The Future Past tour 2023

Status
Not open for further replies.
Lego said:
Not only is he 71, but he has arthritis and is a laryngeal cancer survivor.

I think it's remarkable how well he and Bruce have aged, especially considering all they've been through.
Click to expand...
Nicko is both a legend and a beast. I think he do very well. People should give him some credit for trying his best for the band. My mother is the same age as Nicko, she can’t do anything close to what Nicko does; playing a few shows a week some months every year, or all the traveling Nicko has to do. Or working with his restaurant when he is not touring.
 
Ironalice said:
Think i'm going to have to change my mind about Celts, They are playing this one flawlessly and it seems to be a pretty easy song for them to pull off. Despite the lack of crowd energy there is good odds it survives the entire tour (Both legs)

Click to expand...
Yeah, it's fine live. The live setting for it is great. I think they thought Parchment is a bit more difficult song live - more melodies, more lyrics, faster part. Drumming wise, I think not.

Btw, I think they skipped a part of the instrumental section in the video above.
 
Kalata said:
Yeah, it's fine live. The live setting for it is great. I think they thought Parchment is a bit more difficult song live - more melodies, more lyrics, faster part. Drumming wise, I think not.

Btw, I think they skipped a part of the instrumental section in the video above.
Click to expand...
Wow!Where Cut on Studio version?
and Second Show Change First Show?
 
Last edited:
Spambot's awful weekend in Ljubljana, part 1​

Three days later and 400 km farther, I'm sitting at a PC, scrolling through pictures on my phone and thinking – never again.

First thing I noticed when I arrived Saturday afternoon was the weather. It was nice and sunny for the whole weekend and… that’s it. Just nice and sunny. I mean, don’t you have other weather, too? Like, the day starts, somebody flicks a switch with one setting and there you are, go through nice and sunny through the whole day, every day? Lame.

So, I decided to visit the city center and took their bicycle rental service – BicikeLJ. It cost 1 euro for 1 week. I shit you not, that’s it. I came to your city and decide to spend some money and I can drive my bike for as long as I want for 1 euro?! Even more, that sh** is everywhere. Next to my hostel, in the city center, around Cvetličarna (where British Lion was playing) and around arena Stožice (where Maiden was playing) and it was always available so I didn’t even use free bus service for the Maiden gig on Sunday. Cheap.

More so, it took me 5 minutes on a bike from my hostel to the city center in one direction, and Stožice was 5 minutes on a bike in another direction. Where’s that rush and nervousness when you’re in another city, trying to orient yourself, worrying you might be late for something., trying to decipher their bus/metro/ taxi services? It’s not there. Non-existent.

I arrive at the city center, only to be greeted by the “Beer and Burger Festival”, a huge brass band playing popular rock songs and chanting Hare-Krishnas offering me books. WTF?! Do you need to be so vibrant, can’t everybody just shut the fu** up while I’m there? After all, I came to the city center on the weekend afternoon to enjoy some peace and quiet. No, here’s all kind of entertainment, plus, we have all kinds of stores, bars, and restaurants lined up next to each other. Barbaric.

So, I walked across those couple of bridges, decided to have a bite and a drink, and guess what? You sit at a table and have to watch again some of those things. I’m either eating sausages at the river bank, or I’m drinking coffee at the town square, or (trying to) enjoy a pint on a main street of a medieval Old town. Claustrophobic.

Finally, I managed to get out of that hell hole and go to the hostel to change up. Oh, and there’s another nightmare there. Hostel full of Iron Maiden fans. There’s this professor from France, some younger guy from Chile, and of course a lot of Balkan people (and one goddamn Croatian. There always have to be one goddamn Croatian). And they’re all different ages, from 18 to 50. Different ages, different countries, about what am I supposed to talk to them? Confusing.

So, it took me 5 minutes to get to the hostel and 5 minutes to Cvetličarna (I can not express how unpractical that was.) While I’m here, I’m going to comment that I saw a lot of members of Maiden family, Killer Krew, and so on wandering around the city that whole weekend. At one point, think it was Sunday early afternoon, I saw Janick going to the hotel and there were a couple of fans there waiting. Not only he didn’t tell them to fu** off, he stopped and took pictures with them!!!! And so did other members while they were in the city! I mean, I respect each member Iron Maiden, but it’s obvious they don’t respect themselves. Pathetic.

Luckily, at British Lion gig, it seemed to be a change of scenery. There, I saw real fans. Fans who pay for their membership, unlike you ungrateful wankers. Those fans deserve Iron Maiden. They deserve Steve Harris. It doesn’t matter if there’s some kid who is at his first rock concert, they have more right to be there. After real fans meet - they hug and cheer and love each other, until there’s an opportunity to trip someone’s leg to be an inch closer to the stage or claw at your hand because they thought you caught Steve’s wristband (although they probably have three at home, they deserve the fourth one, after all, they’re the real fans. I really felt bad because after a couple of them clawed and grabbed me, I had nothing to show after. I’m sorry I let you down.) Real fans, while not on the phone messaging Steve’s sister or Janick’s guitar technician, are eyeballing the rest of the ”unknown” audience, subtly telling them how to behave at a Maiden/Harris concert. Because there’s only one way to enjoy a gig and theirs is right. Singing every lyric when Steve’s in front of you and when Steve leaves, yawn at the rest of the band. Heroic.

As the gig went on, I started becoming more and more disappointed because a question appeared in my head: “Really Steve, have you stooped so low?! This is how you’re spending your days being 67 years old?! Playing in front of 500 people, on a stage so small your bass guitar hits the front row of the audience? No theatricality, just stepping on stage and rocking for 2 hours with a couple of guys who look like they’re your footy mates? I thought you were a professional musician, not some bloke who likes to have fun tickling his bass live! Dreams shattered, man.” Disappointing.

After the British Lion gig, nothing happened. I didn’t meet anybody, I didn’t go anywhere, and I didn’t have a drink or a bite. 2 AM passed when I took a shower and laid in my bed thinking how boring this day was and what atrocities await for me tomorrow. If you read all this, I applaud you. But I must admit, these memories made my stomach sound so loud I have to go and take a Pepto-Bismol.

I’m splitting this review into two parts.

The worst is yet to come.
 
efekåseo_suomi said:
Everyone beyond Harris is a hired gun in this band ;)
Click to expand...
Is this April fool's day??? Do you really believe it? If so, just let me laugh because this might be one of the dumbest things I've ever read about Maiden...if this was Kiss, yeah we all know it but Maiden...give us a break, would you?

What is "fun" is that there always seems to be some that will never ever be happy with whatever the band has to offer. In here we have one of the best and original setlists ever, Bruce sounding pretty good (for what I've heard so far), same goes for the rest of the "hired guns" (including Steve)..so now the problem is Nicko...maybe you should try and compare his performance to drummers of his age and see if there are that will do a better job. Maiden's drumming while not being the most technical in the world is still pretty busy and asks a lot...then knowing his age (I'm not aware of possible health issues so I'm not going to talk about it), the fact that its a 90-100 minutes show, I'm quite sure, he knows what is the best he can so that the song can continue without sounding "that" bad...maybe when you'll reach his age, then maybe try just a 2-3 song in a row and let us know how you'll manage to do it.
Of course, I'm "disappointed" that it won't sound perfect but I'd rather listen to some "simplified" drumming than lets say using tapes instead!! At least, we know each and everyone of them is playing 100% live and specially nowadays, its something that seems to become rare when it should be...the norm
 
Flaming Blimp Crash said:
It has to be something with nerves with Nicko. Never heard him that off on an opening night before.
Click to expand...
Well on the first night of the Ed Hunter tour he did mess up on a couple of songs. Also, on the opening night of the Eddie Rips Up The World Tour, he messed up so bad during 'Murders In The Rue Morgue' that the rest of the band had a hard time going through the song. Steve literally had turned to Nick and verbally yell at him as to where they were in the song. There was also an error (on Nicko's part) on the opening night of the 2009 leg of the Somewhere Back In Time Tour, when he went into 'The Trooper' in the wrong place, well in the wrong order of the set anyways.
 
Spambot said:
Spambot's awful weekend in Ljubljana, part 1​

Three days later and 400 km farther, I'm sitting at a PC, scrolling through pictures on my phone and thinking – never again.

First thing I noticed when I arrived Saturday afternoon was the weather. It was nice and sunny for the whole weekend and… that’s it. Just nice and sunny. I mean, don’t you have other weather, too? Like, the day starts, somebody flicks a switch with one setting and there you are, go through nice and sunny through the whole day, every day? Lame.

So, I decided to visit the city center and took their bicycle rental service – BicikeLJ. It cost 1 euro for 1 week. I shit you not, that’s it. I came to your city and decide to spend some money and I can drive my bike for as long as I want for 1 euro?! Even more, that sh** is everywhere. Next to my hostel, in the city center, around Cvetličarna (where British Lion was playing) and around arena Stožice (where Maiden was playing) and it was always available so I didn’t even use free bus service for the Maiden gig on Sunday. Cheap.

More so, it took me 5 minutes on a bike from my hostel to the city center in one direction, and Stožice was 5 minutes on a bike in another direction. Where’s that rush and nervousness when you’re in another city, trying to orient yourself, worrying you might be late for something., trying to decipher their bus/metro/ taxi services? It’s not there. Non-existent.

I arrive at the city center, only to be greeted by the “Beer and Burger Festival”, a huge brass band playing popular rock songs and chanting Hare-Krishnas offering me books. WTF?! Do you need to be so vibrant, can’t everybody just shut the fu** up while I’m there? After all, I came to the city center on the weekend afternoon to enjoy some peace and quiet. No, here’s all kind of entertainment, plus, we have all kinds of stores, bars, and restaurants lined up next to each other. Barbaric.

So, I walked across those couple of bridges, decided to have a bite and a drink, and guess what? You sit at a table and have to watch again some of those things. I’m either eating sausages at the river bank, or I’m drinking coffee at the town square, or (trying to) enjoy a pint on a main street of a medieval Old town. Claustrophobic.

Finally, I managed to get out of that hell hole and go to the hostel to change up. Oh, and there’s another nightmare there. Hostel full of Iron Maiden fans. There’s this professor from France, some younger guy from Chile, and of course a lot of Balkan people (and one goddamn Croatian. There always have to be one goddamn Croatian). And they’re all different ages, from 18 to 50. Different ages, different countries, about what am I supposed to talk to them? Confusing.

So, it took me 5 minutes to get to the hostel and 5 minutes to Cvetličarna (I can not express how unpractical that was.) While I’m here, I’m going to comment that I saw a lot of members of Maiden family, Killer Krew, and so on wandering around the city that whole weekend. At one point, think it was Sunday early afternoon, I saw Janick going to the hotel and there were a couple of fans there waiting. Not only he didn’t tell them to fu** off, he stopped and took pictures with them!!!! And so did other members while they were in the city! I mean, I respect each member Iron Maiden, but it’s obvious they don’t respect themselves. Pathetic.

Luckily, at British Lion gig, it seemed to be a change of scenery. There, I saw real fans. Fans who pay for their membership, unlike you ungrateful wankers. Those fans deserve Iron Maiden. They deserve Steve Harris. It doesn’t matter if there’s some kid who is at his first rock concert, they have more right to be there. After real fans meet - they hug and cheer and love each other, until there’s an opportunity to trip someone’s leg to be an inch closer to the stage or claw at your hand because they thought you caught Steve’s wristband (although they probably have three at home, they deserve the fourth one, after all, they’re the real fans. I really felt bad because after a couple of them clawed and grabbed me, I had nothing to show after. I’m sorry I let you down.) Real fans, while not on the phone messaging Steve’s sister or Janick’s guitar technician, are eyeballing the rest of the ”unknown” audience, subtly telling them how to behave at a Maiden/Harris concert. Because there’s only one way to enjoy a gig and theirs is right. Singing every lyric when Steve’s in front of you and when Steve leaves, yawn at the rest of the band. Heroic.

As the gig went on, I started becoming more and more disappointed because a question appeared in my head: “Really Steve, have you stooped so low?! This is how you’re spending your days being 67 years old?! Playing in front of 500 people, on a stage so small your bass guitar hits the front row of the audience? No theatricality, just stepping on stage and rocking for 2 hours with a couple of guys who look like they’re your footy mates? I thought you were a professional musician, not some bloke who likes to have fun tickling his bass live! Dreams shattered, man.” Disappointing.

After the British Lion gig, nothing happened. I didn’t meet anybody, I didn’t go anywhere, and I didn’t have a drink or a bite. 2 AM passed when I took a shower and laid in my bed thinking how boring this day was and what atrocities await for me tomorrow. If you read all this, I applaud you. But I must admit, these memories made my stomach sound so loud I have to go and take a Pepto-Bismol.

I’m splitting this review into two parts.

The worst is yet to come.
Click to expand...
Sounds bloody awful. I wonder how this horror show ends?
 
Luisma said:
Well on the first night of the Ed Hunter tour he did mess up on a couple of songs. Also, on the opening night of the Eddie Rips Up The World Tour, he messed up so bad during 'Murders In The Rue Morgue' that the rest of the band had a hard time going through the song. Steve literally had turned to Nick and verbally yell at him as to where they were in the song. There was also an error (on Nicko's part) on the opening night of the 2009 leg of the Somewhere Back In Time Tour, when he went into 'The Trooper' in the wrong place, well in the wrong order of the set anyways.
Click to expand...
Indeed. It's actually crazy to think that a band who still play up to 100 shows per tour wouldn't make mistakes from time to time.
 
TheTalisman said:

Good audio.

I really like Dave's new Stratocaster btw, it's a bit reminiscent of his 80's ESP Strat, which he used on Maiden England.
Click to expand...
I cant find info about it yet.

Would really like Fender made it into production. Want a Dave Murray guitar for some time and totally prefer this new one to the Sunburst that I really dont like.
 
I think Nickos drumming is fine given his age. A part of me is always a bit worried that he may mess up so badly he may not be able to continue. But thats because i just find it mad that a 71 year old can drum for 2 hours a night at in a metal band, incredible.
 
Spambot's awful weekend in Ljubljana, part 2​

The day of an Iron Maiden gig.
Always a special one (unless you had an uneventful time like me yesterday.)
And it’s the first date of a new tour!

While we’re at it, what the fu** is all the secrecy about?! I mean, come on! It’s like going to a restaurant and you’re handed a menu where it just says “Food.” OK, food, it must be mac ‘n’ cheese, right? Everybody can make mac ‘n’ cheese, everybody loves mac ‘n’ cheese. No, you get some steak Rasputin or whatever and some puree with bacon chips. There’s, like, a fork AND a knife, and I have to use both hands, seriously, I’m there to eat, not work. It was the same with this gig. I go to your show and even if I’m fine with not knowing what I am getting, you serve me 7 songs that I’ve never heard before?! If you’re going to be that bold - then serve me every song I haven’t heard before! This way, it doesn’t stink nor does it smell nice. Go up and make up your mind, Maiden. But, I’m getting ahead of myself, sorry (still frustrated). Let’s start at the beginning.

Sunday morning in the city center (no, it wasn’t any less vibrant than yesterday, and no, those restaurants/pubs didn’t put me in some booth inside.) and in the afternoon I’m heading to the arena (yes, on a bike and; no, the distances didn’t prolong themselves). On my way there every other person is wearing a Maiden shirt and every bar is blasting Iron Maiden music. Get a hold of yourselves people!!!! Your bar isn’t Stožice arena to blast Iron Maiden and you people aren’t Janick or Dave to wear a Maiden shirt. FFS, behave.

Hordes of people are happily going into the arena. What are you happy about if you don’t know what’s gonna happen? It’s like going to the dentist, it can be just a routine check or he can drill your jaw for two hours (at moments, the gig really felt like that). Unfortunately, we were late to see Raven Age, so now I won't make a t-shirt that says “I saw Raven Age 3 times, what’s your superpower?” I guess they’ll be UK contestants for next year’s Eurovision, so there’s always hope.

Around 9 PM “Doctor, Doctor” starts (and the show was scheduled for 20:50, who’s paying me for those 10 minutes?!). Right, nobody ever heard that before. How original Maiden, how original. The people started jumping and clapping, I guess because they didn’t have to wait anymore and the sooner the show starts the sooner will it end and they’ll be home. Which I wished I could’ve been at that moment; throwing glimpses on fake setlists while watching Star Trek. You can’t have it all, I guess.

Neon lights flash over the stage and I guess it is supposed to be SIT stage, but no, there are also some screens aside. But there’s also a drape. Are those drapes really? It looks like a digital screen but on a drape. Screen-drape? But what is that at the side of the stage? It confuses me, which means I don’t like it. Go and make up your mind, Maiden. The band hasn’t even exited and they throw us some theme from some movie I haven’t seen and at that moment I had a feeling this is going to be a clusterfuck.

And it was. Caught Somewhere in Time. Really, you’re opening with a song that you haven’t played since 1987? Can you believe how old that is? I’m 36 years old and that song is older than me! I know you guys are old, but do you have to show us that right the first moment you come out?! And there’s a reference from an old movie, Back to the Future, you know one, where a mother wants to bang her own kid, and some even older movie, with Harrison Ford (no, not Indiana Jones 4 which I’m eagerly awaiting. This one is old, ergo, bad.)

But, like that wasn’t enough, here’s some other old song, Stranger in a Strange Land. And suddenly, there’s Eddie walking, the second song in a show, welcomed like a premature ejaculation. At this moment, I’m afraid that this could be the whole stage we’re getting – and I was right. Gone long are the days when you look at the stagehands running around, taking props off, or an empty stage for a couple of minutes, or just stand there in the darkness. You know, the interesting stuff. No, the songs just keep on going one after another – you have to jump and clap and cheer and Bruce is telling you to do stuff. FFS Bruce, I’m here to have fun, not to work.

I’m looking around to see how real Maiden fans behave, but… There are not enough mobile phones in the air, which doesn’t help me at all. Meanwhile, the band decided not to play old songs (which are bad, because they’re old.) They decided to play brand-new songs! What in the actual fu**?! Can you make up your mind? You see now why those worlds were a good thing?! If I knew what was going to happen I would be gone for a toilet break, or a beer or something. You know, things you look forward to when you're at a live gig.

And to make things worse, these weren’t new songs that we’d heard before, no, they were new songs never played before. Five songs in and four of them I hear for the first time. I wondered does my Netflix account work in another country, maybe there’s a way to make this fun adventure after all.

Meanwhile, instead of seeing the stagehand running around we see the whole band and Bruce is talking about shit. Literally. First, he acknowledged where we were, talking about Lake Bled, the hill in Ljubljana, and so on (duh, we get it!) and then he takes something that is universal to all people in the world – toilet humor. Mr. Bruce, heavy metal is a serious business, get a hold of yourself.

Speaking of serious business, I really thought they were professionals. I mean, isn’t Adrian considered God? Then how didn’t he fix those monitoring issues just by looking at somebody? Same as Bruce. How did it take them 2-3 seconds to get in sync together after falling apart? Gentlemen, I paid 105 euros for the ticket, and for that money I expect you to get every song right, note by note. There are only six of you, shouldn’t be that hard. If it needs to be - stop and start over from the beginning. I’ve waited for 10 minutes, I can wait a bit more. No, they have fallen out of tune only to find it really quick and kept pummeling on.

And while we’re here, let’s talk about the elephant in the room – Nicko. How the fuck dare you?! How dare you stand behind that sacred kit and simplify the songs?! How dare you adjust the song to your playing ability? How dare you take songs that you recorded three decades ago and adjust them over time?! You or any other member haven’t done this before!!! Until this gig, every song, every tune, kick, fill, solo, and verse was played exactly as it were on the album, it didn’t even matter whether were they played by the original artist or by yourself. And now, when you’re 70 – you decided to be experimental?! Fuck off. One good thing that you did is built that wall of toms so we can’t see you. That way, Maiden can replace you and nobody would even notice. You can go out at the end of the show in that slippers of yours, smile, wave, and throw sticks, you lazy arthritis wanker.

I haven’t mentioned the setlist in a while. Do I have to? Fine. So, there is this song called The Prisoner from the same album that had Run to the Hills, Hallowed be Thy Name, and The Number of the Beast – which weren’t played!!! (remember that comparison with mac ‘n’ cheese, yeah, I’m using it again.) There’s “Can I Play with Madness” and that’s… I mean, that single was only at Nr 3 at the UK charts (didn’t even reach first place, pft). What else? Heaven Can Wait? Lame, only heard it last time 15 years ago (do I have to mention again that it’s old?)

There was this big ruff about a certain song being played – Alexander the Great. Apparently, they made it in 1986 and it’s never been played live. Do you know what else wasn’t played live? The Apparition. Another one? Invaders. Want more? Quest For Fire. When somebody mentions those songs, people always respond “They’re not going to play that one” and Alexander was one of them. You know what they say – you are, who you’re hanging out with. And Alexander’s company were dinosaurs, rapists, and whatever Apparition was supposed to be. Unfortunately, Alexander moved to the category “They shouldn’t play that one.” No big speech, no special world built for him, just six of them on a stage, marching this one from start to finish.

While we’re here, they didn’t even use the intro tape for this one, not even for Hell on Earth. No, they played the whole thing from the start. What were they afraid of, that they were gonna had to pay royalties to… themselves? FFS guys, when you can’t play those songs, at least let us hear them on a prerecorded track.

Iron Maiden (the song) had two Eddies. One of them was ugly because it was pink and that is the ugliest color. Fact, not opinion. It was so ugly that I didn’t even see the walk-on Eddie who was at the stage at the same time. For 105 euros, you have that ramp up there on the stage that isn’t used anymore because Bruce had a hip replacement or knee surgery or broken Achilees heel or cancer or something (TBH, the guy is in shambles, they had to put him in some coat and googles just to keep him in one piece, like Cyrax for Mortal Kombat). Why don’t you use that ramp and just have those 3 or 4 or how many Eddies up there for the whole show so we can have a look at them properly, at least we could look at something instead of some 65-70 years olds butchering their instruments.

Maiden have Hell on Earth in the encore. Why? Why are they doing something for the first time? And pyro. Why? I want to listen to the song, not look at the pyro. There’s just too much of it. And before that, Bruce was shooting a laser gun at Eddie. Do people think violence is fun? Fire is fun? Jumping, clapping, and singing is fun? No. I want songs, the way they are, the same way I can listen to them any time of any day. That’s what I want when I go see a live show. Exact copies as they were recorded, the same ones I can listen to right now.

At the end of the show, Bruce is yelling “Every night we play is the best fucking night of our lives” Well, great for you lads, but me - I’m already scheduling my psychiatrist. Adrian and the audience are wailing like dying cats “Wasted Yeaaars” and all I can think about are wasted days and wasted money I spent in Ljubljana.

They say their goodbyes, throw some garbage they don’t need anymore in the audience, and “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life” starts over speakers. I can’t. After this night, I can’t look on the bright side of life, not anymore.

I’m a different man.
 
permanenteddie said:
Do you really believe it?
Click to expand...
Are you asking me if I believe that Steve Harris is the legal owner of the brand Iron Maiden and decides who is part of it? Is this a serious question?

permanenteddie said:
I'd rather listen to some "simplified" drumming than using tapes instead!!
Click to expand...
I don’t get why you cite me about tapes? I never said anything about backing tracks lol. I rather hear Bruce sing The Trooper instead of Blaze, perhaps I’d rather hear Lazarus play the Trooper in a few years time. When that day comes I’ll be at the show and you can stay at home :)
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top