Next year's tour speculation thread

I took my good friend to his first Maiden show in June, and he enjoyed the hell out of it, but what sold him on how great Maiden is, was definitely Running Free. That kind of call and response for a new fan blows em away every time. Plus, Bruce kinda gets to do his band introduction thing, and riff off the crowd for a couple minutes. Come to think of it, when I took my friend Grant to his first metal show at Ozzfest in '05 (Grant is an openly gay, dance club kind of guy, definitely not a metal dude at all, but he still wanted to go) and we had the Early Days set, he said the same thing. He thought that Maiden killed it, but in particular he loved Running Free. Honestly, I think they could play it more often, since it works pretty damn well with the crowd.

So, I think the only change I might consider is putting Running Free either at the start of the encore, or maybe as the middle song, but I do think it works as a pretty damn cool closer.

You really have to pick a song that all the older fans know, and I definitely get the upbeat ideology. So let's think here, which songs do Maiden use to close their sets typically?

Sanctuary, Running Free, Hallowed, and Run to the Hills. We all love Hallowed, but it's definitely a downer ending (worked for somewhere back in time, but still). So with the remaining three I think we can really look at it this way, Run to the Hills is obviously the song that even my Mom has heard, so that's a viable choice and will ALWAYS be a viable choice despite our fatigue with it. However when you're comparing Running Free and Sanctuary let's be honest, Running Free is just more fun live, and in my opinion and overall better song.

Other than that, I don't know, I couldn't tell you what other songs I'd prefer to close because they're just not realistic.
 
Invader said:
I really enjoyed Running Free, I was  very pleasantly surprised when it was not Run to the Hills.  Run to the Hills is so overplayed that I got bored seeing it live in 2008, while they haven't used Running Free much lately.  And Prowler I just dislike.  I'll agree HBTN isn't a good ender, I'd rather have it before the encore.  The last songs have a sad feeling about them since the gig's almost about to end, and I don't like associating that with HBTN.
Sure, it could be changed, but I still think some classical would work better as an intro than Satellite 15.  Satellite 15 is simply too long for an intro at four minutes, the waiting would make me explode.
And DOTR used a different intro.
First of all - you're correct - they used a different intro on DOTR. My bad. I believe then, the first time it was used was on AMOLAD tour?

Secondly, you have a strong point there that S15 might too long for intro, but even with that in mind, it can still be good and fitting, especially because it is the album intro of course, and we can safely assume the set opener will be TFF. Worst case they can drop Doctor Doctor :ninja: (or not).

Reading both what Invader and Cap Maronis said about Running Free: As I said - it is good, but not great, and I think they used to play it with much more energy and spice before Bruce left. So, perhaps it's just feeling overused to me, because the performances recorded for LAD and ARDO are much, much better than anything I heard them make of this song since Bruce returned to the band.
 
  The more I listen to FF, the more I feel the need to hear the whole thing live.  It is a stronger album than AMOLAD IMO.  AMOLAD live was awesome.  True, many of the 'fans' were restless waiting for classics during the set.  But you know what, screw em'!!  There is not a song on the album FF' that doesn't deserve a live blasting. But since this is not going to happen more than likely, here is my predicted setlist;

1  Sat 15 FF
2  El Dorado
3  Flight of Icarus
4  The Wicker Man
5  The Talisman
6  Trooper
7  Children of the Damned
8  Wasted Years
9    Wrathchild
10  These colors Don't Run
11  When the Wild Wind Blows
12  Can I play With Madness
13  Iron Maiden [blah]

  Encore:  1] 22 Acacia Avenue.  2] Coming Home.  3] 2 Minutes to midnight
 
I'd be all for them playing TFF the entire way through, but I'd also be for them advertising the show as such, just like Rush is doing with their current tour.

That would pretty much invalidate the "casual fan" argument re: what they want to hear.

On the other hand, I totally believe this year's attendance would have been WAY down had they advertised "Come See Maiden Play Some Post-2000 Songs They All Like".
 
Crimson Mask said:
On the other hand, I totally believe this year's attendance would have been WAY down had they advertised "Come See Maiden Play Some Post-2000 Songs They All Like".

Hmm... I don't think the attendance would have gone down so much.  Each album tour, they play a lot of new stuff, and they have always played a lot of new stuff on album tours.  It should come as no surprise to anyone to see 6 new songs in the set, yet people routinely show up for those gigs.  Maybe in the US more so than in Europe. 
 
Cap Maronis said:
Sanctuary, Running Free, Hallowed, and Run to the Hills. We all love Hallowed, but it's definitely a downer ending (worked for somewhere back in time, but still).

I think Hallowed Be Thy Name is their best song, and the best song to end a gig with. Just watch Flight 666, all those happy proud faces on stage and even in the audience.. It's perfect to finish with.
 
bornless1 said:
  The more I listen to FF, the more I feel the need to hear the whole thing live.  It is a stronger album than AMOLAD IMO.  AMOLAD live was awesome.  True, many of the 'fans' were restless waiting for classics during the set.  But you know what, screw em'!!  There is not a song on the album FF' that doesn't deserve a live blasting.

I definitely agree, it must be played live in its entirety. A Matter of Life and Death is a killer album and it was cool hearing it live but The Final Frontier, yes, is a much better album and I don't know why they're not doing it all live. Songs like When the Wild Wind Blows, The Talisman, Isle of Avalon, Starblind, The Man Who Would Be King, and Mother of Mercy must be played live and the singles and hits from the album must also be included in the set so therefore, the whole album must be played live, period. Save the classics for another time, as much as I like the classics better, this album matches up to the classics, it is a phenomenal masterpiece, and I really want to hear it all live. Perhaps Maiden should consider a 21 song set list with the entire album being played live first and then a couple of newer songs and some classics with a half hour intermission between sets. I know Ronnie James Dio did something along these lines during the Magica Tour and Queensryche did something like this during the Operation Mindcrime II Tour I think but don't quote me.
 
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