The Official Book of Souls Tour 2016 Thread (Warning: Spoilers within!)

Srogyy said:
As I had mentioned somewhere before - Bruce sounds like there has never been any cancer. He strains, but not more than we've already seen. I was surprised how well he sang Speed of Light and TBoS chorus exceeded my expectations (lots of straining but overall it was good IMO). TRatB sounds the most difficult for him.
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I completely agree with this. After beating cancer and after more than a year without singing, he comes back singing pretty well those difficult songs. I was worried and wasn't expecting to be that good, but now I'm really happy about it. And I think, as it happened in last tours, he will get better as the tour progresses. People are also saying he isn't running around the stage that much. But I'm fine with that. I prefer him to slow down a bit and save his voice. The voice is more important...
 
OriginalJud said:
I got serious goosebumps during that intro with Bruce hovering over that boiling cauldron singing the intro- it was a magical moment to start that show.
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@OriginalJud - Thank you for your review!
I saw a video of that. And - not pretending to be an expert here (just that I love Ancient Mexican Archeology) - I could see on the video that the cauldron is in fact a censer, in which Mayans and Aztecs and others Mesoamerican people used to burn Copal inciense for civil and religious rituals (And It Smells Good - pun intended). Maiden is awesome to bring these details in stage, so more people can know (or at least trigger the curiosity) about the Mayan culture. And I guess Maiden went forward not only with Mayan culture but other Mesoamerican cultures as well, because the drawing on the center of the CD/LP is not a Mayan calendar, but the out-ring of the Aztec "calendar" (Solar Stone), which has Aztec/Toltec gliphs, instead of Mayans, and Eddie instead of the Solar God Tonatiuh.

I expect to see the 747 in Monterrey, Mexico, next week; as my flight arrives 1 hour after 666. Oh yeah!

All the same... Up the Irons!
 
Paperjerry said:
Maiden is awesome to bring these details in stage, so more people can know (or at least trigger the curiosity) about the Mayan culture
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And on that note, let's not forget little Aztec Sooty on the drum kit.

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Or the origins of that :D

 
Wouldn't it be hilarious if they actually meant to finish the concert with Shadows of the Valley, but Adrian played Wasted Years instead? :D
 
Chip said:
I, like many others was disappointed to see no Empire Of The Clouds. Seriously? Tears Of A Clown is no replacement. Honestly, I'm shocked it made it into the list at all. It's like the song I hoped they WOULDN'T play. Soooooo much better stuff to choose from. Is it a gift to Bruce because nobody else wants to play Empire despite the fans clamoring for it? I mean a bunch of people bought tickets just hoping for them to play this one song. Sure it takes balls to play 18 minute songs in the studio but how bout some balls to play it live? Where are the balls? Where is The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner too?
My suggestion: How bout they just drop Tears Of A Clown entirely as well as Fear Of The Dark.and play Empire. Aren't fans just sick of Fear by now? I know I am. Who cares if your fans can do a sing along? What would it add? Like 5 minutes to the show if that?
I'm also wondering if they cut the gig short because of the problems with late entry and scanners not working. I'm not seeing how not letting people in early helps anybody. The Florida venue should be ashamed and they cost themselves and IM money. Anyway, When The River Runs Deep woulda been better than the Robin Williams depressing song. Moonchild or anything off SSOASS would be welcome. Even more off of Powerslave or TNOTB or Piece Of Mind would've been awesome. I just don't get it. Cry that the Empire takes too long or is too complicated but that is what would really impress. My god, can you see Empire as the last song before the encores or what? Even a blow up airship to bounce around the pit? Whatever, I'll be happy whatever they play but with all the hubub about this tour one would think they'd actually try to make it EPIC. Empire would be EPIC.
Rant complete.
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Bruce said in interview(s) MONTHS ago that Empire would not be played...at least during TBOS tour. Too bad.
 
Several points:

They've said several times they wouldn't do Empire. Dragging a piano centre stage just isn't the most Maiden thing to do, and they'd need taped orchestration or a live orchestra. Plus Bruce's playing, while not terrible (I've heard him play in person) isn't completely polished, and we don't know if he can sing like that sitting down. I don't remember him spelling it out, but he might well have recorded the vocals separately.

FOTD gets a good crowd response, and part of Maiden's remit of playing live is making sure people are entertained. It's not my favourite song, either, but the atmosphere when they get everyone going is good.

SSOAS was featured heavily in the last tour(s), they always said they'd be doing something different this time.

Was the show cut short? As someone said earlier, Maiden's performance came in at just under two hours.
 
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The problems with Empire of the Clouds in a live setting are the following:
1. Obviously the length of it (18 minutes!)
2. Performing the piano
3. Jeff Bova's orchestration

Of course the band could play along to a backing track of the piano and the orchestration, but that's not Maiden's way of doing a performance.
 
I'm going to post my review of the concert tonight, but just know... This was a completely different beast than the band I saw back in 2012!!!!!!
 
Chip said:
I totally agree with the logistical problems inherent in it. However, I must argue if you can plan a world tour and make a huge stage set and all the other stuff that goes along with it, couldn't you plan it out so it could be done realistically? As far as the piano not being "metal", I ask then what are they doing producing it on an album with no intention of ever having the balls to pull it off live? I thought this was the #1 Live band going? I won't get into individual; replacements for Tears but I could list about 100 and you could probably give me 100 reasons why they wouldn't play that either. If the fans get what the fans want then the fans want Empire. Florida was a cluster%^&* getting people in and if they didn't cut it short then so be it but it wouldn't have surprised me seeing they were ready to go on at 6PM. (Their own twitter as source)
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Empire is Bruce's baby. IF it ever gets performed live, it will be completely on Bruce's terms, as he wants to hear it. He's already spoken about turning into a larger theatrical piece about the disaster, and it would surely involve an elaborate live show with scores of (expensive) extra musicians.

Tears of a Clown is Bruce's favorite song on the album to sing, according to several interviews, and Nicko demanded they play it because it touched him so deeply.

Maiden do not play just to please us, they play first and foremost for themselves. It's why we love them- because they don't compromise. The argument that their live prowess is undermined by the fact that they recorded a song on an album which would be very difficult to pull off live is completely illogical.

They were not ready to go on at 6pm, they were scheduled to start at 9pm- instead starting at 9:25.
 
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