The inevitable 1990s tour after Book of Souls Tour ends

The US is a huge market for music though. Just look at what it did for Judas Priest.
 
Wayne Bond said:
The US isn't the centre of the music universe so just because a band or artist isn't flavour of the month in the US doesn't mean they won't be popular and massive elsewhere.
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Of course not, but bands want to be able to play here and do well ... which they are now and did in the 80s .. really well.
 
bearfan said:
I have no doubt they were still more popular in other areas of the world, but in the US, they were a non-entity in the Blaze years .. Neither album cracked the top 100 and they played small theaters/clubs on their regular tour stops.
The Vic in Chicago, I have seen a bunch of stuff there .. 1400 capacity. Seventh Son Tour, they played Rosemont .. capacity around 18,000 for concerts .. TBOS tour, they are playing United Center .. over 23,000 capacity for concerts
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Obviously they band is a lot more popular today or even during the Ed Hunter Tour in 1999, but you have to keep in mind that Maiden as well as Bruce Dickinson were on CMC International and not on a major label in US during that period. I believe that both albums as well as Accident of Birth and the Chemical Wedding would have done a bit better if a bigger label would hade given them the chance, including concert attendance. But at the same time, I can understand that people within the music industry felt that other artists had better potential at the time.
And I can also understand that a lot of people didn't want buy a ticket to a Maiden concert after listening to Virtual XI. But I just wanted to say that there are more to it than people not liking a certain singer or the new material and that it was not that bad (the band losing 3/4 of the audience) everywhere in the world.

The Clansman and Sign of the Cross are quite popular today actually, much because of Rock In Rio. Bring Your Daugher To The Slaughter too, I think. It would be fun if they did them on a "Legacy of the Beast Tour".
 
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Part of it might be not liking the new singer .. or at least not liking him as much as Bruce ... but you raise some good points. I want to be clear, I do not think the drop off in the US really had a ton to do with the quality of the songs, there is some good stuff on the 2 Blaze albums and they would not have been doing massive business even with Bruce still in the band. I think they just ran their course here, which happens to most every band at some point, especially when musical trends change. You see it over and over. Many 70s bands had problems in the MTV era, many 80s MTV bands (not lumping Maiden in with these) had problems in the grunge era, 60s hippie bands struggled in the glam 70s, and on and on and on. It is a real credit to Maiden that they are one of the very few to survive that and end up thriving with new material versus endless "reunion" touring.
 
Record sales numbers in the US from May 25 of 1991 to february 2005:
Iron Maiden (1980) - 196,628
Killers (1981) - 211,410
The Number Of The Beast (1982) - 357,463
Piece Of Mind (1983) - 347,400
Powerslave (1984) - 299,022
Live After Death (1985) - 558,578
Somewhere In Time (1986) - 291,420
Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son (1988) - 218,056
No Prayer For The Dying (1989) - 213,745
Fear Of The Dark (1992) - 421,786
Live At Donington (1993) - 23,639
A Real Live One (1993) - 108,177
A Real Dead One (1993) - 130,652
A Real Live/Dead One (1998 -new format) - 20,621
The X Factor (1995) - 112,710
Best Of The Beast (1996) - 251,112
Virtual XI (1998) - 65,243
Ed Hunter (1999) - 52,886
Brave New World (2000) - 282,460
Rock In Rio (AUDIO) (2002) - 69,307
Rock In Rio (DVD & VIDEO) (2002) - 59,644
Edward The Great (2002) - 130,611
Dance Of Death (2003) - 138,904
Visions Of The Beast (DVD & VIDEO) (2003) - 77,850
Part 1: Early Days (DVD) (2004) - 32,037
http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/iron-maiden-u-s-album-sales-revealed/

Fear of the Fark did very well actually (but not as good as the 80's albums), No Prayer for the Dying good (but keep in mind that it was released before they started to measure sales), The X Factor pretty good, and Virtual XI much weaker. Well, I guess the facts that they were released by CMC International, the music not being fashionable at all and people disliking Blaze played a role in the drop of sales. With Brave New World they finally gained a contract with a major label again in the US, with Columbia Records.
 
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bearfan said:
On the X Factor tour, they played Harpos's in Detroit .. holds less that 2K people

Virtual XI Tour they played a larger venue outside of Detroit which is what Steve mentioned, but the band list was Maiden, Dio, and WASP .. not a regular tour stop.

Most of the places they played in the US had similar capacities. I saw them on both Blaze tours, once in San Diego at a half full (at best) outdoor venue that holds 5K people and in LA at a place that held 2000 (tops) .. though they did hit that 2 nights.

In the 80s, they played arenas

I have no doubt they were still more popular in other areas of the world, but in the US, they were a non-entity in the Blaze years .. Neither album cracked the top 100 and they played small theaters/clubs on their regular tour stops.

Just look at where they were playing

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_X_Factour

The Vic in Chicago, I have seen a bunch of stuff there .. 1400 capacity. Seventh Son Tour, they played Rosemont .. capacity around 18,000 for concerts .. TBOS tour, they are playing United Center .. over 23,000 capacity for concerts
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Yep. I made a road trip to Denver to see them at the Ogden theater in 1996. That place held 1100 and wasn't even full for the show. The Sacramento show on that leg was canceled due to Blaze's voice, but was supposed to be played at a place that held less than 500.

I know they still had success in Europe and South America in the 90s, but man was it grim in the States. At least the hair metal bands got ridiculed (at least people were still talking about them) , Maiden wasn't even part of the conversion. It still amazes me about their resurgence and the fact that they now get mentioned along side Metallica as being a "giant" band. That was certainly not happening in 1998 in the US.
 
TheTalisman said:
Record sales numbers in the US from May 25 of 1991 to february 2005:

Fear of the Fark did well very well actually (but not as good as the 80's albums) No Prayer for the Dying good (but keep in mind that it was released before they started measure sales), The X Factor pretty good, and Virtual XI much weaker. Well I guess the facts that they were released by CMC International, the music not being fashionable at all and people disliking Blaze played a role in the drop of sales. With Brave New World they finally gained a contract with a major label again in the US, with Columbia Records.
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These numbers aren't really usable since (as you pointed out) they're only from 1991 onward, which is why comparing the 90s numbers to the 80s numbers doesn't really work. Somewhere in Time for example sold over a million copies in the US alone (certified platinum by the RIAA) and its success isn't reflected at all in these numbers. Meanwhile, Seventh Son only reached gold, followed by No Prayer reaching the same, and Fear of the Dark didn't even manage that.

It's also worth noting that no Maiden album post-NPFTD reached gold in the US. So yeah, they absolutely did undergo a massive drop in popularity in the US as far as record sales are concerned, but not in the 90s like most places elsewhere. No, the drop-off already took place in the late 80s, likely due to multiple factors (including the rise of heavier bands like Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, etc. as well as [likely] general fatigue with the band).
 
It wasn't only the US, Europe as well. The Locations in Germany were small as well.

E-werk in cologne is right across the street of the Palladium which holds about 5000 and they didn't even try to play there.

Even NOFX sold out the Palladium when I saw em there
 
:DThis is very interesting, everyone is telling things that i didn't know about the bayley era, And about The tour i think there will be a second leg supporting a new dvd with few changes on the set using songs of that time
 
FTB said:
It wasn't only the US, Europe as well. The Locations in Germany were small as well.

E-werk in cologne is right across the street of the Palladium which holds about 5000 and they didn't even try to play there.

Even NOFX sold out the Palladium when I saw em there
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All locations in Germany were small in the nineties?

The Netherlands still had big concert halls, some were the same as before or afterwards. And in my memory they were not half full. In fact, I bet they were pretty full, if not sold out. Didn't check that out, yet, but the fact that they kept playing these venues means that their concert popularity wasn't going downhill.

1990: two(!) dates in a row Groenoordhallen, Leiden => same location as Somewhere on Tour, 1986.
1992: Brabanthallen, Den Bosch (check A Real Live One for Can I Play With Madness)
==> same location as in A Matter of Life and Death tour, 2006
1993: Rijnhal, Arnhem
1995: IJsselhallen, Zwolle
1996: Maiden headlined Bospop festival in Weert
1998: Ahoy, Rotterdam (same as in 1999 and 2003)

EDIT: Alright, I see that Maiden chose to do a pretty big German tour in 1995. 12 gigs! The fans were spread out over the locations. I still see some halls but I can imagine that they chose to do some smaller ones, because of the amount of gigs. In 1993 something similar happened, although: still less concerts. I can't judge if the sizes decreased in 1995. But the number must have played a role.
And Iron Maiden played E-Werk twice, unless that's a mistake on Wikipedia. 2 times E-Werk, is that more people than the Palladium?
Still, NOFX played 13 German gigs within two weeks (13 in a row, holy cow). No further venue info on the locations though. Who knows the rest of the tour were bars. ;)
 
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Forostar said:
All locations in Germany were small in the nineties?

The Netherlands still had big concert halls, some were the same as before or afterwards. And in my memory they were not half full. In fact, I bet they were pretty full, if not sold out. Didn't check that out, yet, but the fact that they kept playing these venues means that their concert popularity wasn't going downhill.

1990: two(!) dates in a row Groenoordhallen, Leiden => same location as Somewhere on Tour, 1986.
1992: Brabanthallen, Den Bosch (check A Real Live One for Can I Play With Madness)
==> same location as in A Matter of Life and Death tour, 2006
1993: Rijnhal, Arnhem
1995: IJsselhallen, Zwolle
1996: Maiden headlined Bospop festival in Weert
1998: Ahoy, Rotterdam (same as in 1999 and 2003)

EDIT: Alright, I see that Maiden chose to do a pretty big German tour in 1995. 12 gigs! The fans were spread out over the locations. I still see some halls but I can imagine that they chose to do some smaller ones, because of the amount of gigs. In 1993 something similar happened, although: still less concerts. I can't judge if the sizes decreased in 1995. But the number must have played a role.
And Iron Maiden played E-Werk twice, unless that's a mistake on Wikipedia. 2 times E-Werk, is that more people than the Palladium?
Still, NOFX played 13 German gigs within two weeks (13 in a row, holy cow). No further venue info on the locations though. Who knows the rest of the tour were bars. ;)
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I was talking specifically about the 1995 tour, early 90's were still bigger halls from 6-10 k.

As much as i know, the E-Werk holds up to 2000 on the floor. So still pretty small

I think Steve (Band) knew right from the getgo to choose smaller venues , knowing a new singer would turn fans off, so they tried to play it safe. It's not like they rescheduled dates from big arenas to small ones due to poor ticket sales

As for Nofx, 12 gigs in a row is no feat for them. Drugged up and boozed as fuck its pretty easy. (and u kind of hear it in their performances, but thats the best part of the evening eventually)
 
Wayne Bond said:
I wouldn't say it was barely visible. Pantera and machine head were massive and sold millions of records and their videos were always on mtv. Plus mtv headbangers ball was flying the flag for metal every week. Kerrang became kerrap and shit but metal hammer, terrorizer and power play magazines were sold in every major newsagent and supermarket in the uk and many metal bands broke the top ten 10 singles and album charts in the uk.

look how big bands like Korn and slipknot were in the 90's.
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Never had MTV. Same goes for anyone else who didn't have Sky.
 
Manofsorrows said:
I thought the theme was if they'll going to play material OF the 90's in The next leg OF the tour:D
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It was .. which got derailed into what level of interest there would be in that either by the fans at large and the band themselves to revisit the 90s .. which leads me to think it is not happening beyond something like adding ATSS to the ME tour .. which for all we know was them revisiting the 90s/tossing something in to cover the From Fear to Eternity release
 
bearfan said:
It was .. which got derailed into what level of interest there would be in that either by the fans at large and the band themselves to revisit the 90s .. which leads me to think it is not happening beyond something like adding ATSS to the ME tour .. which for all we know was them revisiting the 90s/tossing something in to cover the From Fear to Eternity release
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Like i said, maybe some songs FOR a next leg, you know the best, sign of the cross, man on the edge, Lord of the flies, clansman... The deep cuts :D
 
Manofsorrows said:
I thought the theme was if they'll going to play material OF the 90's in The next leg OF the tour:D
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It was, but then we got into some discussion of whether Maiden actually lost popularity based on what sized venues they were playing, etc. etc.

bearfan said:
It was .. which got derailed into what level of interest there would be in that either by the fans at large and the band themselves to revisit the 90s .. which leads me to think it is not happening beyond something like adding ATSS to the ME tour .. which for all we know was them revisiting the 90s/tossing something in to cover the From Fear to Eternity release
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Manofsorrows said:
Like i said, maybe some songs FOR a next leg, you know the best, sign of the cross, man on the edge, Lord of the flies, clansman... The deep cuts :D
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I would not be surprised if we never hear a Blaze song again. I'd love to hear Clansman or Sign of the Cross, but I doubt it'll happen. The most we can ever expect from the 90s is to get Afraid to Shoot Strangers, Be Quick or Be Dead, Tailgunner, or maybe Bring Your Daughter pulled back into the rotation (with ATSS being the one with the greatest chance).
 
Manofsorrows said:
Like i said, maybe some songs FOR a next leg, you know the best, sign of the cross, man on the edge, Lord of the flies, clansman... The deep cuts :D
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I don't see it happening .. personally I would like it, but I think beyond maybe adding a 90s song (beyond FotD) ala ATSS, that is all we are getting from the 90s.

If it were it were up to me, I'd say play Educated Fool, because I think that would be great with Bruce singing it ... semi-realistically maybe Clansman, I think that went over the best of the Blaze songs Bruce did, probably more more realistically something else from No Prayer or FoTD. Most most realistically, nothing beyond the song FoTD
 
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