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

I really hoped to see them Indoors this year, seems like this won't happen.

Anyway, Gelsenkirchen doesn't seem to be THAT bad, considering its 125€ for 3 days and Maiden headlining.

Only 40 more than a solo Show, even though no other bands have been announced yet
 
The amount of Maiden shows Europe gets stands to be impressive, compared to other parts of the world, especially places like Australia, who've completely missed out a few times. In theory we can easily get to a Maiden show, the distances aren't huge. Fans in other parts of the world will be travelling a lot further to see Maiden. I think the country-by-country coverage in Europe this time will be good, giving more fans a chance to see them.

But yeah, I'd far rather see Maiden in an arena, rather than contending with trying to get time off work, mud, unpredictable weather, overflowing portaloos, overpriced food, very expensive tickets, poor view of the stage, poor sound, and crowds who get bored half way through the Maiden songs they don't know. Festivals are great if you really want to go to a festival, especially if there are several other bands you want to see. If not, it's a lot less fun. It sounds very ungrateful, I know.
 
I saw Helloween this evening, we were all dissapointed by the gig but the post-gig sweet potato fries feast was nice. German disappointment made me realise how special a Maiden gig is. I was in Manchester in 2011 and if possible will follow suit.
 
Brigantium said:
The amount of Maiden shows Europe gets stands to be impressive, compared to other parts of the world, especially places like Australia, who've completely missed out a few times. In theory we can easily get to a Maiden show, the distances aren't huge. Fans in other parts of the world will be travelling a lot further to see Maiden. I think the country-by-country coverage in Europe this time will be good, giving more fans a chance to see them.
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Not really disagreeing with any of this.
Brigantium said:
But yeah, I'd far rather see Maiden in an arena, rather than contending with trying to get time off work, mud, unpredictable weather, overflowing portaloos, overpriced food, very expensive tickets, poor view of the stage, poor sound, and crowds who get bored half way through the Maiden songs they don't know. Festivals are great if you really want to go to a festival, especially if there are several other bands you want to see. If not, it's a lot less fun. It sounds very ungrateful, I know.
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Not ungrateful, as all of these points are totally valid. I just don't want to go & see them at a festival; for most of the reasons you cite.

I don't really hold to the better-than-nothing view, sorry.
 
I saw Maiden at Wacken 08 and that was a cool concert. But the sea of people continued even outside the festival grounds and into the beer garden and the food stands outside the entrance. And people couldn't move an inch further ahead - accident waiting to happen. I'm not sure Wacken was really geared, safety-wise/space wise to actually host Maiden that year - but they managed..:p

 
Festivals are so hit and miss. I got a reasonable view of Maiden at Download 2013, but the sound was a bit of a mess, and there were only two other bands I wanted to see (I missed one of them). Sonisphere 2014 had the better weather and more bands I wanted to see, but the main stage was in a weird position, which meant the entire crowd had to attempt to stand in a relatively small space with an unhelpful gradient. Going forward was not an option without driving a snowplough. By contrast, Dream Theater on the second stage were in the ideal place for the crowd, although the band had the sun in their eyes for the entire performance. Also, the cost makes you weep.
 
I've been at some fun festival gigs but mostly because of the festival goers round you and the atmosphere/crowd participation where you stand - because let's face it, at festivals you rarely even see the band playing :p

Thankfully most festivals have a tent or a smaller stage with more "indoor"like shows, which is always a great change from standing outside in the sun all day :D
 
I was alright with the sound quality for Maiden at Sonisphere last year, but in an outdoor gig you can never feel the bass rattling in your body, which is my favourite part of any intense concert.

If the band had any shred of sense, they'd add some arena shows in the UK.
 
SixesAlltheway said:
I saw Maiden at Wacken 08 and that was a cool concert. But the sea of people continued even outside the festival grounds and into the beer garden and the food stands outside the entrance. And people couldn't move an inch further ahead - accident waiting to happen. I'm not sure Wacken was really geared, safety-wise/space wise to actually host Maiden that year - but they managed..:p

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Yeah I read in some forums who were actually scared to death in some parts of the crowd (mainly front) because of the huge wave of pushing people.

But as stated earlier, the mood at these festivals for maiden is always subpar for me.
 
SixesAlltheway said:
I saw Maiden at Wacken 08 and that was a cool concert. But the sea of people continued even outside the festival grounds and into the beer garden and the food stands outside the entrance. And people couldn't move an inch further ahead - accident waiting to happen. I'm not sure Wacken was really geared, safety-wise/space wise to actually host Maiden that year - but they managed..:p

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@SixesAlltheway You were there as well?

I don't remember having seen pro-footage of this gig. I'd be interested to see more!

I was there myself with my wife and so were @Perun and @national acrobat. First Maidenfans meet I attended. :)

About the crowd: it was scary because this was such a huge moving sea of people (ten thousands!), by far the biggest gig I've ever witnessed, and sometimes it really felt as if there was not enough space. Me and my wife were standing near to that lighting/sound tower, sporting a Beck's banner (you'll see it several times during this vid, e.g. @0.08 already. A couple of times we were pushed against fences near that tower, and it took a while before we managed to have a safer spot. My wife was also pregnant (in a very early stage though!) so that made us be a little extra afraid. Before the gig started we lost Per and Nush, but they probably were closer to the stage! All was OK before Rime started. The first time I ever witnessed this magnificent song. The sound was outstanding, probably due to the central position where we were standing.

More on the festival here:
http://forum.maidenfans.com/threads/wacken-2008.17864/
 
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