The Official Book of Souls Tour 2017 Thread (Warning: Spoilers Within)

Welsh Phantom said:
At only 5:32s I've never really considered Mother Russia to be an epic.

Most songs are longer, even older ones before NPFTD. For example, Where Eagles Dare comes in at over 6 mins and is thought of as an opener by most, not an epic. I think if Mother Russia was placed somewhere else in the running order on NPFTD nobody would even consider it being an epic :)
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One more thing is that Mother Russia doesn't have the story-telling side. Strictly speaking, that's enough to make it not an epic. An epic song must, as I see it, contain three elements:

- It must have some sort of story-telling. Either in the form of telling the events as they go by, like Rime (or Where Eagles Dare, for that matter) or by creating images of something that takes place. An example being Paschendale, which doesn't tell one detailed story with a timeline, but which could be seen as a slide show of war photographs in the form of music and lyrics.
- It should take you on a musical journey. A song that just takes verse-chorus-verse-chorus-guitar solo-verse-chorus doesn't feel like a real epic.
- Length-wise, it should be long enough to provide a beginning and an end to the story. It shouldn't feel like it just shows the listener a glimpse of the story and then leaves. For this reason, I wouldn't consider Aces High an epic. Scramble alarm goes, take off, fight Jerry aircraft, that's it.

Mother Russia doesn't really provide a story, and thus it isn't an epic.
 
Not trying to bash TRATB but musically Mother Russia is SO MUCH BETTER!!!
And I surely prefer this to any of the later Harris' songs. There was a time when songs used to be as long as necessary...and the TXF happened and the rest is history!!!
 
Dr. Eddies Wingman said:
One more thing is that Mother Russia doesn't have the story-telling side. Strictly speaking, that's enough to make it not an epic. An epic song must, as I see it, contain three elements:

- It must have some sort of story-telling. Either in the form of telling the events as they go by, like Rime (or Where Eagles Dare, for that matter) or by creating images of something that takes place. An example being Paschendale, which doesn't tell one detailed story with a timeline, but which could be seen as a slide show of war photographs in the form of music and lyrics.
- It should take you on a musical journey. A song that just takes verse-chorus-verse-chorus-guitar solo-verse-chorus doesn't feel like a real epic.
- Length-wise, it should be long enough to provide a beginning and an end to the story. It shouldn't feel like it just shows the listener a glimpse of the story and then leaves. For this reason, I wouldn't consider Aces High an epic. Scramble alarm goes, take off, fight Jerry aircraft, that's it.

Mother Russia doesn't really provide a story, and thus it isn't an epic.
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And for those reasons, I don't class TRATB as an epic.
 
THESEVENTHMARINER said:
And for those reasons, I don't class TRATB as an epic.
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TRATB certainly is a wild musical journey and certainly is long with a linked beginning and end.

Does it tell an epic story? It's hard to say since it has the most impenetrable lyrics Steve has ever written. I can sense they are very deep, esoteric, and highly symbolic. But damn they are hard to figure out.
 
the decision is always Steve's in the end.... it's his band after all... If others had power over him, there'd definitely be song changes on every tour from what they've been doing...
 
To my ear, Mother Russia is far more 'epic' than Where Eagles Dare but Eagles is the far superior tune. Thats not to say that I don't like Mother Russia . The tone of Mother Russia makes it epic, not the length though I do feel it ends too soon, it shys away from its own potential which may have something to do with them being a band lacking confidence/Adrian Smith. And Aces is not even close to the 'epic' scale in my book. Top tune but not in the epic genre.
TRATB doesn't really fit my definition of epic either despite its length. To me, there's an atmosphere to an epic and TRATB doesn't have it. Still, I adore the last few minutes and want to see it stay in the set.
Although, to be fair, I'd swap it for Eagles and Aces and Wrathchild.
 
Mother Russia always sounded longer to me than it really is, it IS a musical journey, it has many parts some of which sound quite progressive etc. TBH, the storytelling aspect sounds a bit arbitrary to me. To Tame a Land doesn't have any storytelling (less than MR in any case) and it's considered an epic (by me too).

For instance, I don't consider Hallowed an epic, it's just verse-chorus-verse-chorus-guitar solo-verse-chorus (actually no chorus even :D).

MR is, at least, a "short epic", like Infinite Dreams
 
It would be great to get Brave New World this year. It is actually pretty realistic option.
I can't wait anymore to see setlist, it is painful for my brain. I just want to see almighty Bruce with his hoodie and his fookin' barrel with the smoke popping out of it!

Guys, soon will be TIME TO SPEAK WITH THE SHAMAN AGAIN!
 
Damocles said:
Has anyone got any idea if there's anything sorted for returning paperless tickets?

I have a spare ticket for the Nottingham gig now and don't really want to be left out of pocket, and it sounds like trying to sell it is going to be a bit risky.

Their FAQ said details would be posted about a month ahead of the show about how to get help if tickets needed returning but it doesn't seem like they've said anything about it since
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I'm looking for a ticket for the Nottingham show Damocles, I'd always meet you at the gig and go in with you :)
 
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Colin Price on twitter: final rehearsal tomorrow. Also it seems that Davey is bringing a new guitar out this time: a Gary Moore signature Les Paul along with the California Series, 70's Custom Shop and White Floyd Rose Classic strats and the LP Axcess.

Note about GM Les Paul: the guitar looks pretty used to me at first sight, so it could be one of Gary's personal guitars which were sold last year.
 
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matic22 said:
Colin Price on twitter: final rehearsal tomorrow. Also it seems that Davey is bringing a new guitar out this time: a Gary Moore signature Les Paul along with the California Series, 70's Custom Shop and White Floyd Rose Classic strats and the LP Axcess.
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Wonder if that means they'll play a different song from last year, or if he will use it on one of the songs they did last year.
 
Poto said:
Wonder if that means they'll play a different song from last year, or if he will use it on one of the songs they did last year.
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Probably not. But if there is one track that needs a hardtailed LP it would be Coming Home.
 
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