Iron Maiden songs – a rough overview of their “live history”

[Forostar]

Glad to say I finally updated this one. I added the developments from 2022-2024. Check first post!
Do not check it if you plan to see one of the last 12 concerts of this year and wish to remain spoiler free.

By the way, I simply followed Wikipedia's setlist info. If Maiden changed their setlist during one of these calendar years, please let me know.

 

[DJ James]

Your info appears to be correct, I've been following setlist fm and live videos throughout these tours.

 

[Mosh]

If I'm not mistaken, this might be the longest they've gone without any setlist adjustments? Maiden England and Legacy of the Beast are the only other tours that jump to mind. Everything else has had changes in the second calendar year or some adjustments throughout the tour. Future Past has stayed completely static. Maybe the only tour to have 0 adjustments whatsoever over the course of the tour? Not even a single song variation.

COVID and Future Past also created some interesting exceptions to what were previously some unwritten Maiden setlist rules. Senjutsu, Stratego, and Alexander the Great join Ides of March as the only songs not to be played on the supporting album tour. Senjutsu, Stratego, and TWOTW join a few Killers songs and Wildest Dreams to be premiered before the supporting album tour, and Alexander the Great becomes the first (and probably only) song to be debuted after the supporting album tour.

 

[Forostar]

If I'm not mistaken, this might be the longest they've gone without any setlist adjustments? Maiden England and Legacy of the Beast are the only other tours that jump to mind. Everything else has had changes in the second calendar year or some adjustments throughout the tour. Future Past has stayed completely static. Maybe the only tour to have 0 adjustments whatsoever over the course of the tour? Not even a single song variation.

I guess you're right! Both earlier tours, Maiden England Tour and Legacy of the Beast Tour, were extreme examples, over three calendar years, but it had some minor changes in the third year, 2014 and 2022 respectively. Although the former tour had some more changes, because they dropped Wrathchild halfway the 2014 dates.

COVID and Future Past also created some interesting exceptions to what were previously some unwritten Maiden setlist rules. Senjutsu, Stratego, and Alexander the Great join Ides of March as the only songs not to be played on the supporting album tour. Senjutsu, Stratego, and TWOTW join a few Killers songs and Wildest Dreams to be premiered before the supporting album tour, and Alexander the Great becomes the first (and probably only) song to be debuted after the supporting album tour.

Yes. Cool trivia.

Although it is a rumour (and I did not add it here, yet), Prodigal Son could be another, said to be played in the Dennis Wilcock and early Di'Anno era. Would love to hear that.

 

[Murder of Rue Morgue]

COVID and Future Past also created some interesting exceptions to what were previously some unwritten Maiden setlist rules. Senjutsu, Stratego, and Alexander the Great join Ides of March as the only songs not to be played on the supporting album tour. Senjutsu, Stratego, and TWOTW join a few Killers songs and Wildest Dreams to be premiered before the supporting album tour, and Alexander the Great becomes the first (and probably only) song to be debuted after the supporting album tour.

More precisely, The Ides of March (apparently), Senjutsu and Stratego are the only song played before the album-supporting tour, but not during. (With an open door for Prodigal Son, if they truly played it in the Wilcock days).

Also, didn't they debut some songs from TNOTB in the Bruce dates of the Killers World Tour?

 

[Mosh]

Also, didn't they debut some songs from TNOTB in the Bruce dates of the Killers World Tour?

It's a bit of a gray area for sure. The commentary is down so I can't verify, but iirc they premiered these songs at the Ruskin Arms in late 1981? You could probably also look at it as a warmup show for Beast on the Road, but looks like Foro is considering those part of the Killers tour based on his initial post. So yea, a few Beast songs can go on this list as well.

Where did the rumor about Wilcock doing Prodigal Son come from? Is this a recent revelation? Hadn't heard that one before.

 

[Murder of Rue Morgue]

It's a bit of a gray area for sure. The commentary is down so I can't verify, but iirc they premiered these songs at the Ruskin Arms in late 1981? You could probably also look at it as a warmup show for Beast on the Road, but looks like Foro is considering those part of the Killers tour based on his initial post. So yea, a few Beast songs can go on this list as well.

Where did the rumor about Wilcock doing Prodigal Son come from? Is this a recent revelation? Hadn't heard that one before.

The official website considers those dates (October-December 1981) part of the Killer World Tour and the Ruskin Arms show was on 23 December (secret concert for Dave's birthday). The bootlegs list Run to the Hills and The Prisoner in the setlist, and Hallowed Be Thy Name in the soundcheck.
The Rainbow show (15 November, first show with Bruce in the UK) had 22AA and COTD.

So yes, more than half of the album (5 out of 9 songs, save only Invaders, TNOTB, Gangland and Total Eclipse) actually debuted before the very recording sessions.

 

[Murder of Rue Morgue]

The official website considers those dates (October-December 1981) part of the Killer World Tour and the Ruskin Arms show was on 23 December (secret concert for Dave's birthday). The bootlegs list Run to the Hills and The Prisoner in the setlist, and Hallowed Be Thy Name in the soundcheck.
The Rainbow show (15 November, first show with Bruce in the UK) had 22AA and COTD.

So yes, more than half of the album (5 out of 9 songs, save only Invaders, TNOTB, Gangland and Total Eclipse) actually debuted before the very recording sessions.

The Prisoner and Run to the Hills from the Ruskin Arms show:

Soundchecks - include random jam sessions, someone (Dave?) hinting the riff of War Pigs, Transylvania in the first one; Hallowed Be Thy Name, the first part of Wrathchild, the "slow" verse of Phantom of the Opera ("Keep your distance" etc), a bass jam by Steve, and "Jingle Bells" in the second:

Bonus: Happy Birthday Dave Murray:

 

[Mosh]

So one thing that has been on my mind as we speculate on the upcoming RFYL tour is how reunion era Maiden generally plays some songs that are new to this particular lineup. If you don't count any songs off the newest album they are promoting at the time, you get the following premiers each tour (going off memory so there might be mistakes):

Ed Hunter - All songs, obviously

Brave New World - Sign of the Cross, Sanctuary

Give Me Ed - Die With Your Boots On, Revelations, 22 Acacia Avenue, The Clairvoyant, Heaven Can Wait, BYDTTS

Dance of Death - Can I Play With Madness, Lord of the Flies

Early Days - Murders in the Rue Morgue, Another Life, Prowler, Remember Tomorrow, Where Eagles Dare, Running Free, Drifter

AMOLAD - None in 2006, Children of the Damned in 2007

SBIT - Rime, Moonchild

Final Frontier - None, but worth noting that Maiden did not do extensive North American touring for AMOLAD/DOD, so many of the 2010 songs are new for these audiences.

Maiden England - The Prisoner, Afraid to Shoot Strangers, Seventh Son of a Seventh Son

TBOS - None, but worth noting that this is the first time Children of the Damned is played on an entire world tour.

Legacy of the Beast - Flight of Icarus

Future Past - Caught Somewhere in Time, Alexander the Great

So even on the few tours where there are no new songs debuted, there is some sort of noteworthy rarity or it's on a tour where they are primarily playing new songs anyway. Even what is widely regarded as the most unimaginative nostalgia tour (Maiden England) contained three songs that were new for this lineup!

If you count new album tours and stretch back to the beginning of the band's history, basically every tour has some songs either never before played by Maiden or songs that haven't been played by that particular lineup. This leads to my question: who thinks Run For Your Lives will be the first Maiden tour where there are both no new songs being played and no songs that haven't been previously played by this lineup?

If this is too offtopic for this thread I can move it to RFYL, but I'm interested in this more in the context of what Maiden has done historically with their live setlists. Especially in recent years it feels like they are making conscious efforts to give hardcore fans at least a song or two they probably haven't heard live yet. But we're also going into 25 years with this lineup and are running out of songs.

 

[Murder of Rue Morgue]

who thinks Run For Your Lives will be the first Maiden tour where there are both no new songs being played and no songs that haven't been previously played by this lineup?

Songs played live from albums #1-9 that have not been played by the current line-up:

• Iron Maiden: Transylvania, Strange World
• Killers: Genghis Khan, Innocent Exile, Twilight Zone, Purgatory
• The Number of the Beast: Total Eclipse
• Piece of Mind: Still Life, To Tame a Land
• Powerslave: the song with no fucking singer on it (bollocks, right?), Back in the Village
• Seventh Son of a Seventh Son: Infinite Dreams
• No Prayer for the Dying: Tailgunner, Holy Smoke, No Prayer for the Dying, Public Enema Number One, The Assassin, Hooks in You
• Fear of the Dark: Be Quick or Be Dead, From Here to Eternity, Wasting Love

(only songs played live count; I ignored the Prodigal Son controversy and The Ides of March since it was played only once in their whole career).

Given the titles, I think the only option to have a "new song" is if they play anything from No Prayer that isn't Daughter.

A few considerations:

• Ironically, one of the best picks would be, of all, Prodigal Son: it's not hard so sing, it's not hard to play, it's a deep cut, it's atmospheric, it could be a tribute to Paul.
• I'd kill to hear Strange World live, btw.
• They have been referring to Be Quick lately on social media, but I hardly believe they're going to play it.
• Why not Wasting Love?

 

[Kalata]

If I'm not mistaken, this might be the longest they've gone without any setlist adjustments? Maiden England and Legacy of the Beast are the only other tours that jump to mind. Everything else has had changes in the second calendar year or some adjustments throughout the tour. Future Past has stayed completely static. Maybe the only tour to have 0 adjustments whatsoever over the course of the tour? Not even a single song variation.

Indeed. I think it's even more because of Nicko. And 3rd legs help with the changes.

So one thing that has been on my mind as we speculate on the upcoming RFYL tour is how reunion era Maiden generally plays some songs that are new to this particular lineup.
So even on the few tours where there are no new songs debuted, there is some sort of noteworthy rarity or it's on a tour where they are primarily playing new songs anyway. Even what is widely regarded as the most unimaginative nostalgia tour (Maiden England) contained three songs that were new for this lineup!

This leads to my question: who thinks Run For Your Lives will be the first Maiden tour where there are both no new songs being played and no songs that haven't been previously played by this lineup?

I think not, although it may seem that the core of the setlist will be the familiar classics. The band has a desire, so I think 2-3 such songs are expected. Yeah, the songs are not that many to choose from, but the candidates are quite a few: Still Life, To Tame A Land, Infinite Dreams, Tailgunner, No Prayer, Be Quick, Wasting Love. Mostly from the 90's, but I think almost all of them has a chance. Or even a debut of another song, why not after Alexander.

Songs played live from albums #1-9 that have not been played by the current line-up:

• Iron Maiden: Transylvania, Strange World
• Killers: Genghis Khan, Innocent Exile, Twilight Zone, Purgatory
• The Number of the Beast: Total Eclipse
• Powerslave: the song with no fucking singer on it (bollocks, right?), Back in the Village

^I'm not expecting any of these songs.

 

[srfc]

Especially in recent years it feels like they are making conscious efforts to give hardcore fans at least a song or two they probably haven't heard live yet.

The only tour I've missed since 93 was Virtual XI and on all those tours I got to hear at least 1 song* I've never heard live before. I expect they'll have to either debut a song** or else play at least one of Strange World, Charlotte the Harlot, Innocent Exile, Prodigal Son, Purgatory, Total Eclipse, Still Life, To Tame a Land, Losfer Words, Back in the Village, Sea of Madness, The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, Infinite Dreams, Holy Smoke, No Prayer for the Dying, Public Enema Number One, The Assassin or Hooks in You to keep that run going.

*I'm counting new tracks.
** not many debut candidates left either!

 

[Forostar]

It's a bit of a gray area for sure. The commentary is down so I can't verify, but iirc they premiered these songs at the Ruskin Arms in late 1981? You could probably also look at it as a warmup show for Beast on the Road, but looks like Foro is considering those part of the Killers tour based on his initial post. So yea, a few Beast songs can go on this list as well.

Where did the rumor about Wilcock doing Prodigal Son come from? Is this a recent revelation? Hadn't heard that one before.

Maidenfans user Lira provided that info (also played in early Di'Anno era). I opened this topic:

Lineups, Live Songs and Productivity in the 1970s

This is what Lira specifically said about Prodigal Son (hm, sounds more than a rumour):

"About "Prodigal Son", I asked Terry Wapram if he recalled playing or rehearsing that and he said there must had talkings about the song but... no, it was probably after him. Fact is they played "Prodigal Son" just after Murray rejoined the band. I don't know whether the title was a pun on his returning or else, but when they were back on February 1979 their slogan was "The return of the prodigal sons". And they played that song for a while. Steve Newhouse even has a set list in his book THE IRON MAIDEN YEARS from one of those first '79 Ruskin Arms gigs."


I also vaguely remember this from another source, someone talked about a tape with a setlist (or a tracklist, from a rehearsal) but the music was never shared.

 

[naranja]

So one thing that has been on my mind as we speculate on the upcoming RFYL tour is how reunion era Maiden generally plays some songs that are new to this particular lineup. If you don't count any songs off the newest album they are promoting at the time, you get the following premiers each tour (going off memory so there might be mistakes):

Ed Hunter - All songs, obviously

Brave New World - Sign of the Cross, Sanctuary

Give Me Ed - Die With Your Boots On, Revelations, 22 Acacia Avenue, The Clairvoyant, Heaven Can Wait, BYDTTS

Dance of Death - Can I Play With Madness, Lord of the Flies

Early Days - Murders in the Rue Morgue, Another Life, Prowler, Remember Tomorrow, Where Eagles Dare, Running Free, Drifter

AMOLAD - None in 2006, Children of the Damned in 2007

SBIT - Rime, Moonchild

Final Frontier - None, but worth noting that Maiden did not do extensive North American touring for AMOLAD/DOD, so many of the 2010 songs are new for these audiences.

Maiden England - The Prisoner, Afraid to Shoot Strangers, Seventh Son of a Seventh Son

TBOS - None, but worth noting that this is the first time Children of the Damned is played on an entire world tour.

Legacy of the Beast - Flight of Icarus

Future Past - Caught Somewhere in Time, Alexander the Great

So even on the few tours where there are no new songs debuted, there is some sort of noteworthy rarity or it's on a tour where they are primarily playing new songs anyway. Even what is widely regarded as the most unimaginative nostalgia tour (Maiden England) contained three songs that were new for this lineup!

If you count new album tours and stretch back to the beginning of the band's history, basically every tour has some songs either never before played by Maiden or songs that haven't been played by that particular lineup. This leads to my question: who thinks Run For Your Lives will be the first Maiden tour where there are both no new songs being played and no songs that haven't been previously played by this lineup?

If this is too offtopic for this thread I can move it to RFYL, but I'm interested in this more in the context of what Maiden has done historically with their live setlists. Especially in recent years it feels like they are making conscious efforts to give hardcore fans at least a song or two they probably haven't heard live yet. But we're also going into 25 years with this lineup and are running out of songs.

I thought they played children of damned around 2002/3/4 for Clive Aid?

 

[Mosh]

I thought they played children of damned around 2002/3/4 for Clive Aid?

Oh yea, at the end of 2002 I think. That means no new songs in 2007.