Bruce Dickinson

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Resurrection Men on the other hand was praised and even seen as the title track by Bruce, so maybe I simply anticipated something that was better than what we got.
I think the only worthy title track is Eternity. Or Shadow. Resurrection Men needs more parts for this. Do you like it live better? Bruce's vocals are better.
Still baffled as to why Many Doors To Hell wasn't the lead single, or a single at all.
Many Doors is a perfect single-oriented song, but I think the two singles (heavy and melodic, and a very different song on purpose as a single) made more of an impression.
The same could be said for most of the album :p
I wouldn't say so. At least for half of it.
Not sure if I was impressed by the shirt designs
Expected I would say.
What...a....show! :edmetal:
Bruce was in fantastic shape and the band too.
We got Darkside Of Aquarius instead of Road To Hell!
That's great, but I still don't know why Road To Hell is a song for rotation.
 
A cameraman can be seen during the soundcheck. Is the entire tour being documented? Should we expect a documentary to go along with the live video? Interesting.
Pooch and Brendan Duffey mixed the upcoming single. Let's see how it sounds and if we should start the #PoochForIronMaidenLiveReleases movement.
This is a curious combination - Pooch's live sound is great, while the other guy mixed TMP... :S
 
Btw, some daylight official footage:


It seems that Duke TV are responsible for recording the live footage. Didn't Leana Dolci work for them at some point doing interviews?

 
What...a....show! :edmetal:
Bruce was in fantastic shape and the band too.
We got Darkside Of Aquarius instead of Road To Hell!
Agreed, a fantastic show. Bruce was constantly blowing his nose, quite visibly on the background, but vocally he was on fire. I have never witnessed such an enthusiastic crowd in Finland, and I got a laugh from the olé-chants: it is beyond silly to have a Finnish audience chanting olé, but I must admit it that the loud and unified chant took me Back quite a bit, Bruce was in awe as well.

Highlights: witnessing The Chemical Wedding songs live. Those songs have an ethereal quality of their own and transformed me into another dimension. Seeing those songs performed live affirmed my love for that album as perhaps The finest piece of music Bruce Dickinson has ever performed. The beginning of The show, accident-laughing was immensely powerful, so were The new songs: Rain on The Graves was made to be played live. Tears was an emotional high for me, as it was for another (assumedly) Finnish gentleman who wept like a baby during the song.

If I have to nitpick, Frankenstein was bit of a moodkiller, albeit a well deserved break for Bruce. Another killjoy was Bruce's ill placed comment about "the (Russian) fascist from the East" right after The hypnotic Blakean masterpiece that is The Alchemist. Talk about a fall from bliss. Not that I disagree with his sentiment, on the contrary, I just considered it a faux pas which dampened my enjoyment of Darkside of Aquarius and Navigate, I'm afraid. Book of Thel on the other hand was a massive return to form and probably my favorite performance of the evening.

All in all, a gig of The year, potentially a decade. Hope to catch Dickinson live again!

Edit. Unfortunately missed Mindy and all, c'est la vie... Hope you had and will have a great time in Finland!
 
I think the only worthy title track is Eternity. Or Shadow. Resurrection Men needs more parts for this. Do you like it live better? Bruce's vocals are better.
Personally? No, I still despise it. Bruce sounds absolutely awful on every version that I've heard and I simply fundamentally dislike that section. The melody, the chord choices, the endless straining. As I said, one of the worst things I've ever heard from Bruce or Maiden.

I imagine this is what other people hear when they listen to Virtual XI :D

Another killjoy was Bruce's ill placed comment about "the (Russian) fascist from the East" right after The hypnotic Blakean masterpiece that is The Alchemist. Talk about a fall from bliss. Not that I disagree with his sentiment, on the contrary, I just considered it a faux pas which dampened my enjoyment of Darkside of Aquarius and Navigate, I'm afraid.
Could you elaborate on this, if you don't mind? Why would such a comment dampen your enjoyment for two songs? Particularly if you agree with the sentiment?
 
Personally? No, I still despise it. Bruce sounds absolutely awful on every version that I've heard and I simply fundamentally dislike that section. The melody, the chord choices, the endless straining. As I said, one of the worst things I've ever heard from Bruce or Maiden.

I imagine this is what other people hear when they listen to Virtual XI :D


Could you elaborate on this, if you don't mind? Why would such a comment dampen your enjoyment for two songs? Particularly if you agree with the sentiment?
I don't want to go into too much detail, especially in a political sense, but it's all in the context. For me concerts are an escape. Therefore I don't think Bruce's concert was the right time or place for such a topical remark, especially in contrast with the music and the concert as a whole.Futhermore, I don't find other people's plight cheerful topic. Just my Two cents and all that jazz, that's all I'm going to say on this matter, if that's alright.
 
That's a pity yes....I drank vesi instead of olut. :D
I noticed one guy with an Eddie rips up world shirt and red cap but guess it wasn´t you?
Sure it wasn't Koskenkorva? I had a red hoodie, so alas, wasn't me.

What do you reckon, is Rain on The Graves a better live song than Blaze's Ten seconds? That's a tough one.
 
Interview Bruce Dickinson (BD)

Deaf Forever (DF) 03/2024

Remark: I only translated parts with new info but included the "Sonata" part because he here for the first time mentions just "a friend".

My translation
DF: Your last solo album, "Tyranny Of Souls", was also strong - but weaker than the two outstanding predecessors. At least it doesn't have the same long-term effect.

BD: "I think that too. "The Mandrake Project" is the better album."

DF: I can't find a weak song on it.

BD: "Great, then we'll stop the interview here, and I can go home! (laughs)"

DF: I'm completely serious. An album full of hits! My current favorite is "Rain On The Graves".

"Ah, interesting. That just happens to be the new single. We're recording a video for it."

If this was a Maiden single, it would be the strongest in 20 years!

"I think I know what you mean by that, but my solo stuff is not a Maiden song.
They're two different ball games. Solo I take the reins, whereas with Maiden, I have to deal with Eddie, Rod Smallwood and Steve Harris.
(laughs). And Steve does things the way we know how. 60, 70 percent of Maiden is always down to him.

Sure, all Maiden fans know that. And especially the last two albums have been well received by almost everyone, "Senjutsu"
even better than "Book Of Souls".


"Yes, "Senjutsu" is slightly ahead, for me too. The sound is better. "Writing On The Wall" was a good single in my opinion, and "Hell On Earth" works wonderfully, especially live. I would also like to include "The Parchment" in the live set, but unfortunately that won't happen. Yes, "Senjutsu" is a strong album album - but different from "The Mandrake Project"."
...
 
The closing track of the album, a rather extraordinary song. There hasn't been anything like this on your solo albums so far.

"Exactly. It's a strange song with an unusual build-up ..."

Because it doesn't explode in the way you would expect. The long guitar solo at the end is also very special.

"That's true. Roy came from the movies, where he saw "lmmortal Beloved" by Gail Altman, a movie about Beethoven, felt totally
inspired and sampled the beginning of the "Moonlight Sonata", tinkered with it a bit, added a drum machine, added ambient parts
and played it to me later. That was over 20 years ago, and I didn't know what to do with it at first.
And then it was also 10 minutes long. When I then sang to it spontaneously, without any written lyrics, it suddenly worked - and what you hear on the album now is 80% the result of the very first take."

I would have assumed the opposite, because your vocals are so strong overall. Even better than on the last Maiden albums,
I think.


"Maybe that's because I can work very spontaneously with Roy. When I'm feeling good
and am in the right mood, then sometimes the words just come out of me. With "Sonata" I was completely unprepared, and parts of the
vocals are even slightly off in terms of timing - but it just fit. So we hardly had to change anything. I just stood in the darkened room and sang what I felt. The shifted timing in the verses was because I didn't know what words I would sing next. Ultimately, it's these little "glitches" that make the magic of the piece. Something like that cannot be repeated later. I had to come up with a spontaneous story that suited Roy's music
- and the result surprised us both. In the end, there was still plenty of room for a guitar solo. When I was first time back in the USA after the corona break, I asked Roy for a tape with all our ideas that I could listen to in the car.
That's when I heard "Sonata" for the first time in almost 20 years and thought it was a very original song.
But I wasn't sure whether it would fit on our next album - until a friend of mine heard it and immediately loved it. It turned out to be a good closer to the album. The next-to-last song "Shadow of the Gods" would have been a good, perhaps more logical ending. But then there's "Sonata" as a surprise."
 
A cameraman can be seen during the soundcheck. Is the entire tour being documented?

The same person has also captured stuff for the screen. E.g the footage of the crowd is shown during Chemical Wedding and during Frankenstein the band footage is in the spotlight.

So my guess is that they're just part of the tour personnel, but who knows... :)

That's great, but I still don't know why Road To Hell is a song for rotation.

Road to Hell is brilliant, but I suppose it just comes down to the set having room for only so many songs... Can't have everything, I suppose. :D

Feeling lucky that I witnessed Road to Hell in Oslo and Aquarius in Helsinki, along with The Book of Thel!
 
...
What else would you like to do in life?
What haven't you gotten around to yet?


"I want to tour America, Australia and Japan with my solo band - and there will also be another album from Roy and me. We still have too many ideas and demos that need to be elaborated.
However I'd need a few years off for that!"

GÖTZ KÜHNEMUND
 
Thanks for the translation. Man, I thought the interviewer's job was to ask questions about the artist, not just heap constant praise on the new album without even asking a question (and also kinda putting down Maiden on several questions). :D
 
...
What else would you like to do in life?
What haven't you gotten around to yet?


"I want to tour America, Australia and Japan with my solo band - and there will also be another album from Roy and me. We still have too many ideas and demos that need to be elaborated.
However I'd need a few years off for that!"

GÖTZ KÜHNEMUND
God dammit! Next 10 - 15 years till new album release? :angry-:
 
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