Maiden Canada (overview of the band's tours in the true north)

BloodOnTheBassistsHands

BloodOnTheBassistsHands

Educated Fool
I wanted to put together a list of every concert Iron Maiden has played on Canadian soil, and a list of which songs were performed.

My sources for the concerts were Iron Maiden's website, Setlist.fm, and Wikipedia. Through the end of 2017, they played 117 concerts in Canada.

My sources for the set lists Setlist.fm and personal knowledge. Since (as we all know) the band tends not to vary their set lists too much, it was fairly easy to compile this information. I'm missing information on six gigs (all from July 1982) when they opened for the Scorpions, but otherwise I think the list is complete & accurate.

See the following tables/posts for details.
 
Table 1 - concerts played by city
  • Toronto 19
  • Montreal 19
  • Quebec City 18
  • Edmonton 10
  • Vancouver 10
  • Winnipeg 9
  • Calgary 8
  • Ottawa 6
  • Regina 4
  • Halifax 3
  • Saskatoon 2
  • Victoria 1
  • Moncton 1
  • Sudbury 1
  • Chicoutimi 1
  • Vaughan 1
  • Kingston 1
  • Saint John 1
  • Sarnia 1
  • Hamilton 1
The band has played a disproportionate number of shows in Quebec City (Canada's 8th largest city) - smaller than Indianapolis, Indiana or Charlotte, North Carolina in the US. Perhaps the band finds the city's historical significance interesting?

Someone living in Montreal would have been able to see more than half the shows (66 out of 117) by taking up to a six hour drive (Montreal, Toronto, Quebec City, Ottawa, Kingston, Chicoutimi, Vaughan and Hamilton).

I was surprised to see Maiden play in some fairly small cities. Sudbury, Kingston, Moncton and Saint John all have under 200,000 residents, while Sarnia and Chicoutimi have under 100,000 residents.

The largest population centres that never had a Maiden concert are all located near Toronto. The top five are Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo; London; Oshawa; Windsor; and St. Catherines-Niagara.

The venues they've played the most have been the Colisee de Quebec (Quebec) and Pacific Colisseum (Vancouver) seven times each; the Bell Centre (Montreal), the Montreal Forum (Montreal), Winnipeg Arena (Winnipeg) and Colisee Pepsi (Quebec) six times each; and the Molson Amphitheatre (Toronto; now known as Budweiser Stage) five times.
 
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Table 2 - concerts played by province
  • Quebec 38
  • Ontario 30
  • Alberta 18
  • British Columbia 11
  • Manitoba 9
  • Saskatchewan 6
  • Nova Scotia 3
  • New Brunswick 2
The band has played in eight of Canada's ten provinces (and none of the three northern territories).

Maiden has played almost all of their shows (106 out of 117) in the country's five most populous provinces - Quebec, Ontario, Alberta, BC and Manitoba. Collectively these provinces contain almost exactly 90% of the country's population.

They had a long gap in western Canada. They didn't play any shows in Alberta, Saskatchewan or Manitoba between 1992 and 2007, and they only played a single show in BC during that time (2000). The band hasn't been to any of the Maritime provinces since 1999.

They played their first shows in Ontario and Quebec in 1981; BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba in 1982; Nova Scotia in 1984; and New Brunswick in 1988.

The remaining two provinces and three territories where they haven't played have around 900,000 residents (roughly the size of South Dakota).
 
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Table 3 - concerts played by year
  • 1981 2
  • 1982 11
  • 1983 8
  • 1984 11
  • 1987 9
  • 1988 10
  • 1991 7
  • 1992 4
  • 1996 3
  • 1998 3
  • 1999 4
  • 2000 4
  • 2003 3
  • 2004 2
  • 2005 2
  • 2006 3
  • 2008 7
  • 2010 9
  • 2012 9
  • 2016 4
  • 2017 2
Maiden played 51 shows in Canada in the 1980s, 21 in the 1990s, 21 in the 2000s, and 24 (so far) in the 2010s. In general their longest tours were in the eighties, but the ones from 2010 and 2012 were quite extensive as well.

The longest gap was 3.5 years (June 1992 to February 1996).

The band prefers seeing Canada in the spring to mid summer. More than half of their shows (62 of 117) were in May, June or July.
 
Table 4 - songs played on Canadian soil
  • Iron Maiden 111
  • The Number of the Beast 106
  • Hallowed Be Thy Name 98
  • The Trooper 83
  • Run to the Hills 81
  • 2 Minutes to Midnight 77
  • Running Free 58
  • Fear of the Dark 57
  • Wrathchild 51
  • Heaven Can Wait 46
  • Sanctuary 46
  • The Clairvoyant 46
  • Wasted Years 45
  • The Evil That Men Do 40
  • Guitar Solo 35
  • Phantom of the Opera 33
  • Revelations 31
  • Aces High 31
  • Powerslave 28
  • Can I Play With Madness 28
  • Rime of the Ancient Mariner 27
  • Moonchild 26
  • The Prisoner 24
  • 22 Acacia Avenue 22
  • Die With Your Boots On 20
  • Children of the Damned 20
  • Flight of Icarus 19
  • Seventh Son of a Seventh Son 19
  • Afraid to Shoot Strangers 19
  • Blood Brothers 19
  • Drifter 17
  • The Wicker Man 16
  • Brave New World 15
  • The Clansman 14
  • Wildest Dreams 14
  • Ghost of the Navigator 13
  • Drum Solo 13
  • The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg 12
  • Stranger in a Strange Land 12
  • These Colours Don't Run 12
  • No More Lies 11
  • Tailgunner 11
  • Dance of Death 11
  • Where Eagles Dare 10
  • Infinite Dreams 10
  • Man on the Edge 10
  • Sign of the Cross 10
  • Caught Somewhere in Time 9
  • El Dorado 9
  • Another Life 9
  • Murders in the Rue Morgue 9
  • To Tame a Land 8
  • Lord of the Flies 8
  • Bring Your Daughter... to the Slaughter 8
  • Public Enema Number One 7
  • No Prayer for the Dying 7
  • Holy Smoke 7
  • Transylvania 7
  • Prowler 7
  • Speed of Light 6
  • The Red and the Black 6
  • Futureal 6
  • Death or Glory 6
  • The Book of Souls 6
  • If Eternity Should Fail 6
  • Killers 6
  • Tears of a Clown 4
  • Dream of Mirrors 4
  • The Mercenary 4
  • Be Quick or Be Dead 4
  • The Assassin 4
  • From Here to Eternity 4
  • Remember Tomorrow 4
  • Wasting Love 4
  • For the Greater Good of God 3
  • The Pilgrim 3
  • Lord of Light 3
  • The Angel and the Gambler 3
  • The Aftermath 3
  • Lightning Strikes Twice 3
  • The Edge of Darkness 3
  • Brighter Than a Thousand Suns 3
  • When Two Worlds Collide 3
  • Fortunes of War 3
  • The Educated Fool 3
  • Blood on the World's Hands 3
  • Different World 3
  • The Longest Day 3
  • Out of the Shadows 3
  • The Legacy 3
  • Twilight Zone 2
  • Genghis Khan 2
  • Purgatory 2
  • Journeyman 2
  • Innocent Exile 2
  • Losfer Words (Big 'Orra) 2
  • Paschendale 2
  • The Great Unknown 2
  • Rainmaker 2
The band has played 97 separate songs live in Canada (plus a few extended guitar or drum solos that were specifically noted in several of the set lists).

Six songs have been played in at least two-thirds of the shows - "Iron Maiden" (the only song played in every concert with a confirmed set list), the three big songs from "The Number of the Best", "The Trooper", and "2 Minutes to Midnight".

Which songs have been overplayed (relative to other countries)? Due to extensive "Maiden England" tours both in 1988 and 2012, some of those songs seem to be over-represented ("Can I Play With Madness", "Moonchild", "The Prisoner", "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son").

Which songs have been underplayed (relative to other countries)? For the most part, it's songs from the earliest days ("Drifter", "Prowler", "Transylvania", "Remember Tomorrow", "Another Life", etc).

There have been 58 album songs that have never been played in Canada. For the most part, these are ones that were rarely or never played live. Some of the most notable omissions (among songs that have been played live) are "Charlotte the Harlot", "Strange World", "Sea of Madness", and "Still Life", and everything aside from "El Dorado" from "The Final Frontier".
 
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Table 5 - albums played on Canadian soil
  • The Number of the Beast 351
  • Iron Maiden 266
  • Piece of Mind 171
  • Seventh Son of a Seventh Son 169
  • Powerslave 165
  • Somewhere in Time 112
  • Killers 100
  • Fear of the Dark 96
  • Brave New World 71
  • None (solo) 48
  • A Matter of Life and Death 48
  • Dance of Death 42
  • The X Factor 40
  • The Book of Souls 36
  • No Prayer for the Dying 36
  • Virtual XI 32
  • The Final Frontier 9
Not surprisingly, the two albums whose songs have been played most live are "The Number of the Beast" and "Iron Maiden". Their first seven albums take up the top seven spots on the list (though "Fear of the Dark" is just behind, thanks to its title track).

Aside from "A Matter of Life and Death" (which they played in its entirety three times), the album that they played the highest percentage of songs from was "Killers" - everything except "The Ides of March" and "Prodigal Son".

I was disappointed that they've only ever played one song from "The Final Frontier" in Canada ("El Dorado"). I thought the set list from the full Final Frontier tour (as seen in "!En Vivo!") was great.
 
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They actually played a date on Vancouver Island?
When was that and what life-threatening condition was I suffering from?
 
BloodOnTheBassistsHands said:
The band has played a disproportionate number of shows in Quebec City (Canada's 8th largest city) - smaller than Indianapolis, Indiana or Charlotte, North Carolina in the US. Perhaps the band finds the city's historical significance interesting?

Someone living in Montreal would have been able to see more than half the shows (66 out of 117) by taking up to a six hour drive (Montreal, Toronto, Quebec City, Ottawa, Kingston, Chicoutimi, Vaughan and Hamilton).

I was surprised to see Maiden play in some fairly small cities. Sudbury, Kingston, Moncton and Saint John all have under 200,000 residents, while Sarnia and Chicoutimi have under 100,000 residents.

The largest population centres that never had a Maiden concert are all located near Toronto. The top five are Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo; London; Oshawa; Windsor; and St. Catherines-Niagara.
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Bruce says in What Does This Button Do? that the band has always felt a special connection to Canada, which I think explains a lot of this. Quebec in general is the best place in the country to see the band, Montreal has felt like seeing them in Europe when I've gone. Crazy good fans.
 
Thanks. Then it was 20 July 1982 @mckindog. The first time Maiden played in British Columbia.
One day later they played Vancouver. Both in a tour segment in which they were special guest (with Girlschool) to Scorpion's Blackout US tour.
 
LooseCannon said:
Bruce says in What Does This Button Do? that the band has always felt a special connection to Canada, which I think explains a lot of this. Quebec in general is the best place in the country to see the band, Montreal has felt like seeing them in Europe when I've gone. Crazy good fans.
Click to expand...

Thanks for sharing that. I've never seen Maiden in Quebec, but hopefully there will be a chance in 2019...

During a show in Toronto in 2012 (Maiden England tour), Dickinson said something to the effect of "we love playing in Quebec, but they need to make up their minds - you're in Canada or you're not". That drew one of the biggest cheers from the crowd that night.
 
Forostar said:
Thanks. Then it was 20 July 1982 @mckindog. The first time Maiden played in British Columbia.
One day later they played Vancouver. Both in a tour segment in which they were special guest (with Girlschool) to Scorpion's Blackout US tour.
Click to expand...

I had no idea. Probably predated my fandom by a few months.
My first "real" concert was Van Halen the end of that summer and my first Maiden album was Killers sometime that fall, quickly followed by Beast and Piece of Mind when it was released the following spring.
 
Just imagine we had this for every country they ever played.
 
Isn't Adrian's wife Canadian? I also thought that his primary house was in Vancouver (not that all that explains the Canadian affinity, but it's interesting nonetheless).
 
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