Iron Maiden studio album 17 rumours and speculations

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Kalata said:
Me too. But this will be a lot harder, because the LOTB stage design is one level up.
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Is it really tho, I liked the detail better on the bos tour, once they took away the "leaf" covering everything that was pretty average compared to bos. The only real difference is the spitfire, and it's a bit more theatrical with bruce changing more the backdrops were better too I'm sure they could do similar in the next tour to rival it at best easy. Hey they could close with aces this time like Bruce originally wanted and keep the spitfire if they wanted haha
 
The "next album tour show" doesn't really have to top LOTB, being distinctively different and playing some fresh cards should be perfectly enough.

TFF stage show didn't really top SBIT. It did have some additional 3D elements, such as a lot of molded details in the stage dressing and obviously, the big towers. It had very well crafted, distinctively different Eddies (regardless how one feels about that particular design) and of course, very impressive light show. Maiden England stage set downscaled the "molded detail" (in lack of a better expression), but added another big show-centerpiece Eddie, shitload of pyro and more or less re-created the etheric and otherworldy feel of the original show.

TBOS had tons of beautiful, elevated, molded details that really made the stage dressing look very "three-dimensional." Angular features in the "source material" also made it look rather authentic for what it is, as far as heavy metal stage sets go. LOTB and the church theme is obviously a bit more complicated basic design to begin with, so instead of even trying to make the dressing of the ramps reach similar depth and accuracy to the whatever type of cathedral it's inspired by, the main focus is at the interaction between the stained glass effect, lights, additional show elements and inflatables and different backdrops. The dressing of the ramps is, indeed, slightly simpler than in the TBOS show, the only three-dimensional prop of any kind being the footings of pillars, but the whole show has almost if not completely seamless visual flow, meaning that most of the backdrops, inflatables etc together with the dressing of the basic stage create a beautiful, "natural" looking visual landscape.

What I'm aiming for is that The Trooper backdrop in between Mayan buildings or space station towers looks much more random than and statue-esque Icarus in between the pillars of the cathedral, against grey, cloudy sky.

Aand, desperately trying to tie this into the Album #17 speculation, it really isn't (in my opinion) quite that big of a challenge for them to make their next show just as interesting. If the cover art and other visual aspects of the album are build around something as concrete as it was with TBOS & Mayans, Powerslave & ancient egypt or even a bit more vague, but still plausible, connection between the imagery of DOD and the eventual stage set, I'd expect them to include more actual "shapes" and" engraved" elements. Or, if it's going to be something more abstract or just more vague or just very open and extensive type of physical environment (7th Son, BNW, VXI, AMOLAD), I'd expect them to try something that elevates from ME/7th Son days, with the focus on creating more of an organic and otherworldy setting that (kind of) instead of serving as a the most suitable landscape for certain kind of songs to fit into (the whole LOTB show, TBOS show+TBOS & Powerslave, World Slavery/SBIT show + Powerslave etc.) actually bends the songs to fit itself. That sounded a bit stupid, perhaps, but you know, it's the thing that I found pretty cool in certain Maiden England backdrops: it was kind of a showcase of Maiden History molded in ice, but that concept, in the end, wasnt' taken quite as far as I'd possibly and speculatively suggest the next Maiden show might do, as a possible solution to the "how to do something different than LOTB, yet almost equally impressing and memorable" issue people have brought up.
 
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The trouble is it’s the exact same stage they’ve been using since BNW / DOD tours. All they do is change the back drops & scrims & add the occasional 3D element.
Since 2003 basically it’s been the same thing recycled time & time again.
Come on guys really shake it up for a change.
How about incorporating ramps on the stage that the guitarists & Steve can use for a change & not just Bruce or a ramp that extends out into the crowd to get closer to the fans. Maybe even a small section with fans on the stage that Bruce can interact with.
Or actually use video screens. The things you can do with video screens now are phenomenal. Imagine the stuff you could do with Eddie with today’s technology. Would anyone here really care if they saw Eddie projected on an amazing video screen rather than a back drop?
Yeah yeah I know it’s traditional but come on people it’s time to join the 21st century.
By all means keep the walk on Eddies & the big one that comes out during the song Iron Maiden but give us something new.
Thoughts?
 
robert 3019 said:
Would anyone here really care if they saw Eddie projected on an amazing video screen rather than a back drop?
Yeah yeah I know it’s traditional but come on people it’s time to join the 21st century
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The thing with backdrops is that they definitely have more theatrical nature than the screens and they definitely fit and blend into the rest of the stage environment and structure; a big, bright screen would look a bit out of place. I do agree that shaking that mentioned structure up would be interesting anyway.

I'd rather see the screens used as an additional detail rather than providing most of the visual landscape. For example, little screens could have worked well enough as part of the TFF stage set. Or if, for whatever theoretical reason, BNW stage set got resurrected, the clouds and Eddie face behind the "scaffolding" would probably work pretty well as screens.

But I think that built, physically crafted elements, even if it's just dressing up the same structure with different drapes, still has some brilliant theatrical charm.
 
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Ironalice said:
Is it really tho, I liked the detail better on the bos tour, once they took away the "leaf" covering everything that was pretty average compared to bos. The only real difference is the spitfire, and it's a bit more theatrical with bruce changing more the backdrops were better too I'm sure they could do similar in the next tour to rival it at best easy. Hey they could close with aces this time like Bruce originally wanted and keep the spitfire if they wanted haha
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The overall stage design of the LOTB tour is impressive. All of the details, especially the stained glass windows. Without the leaf covering the stage is also great (it has some (warriors) built in it), but TBOS was also an amazing stage design. Let's compare them:

LOTB tour:
- Spitfire
- inflatable Icarus
- stained glass windows
- cell/rope
- TNT
- torches
- statues
- light cross
- amazing backdrops
- flamethrower
- lantern/mask
- lots of clothes changing from Bruce
- big explosion/s at the end of RTTH
- great Eddies
- great drum kit with 3 different gongs

TBOS tour:
- video intro
- IESF intro live
- rope
- mask
- goat statue
- TBOS Eddie over the stage
- hanging net
- great shining towers with band members faces
- great backdrops
- great Eddies
- amazing drum kit

So.... LOTB tour wins ;) To each his own. Two of the best tours from Maiden with two of the best stage designs!

P.S. : ''Aces High'' as a closer - nah, this song works best when it's the opener (remember the ME tour performances). And this Spitfire is awesome for a start of a concert.
 
robert 3019 said:
How about incorporating ramps on the stage that the guitarists & Steve can use for a change & not just Bruce or a ramp that extends out into the crowd to get closer to the fans. Or actually use video screens. The things you can do with video screens now are phenomenal. Imagine the stuff you could do with Eddie with today’s technology. Would anyone here really care if they saw Eddie projected on an amazing video screen rather than a back drop?Yeah yeah I know it’s traditional but come on people it’s time to join the 21st century.By all means keep the walk on Eddies & the big one that comes out during the song Iron Maiden but give us something new.
Thoughts?
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- incorporating ramps will be something new for Maiden. They are primary used in festival gigs or in stadium gigs, if I'm not mistaken. But I can't see Maiden doing that. They've never done that before - the closest we got to that were Eddie big hands during SOT tour back in 1986....
- big video screen is great (especially when you have Eddie), but I think the backdrops are great and works best for Maiden. !They also use other backdrops, not only Eddie ones, so it's fresh and unpredictable.

And what can be the big change in the stage? The stage sets are pretty standard for every band. Maiden's stage sets are always awesome and the current LOTB one has some great changes. The small details are also very important.
 
The stage design looks amazing in an arena but in a large stadium its actually really outdated by todays standards its too small
 
The whole point of Maiden is they do what they do, "keeping up with the joneses" or "remaining relevant" has never been a concern.

I saw Metallica on the current tour for the first time. I was probably most looking forward to hearing One. They had a video tape of legs waking across a trench playing for the whole song and smoke covering the stage. It was fucking shit. You couldn't see the band at all during the whole song.
 
The website Rock sound has accidentally released its download festival article early, Maiden are one of the headliners.

www.rocksound.tv

Download Festival Have Announced Their 2020 Headliners + Nine Additional Bands - News - Rock Sound Magazine

First line-up announcement. Here. We Go.
www.rocksound.tv www.rocksound.tv

The question is: New album or LOTB leg 3?

EDIT: Article has been taken down and that link redirects to something else now but the actual announcement is in an hour, I expect we will get a press statement from Maiden as usual when new dates are announced.
 
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Article gone now, did anyone copy it?

Not too pushed about donington, but if there's a few bands on the bill I like then I might go. If not it will be a trip elsewhere.

More keen on hearing what tour it's for.
 
I really hate festivals ... have to sit through a bunch of bands I have no interest in with a zillion people. Bad enough with just one crap opener.

When they announce their 2020 dates (which I assume will be all in Europe), I'll plan a vacation around it, but it will be at an arena date (ideally with a better opener than we had on LOTB)

Edit: Only festival I went to that I really liked was Monsters of Rock in the late 80s (Van Halen, Scorpions, Metallica, Dokken being the top 4 bands, that was good.
 
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