Iron Maiden Tour 2025 - Discussion

matic22 said:
I'm pretty sure that if they start the next tour with Euro dates, the tour will start in Croatia (either Split or more likely Zagreb) at the end of May, thanks to Split rehearsals. Belgrade might also be the possibility. But as I said, Arena Zagreb would be my bet. No way they start 2 tours in a row in Ljubljana.

That said, there has been talk about finally renovating the old Bežigrad stadium and using it as an outdoor concert venue (Maiden played there in 2007 (pretty bad gig, but was my first one) and was abandoned shortly afterwards). The thing is that one of the major Slovenian artists wants to do an outdoor gig in the city park for 30th anniversary of his career at the end of August but is being blocked by envromentalists and old abandoned Bežigrad stadium is being listed as the last minute alternative. I think if that gig is held there, there is a chance that a lot of concerts in the summer months will move from Arena Stožice to Bežigrad stadium in the future.
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What was bad about Maiden’s gig in 2007?
 
ShadowOfTheGods said:
Split would be the best option to start a tour since they've been rehearsing there for a couple of years. What makes me think that they might do Ljubljana instead is the fact they're listed on eventim.si and not on eventim.hr, which is weird considering even in 2022, when Croatia wasn't in the tour schedule, they were appearing there. This time it's only Slovenia. Might mean nothing as I said before, 'cause probably they were added too soon this time and later they will be listed on eventim.hr as well. I would prefer Zagreb since it's easier to reach with planes but we'll see.

Also, I don't think we can rule out Maiden to start in Greece. They wanted to do that last year.
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I highly doubt they would do Split as the first date. That's asking for trouble during rehearsals (a lot of fans flying in and potentially disturbing their peace). Therefore Zagreb is my bet.

Another thing is that Slovenian promotor organised the 2022 Zagreb gig, while Ljubljana in 2024 was organised by Serbian promotors. So, it could be that Slovenians could be organizing the Zagreb gig again.
 
Reminds me of the 2007 Ludwigshafen gig. Bruce's wireless microphone was malfunctioning and he had to stand back in a corner because that was the only place where it connected. He was seriously pissed, and it got worse as the gig progressed.
 

Iron Maiden Will Drop Songs Nicko McBrain Can't Play Anymore​


Iron Maiden introduced a new rule about live shows to help drummer Nicko McBrain deal with the aftermath of his stroke, he said in July 2024.

Iron Maiden drummer Nicko McBrain says the band had instituted a new rule to address the fact that he can’t play as well as he used to.

He suffered a stroke in January 2023 that left him partially paralyzed, although he returned to action after months of intensive physical therapy.

After a few dates of their summer tour that year left some fans asking questions, McBrain – now 72 – explained that he’d been left with some limitations in his performing ability, but that he believed he was at 70 percent at the time.

READ MORE: Bruce Dickinson Worries Iron Maiden Doesn’t Push Hard Enough

“I’ve gotta be honest with you: it was a touch and go last year for me,” he recently told the crowd at a show in Pompano Beach, FL, with his side-project Titanium Tarts (video below).

“I couldn’t play; I was paralyzed on the right side. Fortunately… there’s a girl called Julie Blum that looked after me, and in three months, she had me playing again.”

He admitted: “And it ain’t the old Nicko – it’s not the old one by a long shot. But at least it's part of me. And my band, bless their hearts, Steve Harris and the rest of the guys turn around and say, ‘If you can’t do something in a song, we just won’t do that song.’”

He went on to cite the example of “Caught Somewhere In Time” from the 1986 album Somewhere in Time, which managed to escape the new rule through some inspired thinking from Harris.

“Now, there’s a middle section; it’s all snare drum on the record. I can’t play it,” McBrain confirmed. “Those of you nerds that are in the audience [will] go, ‘He didn’t do the drum fill!’ Well, that’s why – I fucking can’t do it! … Steve turned around to me and I said, ‘Okay, I’ve got an idea. if I do the double on the snare…’ and I played it for him and he went, ‘No. Have you got anything else?’

“I went, ‘Yeah, I’ll play it on the cymbal.’ ‘No. You got anything else?’’ That’s me spent, mate.’ … [H]e thought about for about half a minute…and he’s going, ‘Why don’t you play it straight?’

“I went, ‘You’re a fucking genius, Harry!’ And there’s me, the drummer, supposedly, supposed to come up with all these ideas… I didn’t even think of that. And so we rehearsed it from there on in, and we play it straight – which I’m sure 90 percent of you don’t give a fuck about that bit anyway!”

ultimateclassicrock.com

Iron Maiden Will Drop Songs Nicko McBrain Can't Play Anymore

Iron Maiden introduced a new rule about live shows to help drummer Nicko McBrain deal with the aftermath of his stroke, he said in July 2024.
ultimateclassicrock.com ultimateclassicrock.com
 
I think a Jazz Rock, Hard Rock and Metal drummer like Nicko could have been create something really more interesting like he did with the song almost 40 years back with some bits here and there instead to follow the Steve's idea of to play 'straight' that middle section
Conlusion: They're so f***ing lazy…
 
ShadowOfTheGods said:
Also, I don't think we can rule out Maiden to start in Greece. They wanted to do that last year.
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Bruce tends to say "we'll see you soon" or something like that quite a bit when he knows something is in the pipeline for that city/country. Any reports of him saying anything like that during the final night of Mandrake 2024 in Greece? I mean, he played part of Alexander, almost as if throwing them a bone, perhaps knowing Maiden wouldn't be going there on a tour featuring Alexander the Great. Pure speculation there, of course.

Vaenyr said:
I'd be fine with Nicko being replaced, if that meant an album more or two. His playing is important, but he's not a big contributor to the songwriting of Maiden.

The perfect solution if Nicko weren't able to tour anymore, imo, would be for Nicko to take his time and record the music in the studio in a low stress environment at his own pace, but then have someone else go on tour with the boys. Other bands have had similar arrangements. I would definitely miss Nicko on a studio album, but live there's so much to pay attention to as well as emotions running high, that I'd be okay with a replacement.
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This would be my ideal scenario if Nicko were to drop out. I'd 100% want him on the albums. If he's playing more simply, big deal, we've already been through that with Virtual XI and it was fine. Touring-wise, I'd miss him most definitely, but if the band still otherwise has legs and can put on a great show, I don't see Nicko's semi-retirement as a dealbreaker.
 
CA Bryers said:
... I mean, he played part of Alexander, almost as if throwing them a bone, perhaps knowing Maiden wouldn't be going there on a tour featuring Alexander the Great. Pure speculation there, of course.

...
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I was just about to write that we have proof that Maiden will not be playing in Greece. Bruce solo has played parts of Alexander The Great.
He wouldn't preempt Maiden if Maiden had that planned for 2025.
 
The_7th_one said:
I think a Jazz Rock, Hard Rock and Metal drummer like Nicko could have been create something really more interesting like he did with the song almost 40 years back with some bits here and there instead to follow the Steve's idea of to play 'straight' that middle section
Conlusion: They're so f***ing lazy…
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Calling a man who suffered a stroke and busted his ass to get to playing again and tour "fucking lazy". Nice...

I fucking hate this place sometimes...
 
The_7th_one said:
I think a Jazz Rock, Hard Rock and Metal drummer like Nicko could have been create something really more interesting like he did with the song almost 40 years back with some bits here and there instead to follow the Steve's idea of to play 'straight' that middle section
Conlusion: They're so f***ing lazy…
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What? They tried stuff but Nicko is limited in what he can do and playing through it straight turned out fine anyway. At least we finally heard the song live again and it was great. Nicko did great on Alexander too.

Lazy? He's a 72 year old who isn't well playing demanding fast metal music
 
CA Bryers said:
Bruce tends to say "we'll see you soon" or something like that quite a bit when he knows something is in the pipeline for that city/country. Any reports of him saying anything like that during the final night of Mandrake 2024 in Greece? I mean, he played part of Alexander, almost as if throwing them a bone, perhaps knowing Maiden wouldn't be going there on a tour featuring Alexander the Great. Pure speculation there, of course.


This would be my ideal scenario if Nicko were to drop out. I'd 100% want him on the albums. If he's playing more simply, big deal, we've already been through that with Virtual XI and it was fine. Touring-wise, I'd miss him most definitely, but if the band still otherwise has legs and can put on a great show, I don't see Nicko's semi-retirement as a dealbreaker.
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They should actually put Futureal back in the set and have Nick play it as he did on the album as he doesn't do any fills in that song on the studio version.
 
I think that the fact is that Nicko can't play some songs anymore. One of those is Run To The Hills, which has too much fast hi-hat work and was just played straight with the Marines orchestra.

I think Titanium Tart (past and future) shows might be a good indicator of what Maiden can play. Since his stroke, he played Infinite Dreams and TTAL, so there is that. I'm afraid that with it's tom rolls and fast snare transitions, Hallowed might be gone too.
 
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