Do y'all think a new album is very plausible at all if we're talking about Fall 2026 as a release date? It seems less likely to me because I can't see them ending their career on an album tour - in other words you have to consider at least 4 years of touring beyond the album release and not just the initial album cycle.
So it's one of these possibilities:
Scenario 1:
2025 - Future Past Leg 3 (still highly doubt they're going to do that)
2026 - Some sort of album tour maybe in the mold of Give Me Ed/Final Frontier 2010
2027 - Album tour leg 2
2028 - Nostalgia tour
2029 - Nostalgia tour
Scenario 2:
2025 - Nostalgia tour
2026 - Nostalgia tour
2027 - Nostalgia tour
2028 - ???? New album? I really doubt it.
Scenario 3:
2025 - New album tour
2026 - New album tour
2027 - Nostalgia tour
2028 - Nostalgia tour
Scenario 4:
2025 - Future Past 3
2026 - Nostalgia tour
2027 - Nostalgia tour
2028 - Nostalgia tour
IMO, unless Maiden transitions into a studio only band, if they don't release an album next year they're never going to release another album.
And this:
I think they want to make as much new music as they can until the end of the band(and they stated that), especially with Nicko's health scare. And TFP is somehow a hybrid. I just can't see them doing a pure history tour after that.
I agree with the sentiment that they don't have time for three year nostalgia tours, but if we're being honest people on this very forum were saying that back in the Maiden England days. The sequence of events has been this:
2014 - Maiden are getting older and only have so many years left, why are they extending to a third year of Maiden England instead of going into the studio?
2017 - Since Bruce had cancer, they are obviously going to prioritize making music more and maybe we'll get an album next year instead of the obligatory greatest hits tour since they said that History Tours are over (yes, people were making this argument)
2020 (pre pandemic) - Maiden are getting older and only have so many years left, why are they extending to a third year of
Maiden England Legacy of the Beast instead of going into the studio?
2022 - The pandemic clearly fucked Maiden up, but maybe they'll kickstart a new album sooner than later to make up for lost time.
2024 - I think they want to make as much new music as they can until the end of the band(and they stated that), especially with Nicko's health scare.
Us in 2025 - Maiden are getting older and only have so many years left, why are they extending to a third year of
Maiden England Legacy of the Beast Future Past Tour instead of going into the studio?
Sorry guys, but time is not on this band's side and there hasn't really been any indication in the last decade that they are going to prioritize making albums over touring. We've had health scares, pandemics, and the band has never adjusted touring plans. I think they did Future Past to make a Senjutsu tour more easily marketable, but it is by no means a greatest hits tour. If the plan isn't to go back into the studio after this year's touring, I don't think it's going to happen.