RUN FOR YOUR LIVES 2026

Kalata said:
Well, if they rehearsed Sea last year, why not.
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Where did you get that information from?

Adrian does not say on the Eon Music interview that they rehearsed Sea of Madness last year, only that it did work quite well live when they played it (in the 80s). He is specifically answering a question about possible Maiden songs to be played by Smith/Kotzen in 2026.
 
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As much as I would have loved to have heard Infinite Dreams, there has to be a good reason it has been dropped twice. Either Bruce finds it hard to sing or the groove is hard to establish. It is one of those songs that treads the line tempo wise. It’s either too fast for Bruce to sing or it could drag and come across as sloppy.
 
Ascendingthethrone said:
As much as I would have loved to have heard Infinite Dreams, there has to be a good reason it has been dropped twice. Either Bruce finds it hard to sing or the groove is hard to establish. It is one of those songs that treads the line tempo wise. It’s either too fast for Bruce to sing or it could drag and come across as sloppy.
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I think this time it is the groove. It's a very specific heavy Nicko style song. Maybe it just didn't work with Simon.
 
Can't agree with that. Nicko had a great groove but there's nothing magical about his playing (or 99.9% of any musician who has ever lived for that matter). There are plenty of amateur drummers who have covered that song in great ways. Simon is a professional who could've easily done that song justice, since he managed to play other legendary Maiden songs to satisfactory results.

Since this would be the second time the song missed a setlist, and the first was during Nicko's tenure, it is much more likely that other factors like the vocals were what drove that decision.
 
Vaenyr said:
Can't agree with that. Nicko had a great groove but there's nothing magical about his playing (or 99.9% of any musician who has ever lived for that matter). There are plenty of amateur drummers who have covered that song in great ways. Simon is a professional who could've easily done that song justice, since he managed to play other legendary Maiden songs to satisfactory results.

Since this would be the second time the song missed a setlist, and the first was during Nicko's tenure, it is much more likely that other factors like the vocals were what drove that decision.
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Couldn't disagree more. Nicko being a jazz-funk influenced drummer is a major factor in Maiden's sound. As someone who played with multiple drummers, it's incredible how much the drummer changes the feel of the song. Infinite Dreams is one of the songs where Nicko's groove really comes out, especially the first part. Stranger In A Strange Land is another.

Simon is a great drummer and plays some songs amazingly. Rime is an example. But he really struggles with some Nicko details on some songs like 2MTM. Infinite Dreams is full of Nicko idiosyncrasies.
 
matic22 said:
Couldn't disagree more. Nicko being a jazz-funk influenced drummer is a major factor in Maiden's sound. As someone who played with multiple drummers, it's incredible how much the drummer changes the feel of the song. Infinite Dreams is one of the songs where Nicko's groove really comes out, especially the first part. Stranger In A Strange Land is another.

Simon is a great drummer and plays some songs amazingly. Rime is an example. But he really struggles with some Nicko details on some songs like 2MTM. Infinite Dreams is full of Nicko idiosyncrasies.
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100%. Nicko-isms. I've never quite been able to put my finger on it, but myself and a colleague of mine who is a great drummer, discussed it and best we could summarize it as was - Nicko's drumming is explosive yet very refined. The intricate patterns of the ride and kick patterns, the dynamics of his drum fills, and the general way he manages to play his drums more musically than most drummers (that I've heard anyway). His playing is like a V12 engine, full of intricate parts and character, and just sounds pure powerful. (Cringey analogy I know, deal with it.)

This is a far more substantial part than people realize, of what makes post 82' Maiden tracks sound the way they do, and also how we've got used to hearing Clive-Era songs live. It's nothing against Simon as a drummer - some of the tracks he absolutely nails it, not in an 'identical to Nicko' way, but in a 'That sounds awesome and totally suits the song' way. I'm looking forward to hearing him on the next tour, now that he's settled in a bit more. Even if they bring new tracks in, I think he'll fall into the rhythm of those quicker.
 
matic22 said:
Couldn't disagree more. Nicko being a jazz-funk influenced drummer is a major factor in Maiden's sound. As someone who played with multiple drummers, it's incredible how much the drummer changes the feel of the song. Infinite Dreams is one of the songs where Nicko's groove really comes out, especially the first part. Stranger In A Strange Land is another.

Simon is a great drummer and plays some songs amazingly. Rime is an example. But he really struggles with some Nicko details on some songs like 2MTM. Infinite Dreams is full of Nicko idiosyncrasies.
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You are conflating multiple things here. As I already said, Nicko is a great drummer, but he's just another musician. He's not some once in a lifetime musician. There are hundreds of amateur drummers out there who can perform Infinite Dreams perfectly and copy every little detail of Nicko's playing. Denying that comes across as blind fanboyism.

Furthermore, Steve and the rest of the bans are happy enough with Simon's interpretations of all the other songs. Do you really think there's something so sacred about Infinite Dreams of all things, where they'd go "nah, the drumming is off, have to axe the song"? This is incredibly unlikely, since 1) subpar performances have never stopped Maiden from choosing certain songs (Aces High on recent tours in the most unflattering spot, the entirety of the Blaze era) and 2) the song already got axed 13 years ago when Nicko was still drummer and could perform his songs faithfully. There are very clearly other issues that go beyond drumming that stop ID from appearing in setlists.
 
Vaenyr said:
You are conflating multiple things here. As I already said, Nicko is a great drummer, but he's just another musician. He's not some once in a lifetime musician. There are hundreds of amateur drummers out there who can perform Infinite Dreams perfectly and copy every little detail of Nicko's playing. Denying that comes across as blind fanboyism.
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I agree to disagree with this. Same thing could then be said about Neil Peart, John Bonham and Keith Moon. Heck, even more with Ringo Starr and Charlie Watts. The only famous drummer that I can think of that does not fall into this "just another drummer" criterea is Danny Carey.

A drummer shapes the way the band sounds. And the parts they come with are only theirs and are their fingerprint. Everything goes into equation. I played the same song with 2 different drummers. Completely different feel. And don't get me wrong, I get that Steve likes to play with Simon and he is a creature of habit, so the gig is rightfully his and is doing a good job. But Iron Maiden's sound feels different without Nick.
 
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srfc said:
Massive leap to go from having the piece of information that Infinite Dreams was being considered, to Simon's drumming being the reason it wasnt played.
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It could've been a factor, as Infinite Dreams is littered with Nicko-isms. It's what forums do best - speculation. But even this is one of the reasons, I think there were more and bigger ones, mainly in the vocal department.
 
matic22 said:
A drummer shapes the way the band sounds. And the parts they come with are only theirs and are their fingerprint. Everything goes into equation. I played the same song with 2 different drummers. Completely different feel. And don't get me wrong, I get that Steve likes to play with Simon and he is a creature of habit, so the gig is rightfully his and is doing a good job. But Iron Maiden's sound feels different without Nick.
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Please re-read my comment. None of this is actually relevant to the discussion. Of course playing with a different drummer changes the feel of a song. You aren't the only musician on here who has played with other people. I've already stated that Nicko is a great drummer with his own style.

What I'm actually saying is that the little details don't matter to Steve, Bruce and Rod. They simply don't care. Otherwise Simon, who plays differently to Nicko, wouldn't have gotten the job. Hell, Nicko wouldn't have gotten the gig back in 82, since he played Clive's songs in a very different manner.

The fact that they didn't play ID back in 2012 - when Nicko was still the drummer (which you somehow conveniently ignore in this discussion) - further proves that the "issue" with that song clearly is not in the drums, it's something else. Whether that's in the vocals or the boys can't figure out a proper three guitar arrangement or something entirely different is another question. But given the information we currently have I can absolutely guarantee you that Simon is not the reason.
 
I am sure that Iron Maiden could have found a drummer who could have copied Nicko almost perfectly or extremely well. They obviously didn't want that. (Not unusual, by the way, when looking for a replacement in a band.)
Therefore, I don't think it's logical to believe that “Infinite Dreams” wasn't played because Simon couldn't copy Nicko well enough.
 
matic22 said:
It could've been a factor, as Infinite Dreams is littered with Nicko-isms. It's what forums do best - speculation. But even this is one of the reasons, I think there were more and bigger ones, mainly in the vocal department.
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I agree it could be for many reasons, I think it could just be Steve saying "nah, not feeling it" like has happened plenty of songs in the past, but there's very little to go on at the moment in our speculations.
 
matic22 said:
It could've been a factor, as Infinite Dreams is littered with Nicko-isms. It's what forums do best - speculation. But even this is one of the reasons, I think there were more and bigger ones, mainly in the vocal department.
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Doubt it was a factor, it was on the short list for the Maiden England tour, even got rehearsed but was also dropped.
 
MrKnickerbocker said:
“Yeah, good question! I think it was pencilled in. It was pencilled in. We were going to do it, but for some reason, I don't know why we didn't end up doing it. I don't know why. That's interesting, yeah, the whole big 50th anniversary book, and then we don't do the song [laughing], but I mean, Maiden has got so many songs, it's just hard to cover everything.”
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Not exactly a quote that will be remembered with Marcus Aurelis or Mark Twain, is it.
 
matic22 said:
Sea Of Madness likely wasn't rehearsed for The Future Past. I'd say LOTLDR was considered, but never rehearsed due to Nicko's condition.
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I think the 5-5 Senjutsu/Somewhere in Time split was established already by the time the tour announcement was rolled out in October 2022. I think they knew the five SIT songs they were going to do from the get go.
 
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