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

I just got back from a pretty incredible night.

To start with, Bottom Lounge was a great place to hang out at pre-concert. It wasn't too crowded, and the food was decent. The beer could've been a bit cheaper, however. ($8 per Trooper can really add up!) And it also would have been nice if they played something else after Live After Death ended instead of showing the exact same thing a second time.

Of course the company was the best part! It was a real joy meeting and hanging out with @MrKnickerbocker , @Detective Beauregard , and @terrell39 before the show.

The free shuttle to the United Center was also very convenient, and getting a shirt from the merch stand outside was very quick and easy.

The Raven Age were about what I expected. Not terrible, but definitely shouldn't be opening for Maiden.

Iron Maiden were spot-on, as I knew they would be. Bruce sounded fantastic, and all the new songs went down great live. I really hope a few of them will stick around for future tours.

My biggest complaint was with the relative lack of energy from the crowd in my section. Many people around me were sitting down for most of the show. It seemed to be the most subdued crowd I have been a part of for a Maiden show.

All in all, it was an amazing night. I can't wait until the next time I see Maiden, whenever that may be. I just hope it's sooner than 4 years!
 
He certainly does. Walks off stage around 1.22 and doesn't come back till just after the solo. Also, bum note from Dave at the start of the intro. Terrible player. Dave out.:ahhh:
 
Ok I've seen some other clips from that night and I think I know what happened. Janick's JMP Marshall blew up during the intro of Hallowed, so he went backstage and waited for his tech to fix the problem. Adrian has seen that and played the solo. Janick is also playing the solo underneath, because he uses a different preamp (Mesa) for it. It is also possible that Jan finished the show with only Mesa, because if you listen to FOTD from yesterday, the clean intro sounds too distorted and Jan tried to compensate with turning the guitar down, but it's not the same.
 
Yeah, it doesnt sound as it usually does and he goes straight to the back corner of the stage when his intro bit is done. 12 tns of gear and Jan doesnt have a replacement?!
 
Chicago was incredible last night!

We started things off perfectly at The Bottom Lounge, which was pretty relaxed and happened to be playing the bonus material from the LAD DVD throughout the day. Meeting some fellow forum members is always a treat. I certainly had a blast drinking some beers and chatting Maiden with you folks!

I got a free Trooper glass with my purchase of a beer because we got there before they ran out. Obviously, I couldn't take it into the show so after the free bus ride over to the venue (which was pretty cool), I hid it behind a tree. Luckily, by the end of the show, it was still there!

Raven Age was Raven Age. They tried their hardest, but every song sounded the same to me. The singer is really bland. He has a very limited range which does nothing to help the mid-tempo songs sound anything but one-note. They seemed far less enthused here than they did in Vegas, where they actually put on a pretty decent show. The singer even shamed the audience with diatribes like, "Somebody has to come out here and at least try to warm you up for Maiden! If you hate us, oh well! We're gonna take a picture of the audience and if you have your middle finger up, fuck you, too!" It was pretty sad. But Chicago can be a tough crowd.

Maiden was fantastic. I think the sound from where I sat was actually a little better than it was in Vegas. The guitars and bass were all audible and Bruce soared over everything, sounding absolutely incredible. His voice was even better than it was in Vegas, especially on the new songs. It seems like he's finally got the new ones figured out!

Highlights for me were Children of the Damned (still as powerful as last time), Book of Souls, Blood Brothers (even more powerful this time), and finally The Red and the Black! I listened to it a bunch of times before the gig to get myself excited for it and it worked rather well. The instrumental section was a thing of beauty. I took some photos and videos of the band and I'll come back after work to post some.

matic22 said:
H did the solo in Hallowed last night???!!!
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YES HE DID AND IT WAS AMAZING!!!!!!!! I like Janick, but I couldn't be happier that his guitar chose to fail at that exact moment. It was like watching Hallowed 30 years ago!

matic22 said:
Ok I've seen some other clips from that night and I think I know what happened. Janick's JMP Marshall blew up during the intro of Hallowed, so he went backstage and waited for his tech to fix the problem. Adrian has seen that and played the solo. Janick is also playing the solo underneath, because he uses a different preamp (Mesa) for it. It is also possible that Jan finished the show with only Mesa, because if you listen to FOTD from yesterday, the clean intro sounds too distorted and Jan tried to compensate with turning the guitar down, but it's not the same.
Click to expand...

Can confirm, his guitar definitely failed. From where I sat I could see directly behind the stage and Janick was talking with his techs and getting a new guitar ready throughout Hallowed. FOTD definitely sounded different, but it still worked.

All in all it was a damn great show and I'm glad I got to see Iron Maiden twice on such a monumental tour. Up the Irons to all you who have yet to see them, you're in for a treat!

DUiN7oz.jpg


LEFT to RIGHT: Lampwick's buddy Steve, @Lampwick 43, @Detective Beauregard, @MrKnickerbocker, @terrell39, terrell's buddy (whose name I forgot...)
 
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You might want to post the Forostar-related picture somewhere else. I'm pretty sure he's trying to avoid all the spoilers present in this thread.
 
After driving three hours in the rain and arriving at the United Center at 5:30 I made the wise choice of skipping the Billy Goat Trooper pre party and just going straight to the line. Nothing beats the people you meet waiting in line at a metal show. Age doesn't matter, everyone has great stories and we are all kind of cut from the same mold. The hour wait for the gates to open flew by.

Had great seats on the side of the stage. VERY cool because you got to see everything going on behind the stage. And let me tell you, there is a LOT going on backstage at a Maiden concert.

You can easily tell the people in the audience that didn't own Book of Souls. They seemed a bit lost. I thought all the BOS songs sounded great. Red and the Black was the highlight. Death or Glory worked really well I thought. Bruce's energy is insane. The rest of the band really seem to feed off of him. Children of the Damned seemed to be the favorite in my section. For me it was The Red and the Black-The Trooper-Powerslave three song run! Great Setlist and a great tour. I'll probably be the only one that thinks this but, Wasted Years to me is still a bit of a weak closer. Nothing wrong with the song but just seems a tad bit odd as the closer.

If I'm not mistaken Bruce kind of hinted that they would be back in Chicago soon.....2017 Second leg perhaps?
 
Powerslave76 said:
If I'm not mistaken Bruce kind of hinted that they would be back in Chicago soon.....2017 Second leg perhaps?
Click to expand...

I believe he said something along the lines of "I'm not supposed to talk about that yet" as well... he did seem to have a gleam in his eye that suggests this was more than his usual ambiguous "we'll be back"

...summer 2017 U.S. tour?! :D
 
Bruce seemed to be having a lot of fun last night. I was a tad bit nervous since they played Detroit the night before with no day off in between. The band sounded as fresh as can be.
 
Lego said:
I believe he said something along the lines of "I'm not supposed to talk about that yet" as well... he did seem to have a gleam in his eye that suggests this was more than his usual ambiguous "we'll be back"

...summer 2017 U.S. tour?! :D
Click to expand...

Riot Fest in September? :clap:

Wishful thinking, of course. Since the band skipped pretty large North American markets this year, I thought there might be another leg next year. If Chicago is getting a second show, though, it might be a different tour.
 
Just got back from Chicago. Sorry about not meeting up with you guys yesterday @MrKnickerbocker, but I hope the pictures I post will give you good reason as to why I couldn't make it. Hah

Drove 6 hours from southern Illinois to Chicago yesterday morning. Arrived around 3 pm and we immediately went to the United Center. Was near the front of the line, maybe between 20-30th for general admission, and they let us in at 6:30pm. I got to stand within about ten feet from the stage, just directly behind some of the guys who had first to the barrier. So I was technically second to the barrier.

The Raven Age was decent, but as the lead singer said perfectly: They're the band who just tries to get us fired up for Maiden; emphasis on "tries". Their entire set, I honestly just couldn't wait for them to be done just to see Maiden. They played from around 7:50-8:25.

It look around twenty five minutes for them to set up for Maiden, as "Doctor Doctor" started at precisely 8:50pm, with Maiden taking the stage around 5-6 minutes later after the intro video.

It was amazing. This was my first time being up so close, and I couldn't believe how deafening it was (noticed a lot of people wearing ear plugs around me... I didn't though, thought never crossed my mind), and the vibrations almost got me off a few times.

Stood closer to the side where Adrian and Dave usually play, but every band member eventually made their way over a few times and stood just ten feet in front of me as they played. Bruce and Steve made eye contact with me specifically on a few different ocassions, mostly because I was one of the consistent ones in my area that was singing and fist pumping.

Highlights definitely were pretty much all of The Book of Souls songs (Red and the Black, Tears of a Clown, Book of Souls), Powerslave, and Hallowed Be Thy Name. Bruce killed the singing on it, along with the rest of the songs. I didn't really care too much for Children of the Damned or Death or Glory, but that's just because I'm not a big fan of either song. Children was still awesome to see live though, and the other classics (Trooper, Number of the Beast, Wasted Years) were expected and worked well in between the newer songs.

Powerslave was the best part of the night, in my opinion.

Bruce did hint at two different times that they would be back in Chicago. He let it slip the first time and then kind of tried to cover it up with something like "I wasn't supposed to say that!". And then at the very end of Wasted Years, he did say to the crowd that they would be back soon.

I ALMOST caught one of Adrian's armbands, but the woman next to me got it. And then I found one of Dave's guitar picks on the ground, but as soon as I went down to pick it up, some guy from several feet away literally dove for it and grabbed it a split second before I did. I could have screamed at him, if I hadn't lost my voice for singing along to every song.

Left the concert with ringing ears, no voice, and a huge adrenaline rush. So I went back to the hotel room and crashed soon after, which is why I didn't end up going to the Bottom Lounge.

With the exception of the guitar pick scenario, it was the greatest night of my life. Eight years of being an Iron Maiden fan, seventh time seeing them, and I finally got to see these metal gods up close and personal.
 

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I took a lot more, and got several of the many times Dave and Adrian (and Bruce twice) where they were right there on top of me, but it said they were too big of a file to load... so that's all that I could post.
 
The concert last night was incredible!!! Tops see them back in 2012 during the Maiden England Tour. But still one incredible night. I'll admit, the room got dusty when Powerslave and Blood Brothers were played. My highlights of the night are the opener IESF, Speed of Light, Powerslave, The Red and The Black, Hallowed Be Thy Name with Adrian Smith back on solo!!!, Iron Maiden of course, Blood Brothers. Wished that they played Heaven Can Wait for this tour, that song would fit perfectly with the setlist.

Also for those of you who did not know, last night was not the first time that Adrian Smith had to play the solo for Hallowed Be Thy Name since December 12, 1988, during the Seventh Tour of A Seventh Tour... Its actually July 8, 2000 during The Brave New World Tour. Here is some info and "the video" that I found somewhere on Youtube,:
"Janick Gers slips off the stage after 2:25, just before the solos of the Number Of The Beast. Also the first time since 12/12/1988 when Adrian Smith plays the 2nd solo of Hallowed Be Thy Name (11:51).

The band decided to play The Number Of The Beast again and then Hallowed Be Thy Name. Sanctuary wasn't played due to the incident. Otherwise, the setlist was same as it was throughout the whole Brave New World Tour.

Occured on July 8th, 2000. No video footage exists from this show =(

Note: The second version of the Number Of The Beast is cut due to the 15min limit (the second verse has been edited out)."

Here is the "video"/audio clip of that show.
I hope this clears up a bit of Maiden facts and history for all of us here on the forums who don't know this yet.
 
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