Songs not meant to be played live

I think it is not so much that they think about the songs that won't do well live - it's just that some songs have more live potential than others and are more obvious contenders for a live setting. Perhaps its a theatrical song that lends itself well to a performance. Perhaps it's a quick blinder that will get everyone on their feet. Perhaps it has certain participation qualities, like room for a sing a long or other crowd participation aspects. I'm sure with some songs they can tell in the studio immediately that "Oh yeah, this is gonna go down well live" and with others not. It's just that some are more obvious live tracks than others.
 
Stranger in a Strange Land was a live favorite of mine...they played it in 86/87 and again on the Ed Hunter tour. But they dropped it quite early from the specific set,right?So what changed after all these years?
 
In 1999 it was dropped when Adrian's father died. He left, the band continued the tour without him, and without Stranger in a Strange Land. He came back and the song did not come back.

The commentary says this of it:
Sadly, Adrian Smith had to miss some of the shows due to the death of his father, and the band omitted "Stranger In A Strange Land" from the set because Janick didn't have time to learn Adrian's solo. After Adrian did return, they decided to continue on without playing "Stranger..." because they felt it made the entire set move better.
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I'd like to read the source for this.
 
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Shadow said:
I haven't investigated this, but could there be some democratic aspect to the selections, i.e. Janick gets one of his songs, Adrian one of his, and so on?
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Do you mean like when they play "Charlotte the Harlot" show after show to content Dave? :D
 
Here's some insight from Adrian from the recent interview about this very topic:

Your going to be out on the road next year…do you think you’ll play the whole record live? It worked well with A Matter Of Life And Death.

AS: I don’t thing we’ll play the whole thing. I think it’ll be too much for people. Having said that, we can turn up at rehearsal and Steve will say, ‘We’re gonna play the whole thing at this rehearsal’ - he’s done that before. But I think we’ll pick the ones that work live; we’re not sure yet. We’re really looking forward to going out with it next year.
 
I know we haven't heard it yet, but from the interviews from Adrian and Janick, I have a feeling that Empire of Clouds won't work live, due primarily because of the length and that they weren't able to record it as one piece. Maybe it will be too difficult to play live?

But what do I know? Ancient Mariner was recorded in chunks, and that works wonderfully live.
 
Empire of the Clouds will never be played live because of the way it was constructed in the studio. It's basically another Alexander the Great in terms of it never seeing the light of day.
 
Ranko said:
Here's some insight from Adrian from the recent interview about this very topic:

Your going to be out on the road next year…do you think you’ll play the whole record live? It worked well with A Matter Of Life And Death.

AS: I don’t thing we’ll play the whole thing. I think it’ll be too much for people. Having said that, we can turn up at rehearsal and Steve will say, ‘We’re gonna play the whole thing at this rehearsal’ - he’s done that before. But I think we’ll pick the ones that work live; we’re not sure yet. We’re really looking forward to going out with it next year.
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Still, "going to work" tells literally nothing about why a song is played or not, live. The band will never admit they are not going to be able to pull it of, or that something is daunting.
 
It's crazy how a band like DT has incredibly complicated songs and plays them all live while most others wouldn't even consider it.
 
NotePad said:
It's crazy how a band like DT has incredibly complicated songs and plays them all live while most others wouldn't even consider it.
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Well, the technical level of the musicians is simply not comparable. Plus, you don't get bored at an IM concert. Dream Theater, on the other hand... ;)
 
I honestly think technical level is irrelevant when it comes to that sort of thing. DT can play all their songs live because they practice and rehearse them more. The Maiden guys are capable of doing any of their songs live* but some need extra rehearsal live.

*aside from songs like Face in the Sand where theres a technical issue like a different drum set up but I'm sure they could just rearrange those parts to fit the live setup.
 
The Maiden guys seem to be big DT fans. I've heard multiple times Bruce compliment them. And I also remember a time recently when Steve compared one of the newer albums to being progressive in a DT-like way, which I found odd because, while IM is certainly progressive these days, I've always said it's NOT progressive in the same way DT is.

Just sayin'.
 
NotePad said:
The Maiden guys seem to be big DT fans. I've heard multiple times Bruce compliment them. And I also remember a time recently when Steve compared one of the newer albums to being progressive in a DT-like way, which I found odd because, while IM is certainly progressive these days, I've always said it's NOT progressive in the same way DT is.

Just sayin'.
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He specifically said that Maiden is more prog in '70s way than prog in today's way, like Dream Theater.
 
Zare said:
He specifically said that Maiden is more prog in '70s way than prog in today's way, like Dream Theater.
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Which I find odd, as I've said, because I don't think they are progressive in the same way DT is. But if that's how they see themselves....
 
DT is a progressive band: that intent is at the forefront of every song.

Maiden is a metal band with progressive tendencies, and those prog intentions fit the song. They didn't make Paschendale complex for the hell of it like DT would. They wrote PFD as they did because that's what the song requires.
 
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