LEGACY OF THE BEAST WORLD TOUR 2022 - **CONTAINS SPOILERS**

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MrKnickerbocker said:
Yes, they function as both monitor headphones and earplugs.


So they add a couple audience mics and mix it into Bruce’s IEM. This isn’t rocket science, it’s stubbornness.
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Exactly. And to add to your point, he can simply remove one and use the other one. You'll see many artists remove the IEM when they do parts where they'll let the audience sing by themselves for example. If Bruce hates them so much, use them at least for the problematic songs like RTTH. It's not like they can't afford that.

Edit: Also, sometimes it feels like the Maiden camp uses stuff in the worst possible way and dislikes it because of that. Like when Nicko used a double bass pedal for Face In The Sand. You'd think an incredibly creative drummer like him, who plays some insane bass drum patterns with one pedal, could come up with some great double bass grooves, right? Wrong. Instead, he simply played straight 16th notes for almost the whole song through. No wonder he didn't like them.
Same thing with Bruce and IEM. When was the last time he tried them? Technology changes rapidly and the IEMs of today might be drastically different to the ones he tried decades ago. I understand, that in their age many things might not be worth the hassle, but at the same time it's borderline unforgivable for a band of Maiden's status to consistenly fuck up one of their biggest hit, because the singer is in the wrong place and can't hear the rest of the band properly.
 
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matic22 said:
This is true.

However, some people just don't get along with IEMs. I know one of those was Josh Klinghoffer formerly of RHCP and many others.

Maybe Bruce tried them before and just didn't get along with them. I think possible solution would be for him to wear them just when he sings on the platform (thats also when most timing issues happen).
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In an interview years ago with German Rock Hard magazine Bruce said he tried In Ears but couldn't use them with his style of singing. He explained that he tends to rip open his mouth, which affects his whole face to his ears, which with In Ears always causes scraps of sound from the outside to get through to him. He uses the generic, cheap (mostly yellow I think) earplugs instead, the ones you can buy everywhere, because with them the ear stays closed and he can hear himself from the inside. Kind of like the old trick, when singers put their hands over their ears in order to hear themselves. I think he's been doing it this way at least since the 90s.

I'm not an expert on In Ears, but many people dislike them for various reasons. Off the top of my head, Bonamassa and Steve Vai both said they hate them.

Also, short rant, how fundamentally wrong and stupid are contemporary rock concerts, where you have to wear ear protection to listen to, or create music.
 
jazz from hell said:
Also, short rant, how fundamentally wrong and stupid are contemporary rock concerts, where you have to wear ear protection to listen to, or create music.
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One thing I saw recently which I loved: Snarky Puppy (a jazz fusion group) have played shows/recording sessions, where the audience sits in the same room with them but listens to the music through headphones. That's of course not comparable to a metal show and the audience for something like that has to be muuuuch much smaller, but I thought the idea is pretty creative.

Having said that, yes, I feel that most concerts are far too loud, for no good reason.
 
Dick Brucinson said:
They were the support band in Frankfurt in July. I can speak only for me myself, but my thoughts on them: Ridiculous show, annoying singer (stupid talk between songs on a maximum level), untalented musicians…
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PS: Have you heard Hansi Kürsch's announcements? He makes a lot of jokes between songs, all of which I didn't quite understand or found funny. But I take the blame for that. He left me slightly confused at the beginning of each new song. :D


Bruce is still my favorite singer. I saw Blind Guardian live for the first time and Hansi Kürsch wasn't bad of course, but he didn't impress me that much (sorry Blind Guardian fans, I was convinced he would blow me away). He didn’t always hit the correct notes and when he sings an octave lower I find the song less punchy and expressive.
Sometimes I couldn't hear him well at all. I was standing right next to the front of house desk, so I don't think it was due to my unfortunate location in the hall. He also has better background singers than Steve and Adrian.

Despite everything, Bruce should get the timing problems under control. I still thought in Köln that they were a human factor in an otherwise great show and that this would never happen again.
If he asked me (which he won't), I would recommend in-ear monitors. Many of the problems of why people don't like them have been solved. There are some with air pressure exchange or with 3D fit. If he finds them ugly, I'm sure it's no problem to customize them.
 
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matic22 said:
Actually, Vai started using them this year and he said he is not the happiest, but can get by.
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I'm a huge Vai fan, but when I saw him this year he also used backing tracks. Perhaps there's a connection.

Vaenyr said:
One thing I saw recently which I loved: Snarky Puppy (a jazz fusion group) have played shows/recording sessions, where the audience sits in the same room with them but listens to the music through headphones. That's of course not comparable to a metal show and the audience for something like that has to be muuuuch much smaller, but I thought the idea is pretty creative.
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Yeah I saw that too and I like that band a lot, but that was more like a studio recording with a small audience, so it kind of made sense. But generally, it seems very artificial and not really realistic to make people wear headphones at a live concert.
 
Melony said:
Bruce is still my favorite singer. I saw Blind Guardian live for the first time and Hansi Kürsch wasn't bad of course, but he didn't impress me that much (sorry Blind Guardian fans, I was convinced he would blow me away). He didn’t always hit the correct notes and when he sings an octave lower I find the song less punchy and expressive.
Sometimes I couldn't hear him well at all. I was standing right next to the front of house desk, so I don't think it was due to my unfortunate location in the hall. He also has better background singers than Steve and Adrian.
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I love the music of BG but their live shows don't live up to the music. On one hand you've got the issue that anything past Imaginations is almost impossible to recreate live. On the other hand you've got Hansi, who is a fantastic vocalist (even though the last few years he seems obsessed with harsher screams which causes him to actually miss the correct note quite often), but is incredibly awkward as a frontman. His announcements seem well rehearsed, but don't seem to actually connect with the audience. It doesn't come across as organic or authentic I guess. He isn't doing much on the stage, André is mostly glued to his wah pedal, Marcus moves around a bit, the bassist and keyboarder have their designated platforms, so all in all there's next to no movement on the stage.

Long story short: BG concerts are a very weird experience.
 
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jazz from hell said:
In an interview years ago with German Rock Hard magazine Bruce said he tried In Ears but couldn't use them with his style of singing. He explained that he tends to rip open his mouth, which affects his whole face to his ears, which with In Ears always causes scraps of sound from the outside to get through to him. He uses the generic, cheap (mostly yellow I think) earplugs instead, the ones you can buy everywhere, because with them the ear stays closed and he can hear himself from the inside. Kind of like the old trick, when singers put their hands over their ears in order to hear themselves. I think he's been doing it this way at least since the 90s.

I'm not an expert on In Ears, but many people dislike them for various reasons. Off the top of my head, Bonamassa and Steve Vai both said they hate them.

Also, short rant, how fundamentally wrong and stupid are contemporary rock concerts, where you have to wear ear protection to listen to, or create music.
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Excellent post and good dispelling of the armchair audio engineering professionals.
 
matic22 said:
He had backing tracks on PAW tour too...

Here Steve explains what is sometimes the problem with in-ears:
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Yeah, he's right, but he's doing it anyway and he figured out a way around it. If Steve Vai can make it work, surely one of the biggest heavy metal bands in history who charges on average $100 per ticket and $50 per t-shirt can get over their biases and stubbornness and figure it out.
 
MrKnickerbocker said:
Yeah, he's right, but he's doing it anyway and he figured out a way around it. If Steve Vai can make it work, surely one of the biggest heavy metal bands in history who charges on average $100 per ticket and $50 per t-shirt can get over their biases and stubbornness and figure it out.
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Erm, I just explained it, so who is biased or stubborn here?
 
jazz from hell said:
Erm, I just explained it, so who is biased or stubborn here?
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Still Bruce? So a little bit of sound gets when his jaw moves in a different motion? He should be able to get used it. It's literally his job to give a performance. He can learn to sing with a little bit of sound leakage.

He could have one IEM in one ear and his glorious cheap earplug in the other. All he needs is a little bit of drum and melody instrument in the ear so he doesn't lose his place in half the tunes.

Every musician deals with sound not being 100% what they love or what they're used to. For the size of shows that Maiden plays, the type of audiences they command, and the price they charge, Bruce can learn to perform differently. It's absurd.
 
I'm not a singer and therefore only an armchair expert, all right. :D

But I can say that with my in-ear monitors when I open my mouth wide or suddenly nothing happens to the sound. I am only talking about my personal practical experience.

2E0D2CC5-7126-4AAB-B54B-54B124DFB79E.jpeg

And a band like Iron Maiden can afford 100 percent better models than mine.
 
Melony said:
I'm not a singer and therefore only an armchair expert, all right. :D

But I can say that with my in-ear monitors when I open my mouth wide or suddenly nothing happens to the sound. I am only talking about my personal practical experience.

View attachment 22286

And a band like Iron Maiden can afford 100 percent better models than mine.
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That is my experience too, and I play in a small bar band. If my $100 IEM's can function properly, my guess is that Bruce can afford some that work.

As someone else mentioned, I'm sure it's a matter of: "I tried it once, didn't like it, won't do it again. Surely nothing could've changed since then."
 
I've had some experience as well and you can get used to them. The notion that because Bruce disliked them a few years ago he can't ever try again and that we're trolls or haters for expecting the bare minimum from him (to properly sing the songs and not fuck up RTTH, a 40 year old song, multiple times in a tour) is pretty disingenuous. Bruce's statement in that interview isn't gospel. We can and should challenge it, when there are thousands upon thousands of singers who use IEM without issue. Bruce is a fantastic vocalist, but he isn't a unique creature.

Maiden's one of the biggest bands in the world. Fans deserve great performances. You can't watch these recent videos and conclude "yup, nothing wrong here". Since he changes costumes multiple times, he can also use IEM for the songs when he's up there, behind the drums.
 
Vaenyr said:
I love the music of BG but their live shows don't live up to the music. On one hand you've got the issue that anything past Imaginations is almost impossible to recreate live. On the other hand you've got Hansi, who is a fantastic vocalist (even though the last few years he seems obsessed with harsher screams which causes him to actually miss the correct note quite often), but is incredibly awkward as a frontman. His announcements seem well rehearsed, but don't seem to actually connect with the audience. It doesn't come across as organic or authentic I guess. He isn't doing much on the stage, André is mostly glued to his wah pedal, Marcus moves around a bit, the bassist and keyboarder have their designated platforms, so all in all there's next to now movement on the stage.

Long story short: BG concerts are a very weird experience.
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BG records are OK, but nothing very special to me. When I listen to BG music, each track sounds pretty much the same as the others. And BG concerts are really as boring as Derrick tv series...
 
Vaenyr said:
properly sing the songs and not fuck up RTTH, a 40 year old song, multiple times in a tour
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He got sloppy with it a long time earlier already. It often felt like he was just knocking RTTH out without much passion. Those versions from the official live releases are most often fine, but that's because they put some effort in it because of a live recording.
 
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