I may have seen my last Maiden gig

Real World

Maindenfans.com Founder
Saw Maiden last night at Nottingham Arena. I won't drop any spoilers or anything hopefully with this post. It was a good gig but I fear it may be my last Maiden gig. I know, I know. Blasphemy right? Well let me explain.

Tickets for last nights show were £40 including the booking fee. I took Mrs RW with me so that's £80 and we needed a baby sitter so that's £100 total to see Maiden play for two hours. That in itself isn't a big deal, it's Maiden right? My problem here is that it's the same show I saw the last time they toured. OK so the set list is different. They played most of the new album which is good and to be expected but the new album is... aherm... not their best shall we say, so that's not as exciting as it could be. The stage set looks like EXACTLY the same one as they've been using for years just painted and with some new props stuck to it.

Am I a bad person? lol. I just think for £100 I want to see them try something a bit different on the tour. There were some good songs played I've not heard for a while but I know now exactly what to expect every time they tour because its the same formula. Don't get me wrong, I like what they do and I enjoyed the gig but at that price I'd like to be surprised again.
 
Well, it's still Maiden after all, and I'm sorry to say this, they are almost overdue, and still, one of the greatest bands today, now they're more popular than ever. That could affect the price. But what's bugging me is that I saw Priest on this tour with £25.

They keep almost 60% of the songs from the last (or any tour), and they're not going to change that. If you like that, great... but if you don't...
 
I've only seen them once, so I will definitely be seeing them again whenever I can, and as many times as I can.

I've never seen a forum Admin before! :)
 
I was there last night too! I made a 6 hour round-trip, and it was worth it :D

It was my first Maiden concert I've been too, and the best hours of my life!
 
I always blame Iron Maiden on my wife and the fact that I need a babysitter to go see them too. You here this Rod Smallwood??? YOU should be paying for my babysitter ;)
 
I was at the show last night, and how anyone could say they don't want to see Maiden again after seeing that is beyond me. Price, fair enough, but to say it's the same show each time? Nah...
 
Hi RW, too bad the babysitter is part of this story. Do you have no family who could watch the kid?
It could be organized, if planned well in advance.

Or would that only be more expensive (or difficult)? I guess I am lucky that my parents live near me.

Anyway welcome back (even if it's for a short while).  :ok:

I am flying to London next week, and one of the ingredients (in the formula!) is that I will meet some cool people.
:)
 
Forostar said:
Hi RW, too bad the babysitter is part of this story. Do you have no family who could watch the kid?
It could be organized, if planned well in advance.

Our parents both live 150 miles in different directions. At current petrol prices thats a £40 round trip. A baby sitter is cheaper ;)

My thoughts at the moment are this, Maiden on this tour put on the same show this tour as they did on the AMOLAD tour but with a different setlist... mostly. If all you want is to hear the new songs live you absolutely have to go and see them again and if they release a killer album I absolutely will but I've seen Metallica twice. Once they had a stage at the end of Wembly stadium with huge video screens and pyro. The second time they had a stage in the middle of the arena with a different set and pyro and frickin laser beams! The different stage setup alone makes for a pretty different experience.
Jupz said:
I've never seen a forum Admin before! :)

Then it pleases me to be the first ;) Even though *technically* I shouldn't be admin anymore. I think it might be a clerical oversight :p
 
Even if Maiden didn't do the fancy stage set and have Eddie, I'd still go see them. The energy they put into their live performance alone is worth the ticket price.
 
RW raises an interesting point.  For those of us who know the band well, there is definitely something familiar about an Iron Maiden concert, which I think is by design.  I haven't seen the latest tour, because it hasn't come to California (I saw the show last year, which likely had the same set design but only featured one song from the new album), but RW is right, I can pretty much tell you how the current tour goes:  

Lights dim for Doctor Doctor; lights go out for opening mood music; fast-paced song to open the set; run through a mix of new songs and classics; painted backdrops to match the songs; Davey and Adrian will be situated at stage right; Steve and Janick at stage left; Bruce will stand on the monitors and run around the U-shaped riser that surrounds the stage, and generally jump around like a dervish; you'll never even see Nicko's face until the end, only his stuffed bear; set list will inevitably include Fear of the Dark, Hallowed and eponymous track, which is always the last song before the encore; Eddie puppet will show up at some point and fight with Janick; usually there will be another big Eddie setpiece like the giant mummy Eddie from World Slavery and SBIT tours; usually one surprise in the encore; Monty Python as house lights go up; and...scene.

If you've seen a lot of Iron Maiden shows, I suppose the familiarity might wear thin.  But I like it.  It's like a comfortable shoe.  You know what you're going to get.  And, bear in mind that many people are seeing Iron Maiden for the first time, so they should see the tried-and-true setup that made the band legendary.  Sometimes they mix things up a bit, such as the "Heaven Can Wait" fan sing-along on the SBIT tour.  All that said, if Iron Maiden came out with a completely different stage setup on the next tour, I'd crap my pants with glee.  
 
I don't care what the stage show is. I go to see the band play music. I might not like the setlist much, but if they came to Denver on this tour I wouldn't think twice about going. But I get the price thing. I imagine it is more expensive to see maiden at an arena than an amphitheater, which is where I've always seen them.
 
Real World said:
Saw Maiden last night at Nottingham Arena. I won't drop any spoilers or anything hopefully with this post. It was a good gig but I fear it may be my last Maiden gig. I know, I know. Blasphemy right? Well let me explain.

Tickets for last nights show were £40 including the booking fee. I took Mrs RW with me so that's £80 and we needed a baby sitter so that's £100 total to see Maiden play for two hours. That in itself isn't a big deal, it's Maiden right? My problem here is that it's the same show I saw the last time they toured. OK so the set list is different. They played most of the new album which is good and to be expected but the new album is... aherm... not their best shall we say, so that's not as exciting as it could be. The stage set looks like EXACTLY the same one as they've been using for years just painted and with some new props stuck to it.

Am I a bad person? lol. I just think for £100 I want to see them try something a bit different on the tour. There were some good songs played I've not heard for a while but I know now exactly what to expect every time they tour because its the same formula. Don't get me wrong, I like what they do and I enjoyed the gig but at that price I'd like to be surprised again.

Well 100pounds = about $160.  A bargain. When Maiden plays I have to drive 12 hours round trip, get a room, and buy meals.  For the wife & I it is usually between $500-$700.  And it's money well spent.  I don't see a lot of bands, but I try not to miss Maiden.  You never know when they may be done. If they do the rumored "Greatest Hits"--Maiden England tour next year, I plan on bringing my boys (ages 8 & 5), so I will spend another $200.....but I want them to see the mighty Maiden before they hang it up!!!  To each their own....
 
Real World said:
I know now exactly what to expect every time they tour because its the same formula.
The albums are formulaic as well. Most Maiden albums have stuck to the principle of short, fast song at the beginning with a big chorus that could possibly be released as a single (Aces High, Be Quick or Be Dead, Futureal, The Wicker Man, Wildest Dreams, Different World, The Final Frontier); then then the final song is much longer, an epic (Hallowed be thy Name, To Tame a Land, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Alexander the Great, Fear of the Dark, The Thin Line Between Love and Hate, The Legacy, When the Wild Wind Blows).

My point is that bands will always use a tried and tested formula for albums and live shows because it'll always sell, no matter how many times they use it. Metallica have done it: 'Ride the Lightning', 'Master of Puppets' and '..Justice' are all structured the same way and in recent years their live shows have essentially been the same but people keep coming back.

I imagine that if Iron Maiden were to try out a new stage set-up and create a whole new show then it would be at great expense, both time and money. They tour too much now have the time to think up something wholly original and when they're not touring they're making a new album. I'm not even sure what you want from them. Personally I wouldn't mind if they didn't have Eddie walking on and Eddie's gigantic head rising up because all I want is to see my favourite band play their songs. All the other nonsense is a bonus.

I don't doubt you'll be back RW.
 
Black Wizard said:
The albums are formulaic as well.

No.

Black Wizard said:
Most Maiden albums have stuck to the principle of short, fast song at the beginning with a big chorus that could possibly be released as a single (Aces High, Be Quick or Be Dead, Futureal, The Wicker Man, Wildest Dreams, Different World, The Final Frontier);

Nope. The Final Frontier isn't fast, it's a big difference, stepping out of "the" formula you describe.

Black Wizard said:
then then the final song is much longer, an epic (Hallowed be thy Name, To Tame a Land, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Alexander the Great, Fear of the Dark, The Thin Line Between Love and Hate, The Legacy, When the Wild Wind Blows).

The final song is often much longer than the opener. But is that a formula? I doubt it. I assume it just felt good for Maiden when they were busy with those particular records. It didn't go like that with Iron Maiden, Killers, SSOASS, TXF, VXI, DOD.

Black Wizard said:
My point is that bands will always use a tried and tested formula for albums and live shows because it'll always sell, no matter how many times they use it. Metallica have done it: 'Ride the Lightning', 'Master of Puppets' and '..Justice' are all structured the same way and in recent years their live shows have essentially been the same but people keep coming back.

As I just told: Maiden did different things. It's not true that only one was successful.

Black Wizard said:
I imagine that if Iron Maiden were to try out a new stage set-up and create a whole new show then it would be at great expense, both time and money.

Maiden did different (both over the top and modest) stage shows in the past. It's true that there wasn't much change in the last couple of tours, but again: Maiden have done different stage shows.

Black Wizard said:
They tour too much now have the time to think up something wholly original and when they're not touring they're making a new album.

Again not true. For many years it went like that, but it didn't affect the variety in the stage shows. In recent years they have more time to do other things in life (why else do you think we have to wait for 3 to 4 years for every new album?). It's not true that Maiden will start a new album in August, as soon as the tour is over. My point: This is unrelated to their stage show.
 
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