The Future Past tour 2023

[Spaldy]

Listen to some of the old stuff he's played with Titanium Tart this year - gigs where he's not using a metronome to guide his tempo at the beginning of songs or in between song sections (like he is with Maiden).

I'm sorry, what? Since when has Nicko been using a metronome?

 

[Lego]

I'm sorry, what? Since when has Nicko been using a metronome?

He's been using one for the past few tours - it's just to get the tempo at the beginning of the song before he counts it in, he doesn't use it for the whole song.

 

[Flaming Blimp Crash]

Which tells us how integral Nicko is to the Maiden sound.

To me - no Nicko, no Maiden. I'd rather they just end the band if he has to step aside. At this point in their career, 'Steve Harris and the Rotating Door of Musicians' doesn't sound appealing to me.

EDIT re: Metronome talk: There's a picture of Nicko's kit before a show from this year where you can see the BPM for each song written on the setlist.

 

[riff]

No one except Nicko has the typical McBrain swing. So, I prefer to still have Nicko in the band than any young drummer that is doing everything else than playing in the Maiden style.

Very true but I think there are drummers out there who could do his parts justice, it's just about finding a player with the right qualities. Black Sabbath for example made a crucial error when they replaced Bill Ward with a guy who wouldn't know a groove if it bit him in the arse.

 

[SirRobbins]

its a wonderful guitar tone for sure -- that being said, has ANYBODY come close to Maiden's SiT guitar tone? Maiden's tone wasn't quite the same even just 2 years later on the Seventh Son album.

Could it be that Somewhere in Time's guitar tone is indeed trapped somewhere in time, never to be duplicated (or even approximated) by anyone, even Maiden themselves??

1988 they used RLs instead of MLs from GK. Also took out some of the chorus. There is a guy on youtube that has captured that 1986 sound quite well and does covers of that album using Adrian's jackson san dimos. Guy from Ireland.

 

[gazda]

Just watched Obi Wan Kenobi series ep.2
Plot is set on planet with futuristic Japanes streets, total vibes from tour promo videos.

 

[dickinson1978]

the song is like the album but bruce when he sing the chorus he does but like he knows LOL. why they didnt played edge of darkness with bruce.

 

[OutwardFeller]

LOL

People pretending that it's Bruce's voice they are worried about, Nah, you just want downtuned because DOWNTUNED! IS TEH HEAVIEST!!!11

Here's a news flash, Trumpets of Jericho is downtuned to A and Bruce still uses the air raid siren in it.

I want Maiden to sound like Maiden not Korn.

Indeed, it would need to be tuned half a step or a whole step down to B to fit his actual voice.
It´s not about sounding heavy, it is about helping the singer to be able to hit the notes better, becouse a mans voice drops it´s natural as the time goes.

Actually the D standard video of CSIT sounds like it was sung by bruce this year.

 

[Mega]

LOL

People pretending that it's Bruce's voice they are worried about, Nah, you just want downtuned because DOWNTUNED! IS TEH HEAVIEST!!!11

Here's a news flash, Trumpets of Jericho is downtuned to A and Bruce still uses the air raid siren in it.

I want Maiden to sound like Maiden not Korn.

Literally not the case, at least with me.
And about Trumpets, well, duh. It depends on the composition, a lower scale does not automatically make for lower songs. But classic Maiden songs will be easier for Bruce if downtuned because every note he sings will be lower equally.

 

[its_ArchroniX]

Indeed, it would need to be tuned half a step or a whole step down to B to fit his actual voice.

Surely you mean D or C tuning?

B tuning is extremely low and is used mostly in Death Metal and sometimes even Black Metal. Here's a list of band that use B tuning (don't think this is the full list of all bands that ever used B tuning but just to give you an idea). Maiden would NEVER go that low.

To give you an example of how low B tuning actually is, here's Metallica's Ride the Lightning album in B tuning (edited of course). It sounds like a freaking Death Metal band, especially songs like Ride the Lightning and Creeping Death.

And this is The Trooper and Caught Somewhere in Time in C tuning which is already extremely low (for Maiden's standard).

Edit: Am I the only one that hears Blaze's voice in this C tuning version of CSiT?

 

[GhostofCain]

To me - no Nicko, no Maiden. I'd rather they just end the band if he has to step aside. At this point in their career, 'Steve Harris and the Rotating Door of Musicians' doesn't sound appealing to me.

EDIT re: Metronome talk: There's a picture of Nicko's kit before a show from this year where you can see the BPM for each song written on the setlist.

Exactly my thoughts. I'd rather see the band bow out gracefully than continue by replacing any of their members.

 

[Flaming Blimp Crash]

I don't know if it's just because of just how stable this lineup's been, but each and every single one of them is irreplaceable to me at this point. Each guitarist brings a unique flavor that serves the band extremely well both playing and writing-wise. Nicko has a groove to his playing that I can't imagine anyone can replicate well enough. Bruce, even as he's getting older, is still the voice of Iron Maiden and is the perfect frontman for them. Steve, well, is Steve.

 

[Mega]

Surely you mean D or C tuning?

B tuning is extremely low and is used mostly in Death Metal and sometimes even Black Metal. Here's a list of band that use B tuning (don't think this is the full list of all bands that ever used B tuning but just to give you an idea). Maiden would NEVER go that low.

To give you an example of how low B tuning actually is, here's Metallica's Ride the Lightning album in B tuning (edited of course). It sounds like a freaking Death Metal band, especially songs like Ride the Lightning and Creeping Death.

And this is The Trooper and Caught Somewhere in Time in C tuning which is already extremely low (for Maiden's standard).

Edit: Am I the only one that hears Blaze's voice in this C tuning version of CSiT?

Holy shit I was skeptical about Ride the Lightning but Creeping Death actually does sound like Entombed, it's uncanny. The pitch shifting also changed the tone to be very close to that Boss HM-2 sound.

 

[OutwardFeller]

Surely you mean D or C tuning?

B tuning is extremely low and is used mostly in Death Metal and sometimes even Black Metal. Here's a list of band that use B tuning (don't think this is the full list of all bands that ever used B tuning but just to give you an idea). Maiden would NEVER go that low.

To give you an example of how low B tuning actually is, here's Metallica's Ride the Lightning album in B tuning (edited of course). It sounds like a freaking Death Metal band, especially songs like Ride the Lightning and Creeping Death.

And this is The Trooper and Caught Somewhere in Time in C tuning which is already extremely low (for Maiden's standard).

Edit: Am I the only one that hears Blaze's voice in this C tuning version of CSiT?

Surely not buddy, I play in a band which plays in B standard, so I know how tunings are used etc.
Sorry for my mistake with Trumpets. A tuning is indeed one tone lower than B standard, thus it is heavier and darker, so the song would actually have to be detuned a whole step to G to fit Bruces current range. The high notes in Trumpets are very high.

Indeed, the lowest Maiden can go is D standard, any lower tuning would change the songs sound too much.

 

[Vaenyr]

the song is like the album but bruce when he sing the chorus he does but like he knows LOL. why they didnt played edge of darkness with bruce.

The album version is in F# minor, the live version with Bruce a whole step lower in E minor. So that Bruce can hit the higher octave in the chorus.

As for downtuning: We aren't talking about the keys of the songs. Yes, Maiden have songs in D minor and Bruce is doing the air raid siren. If all instruments were tuned down a full step the D minor songs would be in C minor and every note would be easier to hit. There's nothing magical about the keys. No matter the key, detuning would make it easier to reach the notes. Hammering all the B4's in HBTN or The Trooper nowadays is a huge difference to having to "only" sing A4's instead.

There are a lot of reasons for or against downtuning. In the context of Maiden it's almost never about sounding heavy, but specifically because of Bruce's voice. To pretend otherwise is simply a strawman and sidestepping the conversation. Since this topic comes up quite often, we should probably have a "To downtune or not" topic, but I'm too lazy at the moment to write down the advantages and disadvantages in detail

Edit: Also, a thing I forgot to mention. Folks often mention that downtuning, even by a half step, won't feel right and will sound wrong, which is correct to an extent. On the other hand though, the songs nowadays sound different to the studio versions as well, let alone the break neck speeds of the early 80's or the 99 tour. Songs recorded with two guitars obviously sound different with three guitars. Bruce's voice sounds very different nowadays with a noticeably different timbre. Bigger point being, this isn't such a clear cut discussion.

 

[Kalata]

especially if this takes three calendar years to complete.

I think it will be 2 years at most, like almost any other album tour.

afraid to shoot strangers is a longer song, which is what they put in its place, likely the most bizarre song swap I've seen them do, ever. It fit just fine being a SSOASS song. What I heard from the conversation is they were not feeling it and ATSS fit with all the gun chaos going on at the time. Odd to say the least but I was very let down by its absence that tour being my favorite track from that album and when they played it in 88, they choked the life out of it.

Longer song for longer song is fair. ATSS is indeed a classic sounding Maiden song. It seems the situation with it was the same as with the inclusion of Blood Brothers for this year's tour. Infinite Dreams would sound great with the Reunion lineup (as we can hear from Nicko's solo shows). The 1988 live performances are really fast, as noted by Adrian. I hope they will play it again.

Just watched Obi Wan Kenobi series ep.2
Plot is set on planet with futuristic Japanes streets, total vibes from tour promo videos.

The tour promo video has a futuristic city (with Senjutsu Eddie) and SIASL as a music, so I'd say the stage will be similar to the scenes in this video. I just hope Nicko's drum kit to be ''Senjutsu-themed'' - the stage should reference the album with something noticeable.

the song is like the album but bruce when he sing the chorus he does but like he knows LOL. why they didnt played edge of darkness with bruce.

Because it has a chorus? TEOD will fit Bruce's voice, methinks.

Edit: Am I the only one that hears Blaze's voice in this C tuning version of CSiT?

No. Me too. Isn't it strange.

I don't know if it's just because of just how stable this lineup's been, but each and every single one of them is irreplaceable to me at this point. Each guitarist brings a unique flavor that serves the band extremely well both playing and writing-wise. Nicko has a groove to his playing that I can't imagine anyone can replicate well enough. Bruce, even as he's getting older, is still the voice of Iron Maiden and is the perfect frontman for them. Steve, well, is Steve.

I completely agree that every band member of the current lineup is irreplaceable.

And what's with Bruce's voice? He's still amazing live. Yeah, he had some problems with Aces High, but that's becasue it's the last song in the set. That's it. What else? The chorus of RTTH was difficult for him even in the 80's and imo he sings it better now.
The job of the drummer is the most difficult. Nicko's playing is a bit slower some nights, but no one is perfect show after show on these long tours. He still has pace and energy (check out the RIR show), so big kudos to him.

The high notes in Trumpets are very high.

Trumpets Of Jericho has a very high chorus indeed.

 

[efekåseo_suomi]

Which tells us how integral Nicko is to the Maiden sound.

idk, for example: the studio versions of the songs from TNOTB, Killers and IM are so different to how Nicko plays them today. I would be excited to have a drummer with a style more similar to Clive's if Nicko had to quit!

 

[MrKnickerbocker]

For all of the hardcore “no Nicko, no Maiden” folks: how would you feel about something similar to what Priest has done with Glenn Tipton? Nicko would still be a proper member of the band, writing and recording any new material, but they’d get a touring drummer (and maybe Nicko could pop out for the encore every night).

This feels like a realistic compromise that Steve (Rod) might be willing to take in order to prolong the band’s touring career.

 

[Flaming Blimp Crash]

Nah, I still say end it. I can't imagine Nicko would want to sit around all night and just pop in for the encore. How would that work with two drummers anyways?

 

[srfc]

For all of the hardcore “no Nicko, no Maiden” folks: how would you feel about something similar to what Priest has done with Glenn Tipton? Nicko would still be a proper member of the band, writing and recording any new material, but they’d get a touring drummer (and maybe Nicko could pop out for the encore every night).

This feels like a realistic compromise that Steve (Rod) might be willing to take in order to prolong the band’s touring career.

I'll be honest, if it was the choice of that or no Maiden, I would be 100% on board.