Legacy Of The Beast Post-Pandemic Leg

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srfc said:
Doubt they would be booked for festivals with that set.
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They are doing loads of festivals this summer, aren't they?

@Poto is probably referring the the LOTB 2022 tour, which Bruce has now mentioned will include Senjutsu songs at the beginning.
 
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That’s another thing that has me skeptical. Lots of festival crowds and a US run. Lots of play classics audiences.
 
Exactly, plus the opening reaction maybe a bit muted but as soon as you get to end of the Writing on the Wall and it goes straight into a 4 count [opening riff of the trooper] the place will go nuts
 
GhostofCain said:
I think that the opening track should be a fast-paced song (e.g. Aces High, Moonchild, The Wicker Man, Be Quick or Be Dead, Different World...) to capture the massive explosion of excitement that comes when the band hits the stage. The Final Frontier was quite dull back in 2011 and I fear Sentjutsu would suffer the same fate.
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I agree with the first part of your comment. The Final Frontier is definitely a faster song than Senjutsu with a more lively chorus and it was nicely followed by the even faster El Dorado, which starts with an outro lol. Just like Stratego will be a great and faster follow-up to the title track (with IESF/SOL was the same). Then the next song is mid-tempo again (TWOTW), but you can compensate by placing Aces High after it. All in all, I think Senjutsu would be a good but not typical opener - better than SOTC, for example because it has more vocals, parts with high singing, unique drumming, great intro/outro for concerts and is dramatic all the time. Only the chorus makes the song so slow imo.

Aces High and The Wicker Man are the ultimate openers for me.
GhostofCain said:
AMOLAD had 10. :D
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AMOLAD 2007 had 3 though. DOD (strangely) had 1 (like TXF, FOTD, SIT and POM), but they opened this tour with a few really short songs, so maybe that's why they moved Rainmaker in the middle. Funnily enough, TNOTB had 0.
 
GhostofCain said:
I think that the opening track should be a fast-paced song (e.g. Aces High, Moonchild, The Wicker Man, Be Quick or Be Dead, Different World...) to capture the massive explosion of excitement that comes when the band hits the stage. The Final Frontier was quite dull back in 2011 and I fear Sentjutsu would suffer the same fate.
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I feel If Eternity Should Fail worked really well as an opener and that one's not really a fast song (save for the instrumental bridge, I guess.) The theatrics of the intro/outro worked as well. I fully see the same sort of theatrical bits happening with Senjutsu.
 
srfc said:
Exactly, plus the opening reaction maybe a bit muted but as soon as you get to end of the Writing on the Wall and it goes straight into a 4 count [opening riff of the trooper] the place will go nuts
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As long as the pacing's there tempo-wise, I think you can play whatever you want for the opening two songs or so before the crowd as a whole starts to settle. Hit 'em over the head with your lead single from the last album at #3 and then Aces at #4 and you've got one hell of a KO punch.
 
Flaming Blimp Crash said:
I feel If Eternity Should Fail worked really well as an opener and that one's not really a fast song (save for the instrumental bridge, I guess.) The theatrics of the intro/outro worked as well. I fully see the same sort of theatrical bits happening with Senjutsu.
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I'd say that If Eternity Should Fail has a much more audience-friendly chorus than Senjutsu (plus a fast instrumental bridge).
 
GhostofCain said:
I'd say that If Eternity Should Fail has a much more audience-friendly chorus than Senjutsu (plus a fast instrumental bridge).
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Disagree. I can picture a crowd singing the Senjutsu chorus but when I saw them on TBOS tour there was total silence during IESF.
 
Mosh said:
I strongly agree with Ghost of Cain. The slow burn you guys are talking about works really well in an album setting, but I’ve seen that sort of thing go really poorly in a live format. With the type of live show Maiden puts on, it’s hard to imagine that working. A 2 or 3 minute mood piece over the PA? Absolutely. But 8 minutes of the song Senjutsu is going to be really taxing for the audience. Also the way it ramps up briefly to Stratego only to immediately come back down for WOTW seems like a rocky way to start a concert. Opening with one of those three songs and immediately going into Aces High could work, but all three seems like a lot.

Idk. I’m happy to be proven wrong here and am excited for the show either way, but I do think they’re at risk of doing their new songs a disservice by front loading the concert with them. It’ll end up having a “false start” effect where people see the fourth song as the actual beginning to the show.
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I remember the two first Slayer gigs I attented in the early 90s. The first one opened with Rain in Blood. A massive bang, everyone going nuts. The second one opened with Hell Awaits: a fantastic heavy song, but way too slow to make one explode with enthusiasm. And those moments have a big input on how you live the whole gig.
 
I’m picturing the concert opening with the first three Senjutsu songs, in order, before picking up the rest of the show starting with Aces High. FTGGOG and Clansman are likely to be the songs cut, in my estimation, due to the length and placement of the songs and their respective sets, not to mention the average audience reaction to them.

Also folks are crazy if they don’t think Senjutsu wouldn’t be a fantastic opener. That song has theatrics and dynamics all over the place that would absolutely translate live.
 
I sometimes have problems understanding opinions on the forum. Not the difference, but where are they coming from. Senjutsu has an anti-verse between 4:15 and 5:15 (1 minute!) that's actual complete drop in dynamics and pace compared to any section preceding it. If you think that entire arena is going to sing this slow, anthemic-anemic part just 5 minutes into the show. This part is the slowest main part (not counting acoustic intros and alikes) Maiden does in its entire show. This part has slower pacing than Blood Brothers which is a mid set ballad.

But the biggest problem I have with it as opening/fierce track is its reliance to the meter. Simply kicking up a notch somewhere won't work as seamlessly as it works in Wicker Man, Aces High, TNOTB or even short non openers like Trooper.

It can open the show, but it will be more proggy type of opening, more of a visual effects/atmosphere type of a track than a straight out boom like Aces High, Wicker Man, or any of the other typical openers.

I don't want anybody thinking anything bad, but if you're kind of a fan that gets same type of energy and internal drive out of Aces High and Senjutsu, you're not appropriate for the metric. It's like having a "this is great" reaction to any meal served in front of you. Nothing against that, I certainly appreciate that you enjoy everything put in front of you, but most people don't.

Also keep in mind that average maidenfans.com concert goer will be in the fan sections or around fans. Elsewhere is different - I zoomed around one of the shows because I had several bunches of friends on different spots. Different parts of arena reacted differently to the TBOS material.

You will definitely see a "reaction" once first few minutes of Senjutsu pass and the novelty of show opening boom and that drum groove wears off on the general audience that doesn't know the song or the lyrics. Apart from the sporadic solo, there's nothing further in the track to hook them. If you think that 5 minutes in, half of arena is going to sing that slow part with hands in the air you're extremely fan-biased.
 
harrisdevot said:
I remember the two first Slayer gigs I attented in the early 90s. The first one opened with Rain in Blood. A massive bang, everyone going nuts. The second one opened with Hell Awaits: a fantastic heavy song, but way too slow to make one explode with enthusiasm. And those moments have a big input on how you live the whole gig.
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Exactly.

A band like Pink Floyd can open the show with something like Shine Your Crazy Diamond and it will not affect the dynamics of the show. I am not sure Maiden would be very wise opening a greatest hits set with a heavy and slow song like Senjutsu.
 
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