even if that surely was what everyone involved wished for, and maybe the possibility that he won't do it was on the table from the start. Who knows what struggles he might have had on his personal life and I'm fairly optimistic that whatever the situation might be, Bruce knew about it.

The press release specifically mentioning other commitments, including the remixes of back catalogue, lends itself to optimistic thinking that even if Roy won't be joining them on stage, he's still very much involved and the working relationship between him and Bruce remains unaffected.

I certainly hope so anyway. For all I know, it could be... for either way.
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I'm fairly optimistic that they initially had the idea that Roy Z would join them on tour and things would play out nicely, but for some reason, I still think that him dropping out wasn't a terrible, totally unexpected shock to Bruce.

Well, we shall see, but I at this point I don't think anything indicates any major rift between them. Tribe of Gypsies getting together and potentially playing a few shows in America is not too contradictory with Roy Z not being able to commit himself to a world tour with Bruce.
 
Dick Brucinson said:
I also tend to believe things are like that. Just wondering what it's all about. Any ideas?
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I resisted because I do not want it to be true. But honestly - that's the only way it all makes sense.
They both see Uli Jon Roth, but separately. They both can and want to tour, but separately.

Since they obviously worked well together musically, it can only be something totally personal.

Like this list I found at an opinion research institute: Why do friendships break up:

  1. Mate poaching
  2. Letting someone down in an emergency situation
  3. Talking behind someone's back:
 
Austrogoth said:
I didn't expect so many negative reactions to my post about Roy potentially congratulating the band social media. Because this is what he usually does, posting stuff.
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Come to think of it, you're right, it's definitely his style to cheer on stuff that Bruce does.

Goodness knows what's happened, but given that Roy normally says publicly if he's not happy (even if he doesn't always spell out what's going on), I'm expecting some explanation to come from Bruce eventually in an interview or a new book several years from now..
 
Brigantium said:
Goodness knows what's happened, but given that Roy normally says publicly if he's not happy (even if he doesn't always spell out what's going on), I'm expecting some explanation to come from Bruce eventually in an interview or a new book several years from now..
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Let’s hope it’s more factually accurate than the last one! :lol:
 
Terry1958 said:
I resisted because I do not want it to be true. But honestly - that's the only way it all makes sense.
They both see Uli Jon Roth, but separately. They both can and want to tour, but separately.

Since they obviously worked well together musically, it can only be something totally personal.

Like this list I found at an opinion research institute: Why do friendships break up:

  1. Mate poaching
  2. Letting someone down in an emergency situation
  3. Talking behind someone's back:
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Hm, I was wondering the same, but it would sursprise me. I thought more of business related things.
 
Dick Brucinson said:
Hm, I was wondering the same, but it would sursprise me. I thought more of business related things.
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Could be but I thought personal because apparantly he still works on mixes for Bruce. So something more distant, purely business level seems to be fine for Roy. Touring and going to shows together - too peronal. Would at least make some sense.
 
When it comes to Roy I assumed it could be some health issues and I still think it’s the most likely reason. I don’t mean to be insensitive with speculating on his private problems, but there is a video interview from a year ago or so, where Roy seems worryingly shaky despite his coherent speech.

Maybe Bruce and management hoped for the best and encouraged him to try to the point of officially announcing it, but were ready to replace him if he decides he can’t do it.

But then there’s all this weird stuff that other people mentioned above which makes it look like something’s off… So I guess I wouldn’t rule out any possibility: health, falling out or simply being unprofessional.
 
I was in attendance at the Observatory show Monday night. POWERFUL set is how I'd describe it. That band is phenomenal and given they're only three performances in, they're not even fully locked in yet. Ex; Tanya fucked up during "DOA" a couple of times. There were a couple of flubs but its live music, which is always refreshing to hear today. Nothing worth complaining over. And the sound was great; not surprising since Maiden's regular sound guy, Pooch, is on the boards.

I know folks aren't happy with "Frankenstein" but hearing it live was fine. Gave the band a chance to stretch individually a bit, gave Bruce a chance to rest his voice, and he obviously enjoyed playing it; worked for me. It was a VERY deep, full set.

"The Book Of Thel" was heavy AF. "Rain On The Graves," "Chemical Wedding"...too many highlights. The songs from "TMP" worked better live than on record IMO. And Bruce sounded absolutely fantastic. Many have had reservations about his "decline" in Maiden for several years now but my goodness...that man is in phenomenal shape and has a lot of tread remaining on those tires.

I'm not as familiar with Bruce's solo catalog as many of you although I've been deep into Maiden since 1982..? I had a helluva great time. Highly, highly recommended to catch this tour if you can.
 
New interview in french by Music Waves.

(Interviews) BRUCE DICKINSON (12 JANVIER 2024) : un article à lire sur Music Waves

19 ans, cela faisait 19 ans que Bruce Dickinson n'avait pas sorti d'album solo. Avec 'The Mandrake Project', le tout puissant leader d'Iron Maiden rattrape le temps perdu et nous dévoile tous les secrets de cet ambitieux projet...
www.musicwaves.fr www.musicwaves.fr

And the review by the same media.

BRUCE DICKINSON: The Mandrake Project (HEAVY METAL) : avis / chronique à lire sur Music Waves

Disque de Heavy/Hard Rock de grande classe, 'The Mandrake Project' permet à Bruce Dickinson de s'éloigner un peu plus du son d'Iron Maiden.
www.musicwaves.fr www.musicwaves.fr
 
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