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

I concur! We're all mathematicians now!

I would love to see a Maiden show in SA or Scandinavia, just to be around fewer fair-weather fans. However, I would also be terrified of the intensity of that many fanatics. I've seen the DVDs!
 
matic22 said:
Just found TBOS. Even when he speaks Bruce sounds like he has a cold. But then completely nails TBOS which is incredible (video below), considering what kind of trouble he had during SOL, Trooper and later Wasted Years. I don't know what to expect anymore.
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I think he's just having to find new comfort zones for a lot of the older and/or more extreme material as his voice ages.

I don't think he sounds particularly strained on Trooper or WY, just like he's really having to think about placing each of the notes. He's still got the range, as TBOS proves, but reaching it probably takes a bit more thought and intent than it did in the past.

It may still be that they ought to tune down a half or whole step to compensate, or maybe Bruce just needs more time with the material to adjust his breathing/phrasing.
 
Lego said:
I think he's just having to find new comfort zones for a lot of the older and/or more extreme material as his voice ages.

I don't think he sounds particularly strained on Trooper or WY, just like he's really having to think about placing each of the notes. He's still got the range, as TBOS proves, but reaching it probably takes a bit more thought and intent than it did in the past.

It may still be that they ought to tune down a half or whole step to compensate, or maybe Bruce just needs more time with the material to adjust his breathing/phrasing.
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I agree with this perspective, he sounds very good on Speed of Light too in my opinion (although it is admittedly earlier in the set) and he smashes TBOS.

 
Lego said:
I think he's just having to find new comfort zones for a lot of the older and/or more extreme material as his voice ages.

I don't think he sounds particularly strained on Trooper or WY, just like he's really having to think about placing each of the notes. He's still got the range, as TBOS proves, but reaching it probably takes a bit more thought and intent than it did in the past.

It may still be that they ought to tune down a half or whole step to compensate, or maybe Bruce just needs more time with the material to adjust his breathing/phrasing.
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I especially think he struggles more with the fast pronounced high phrases as he gets older (eg. TRATB, Trooper, HBTN), while the high notes are still there on the slow sung parts (eg BOS). But overall I think Bruce sounds less energetic on this leg than he did last year. I don't know why (something like the 2014 leg of the ME tour compared to the 2013 leg). I just hope they record another killer album at the end of the year that will give them the push again like TBOS did last year.
 
Maybe it has something to do with the fact that he had feared for months that he would not be able to sing and tour anymore. Last year's tour was surely a relief. This year, it's a bit back to usual business.
 
jazz from hell said:
What I miss in the current Setlist is Bruce singing in a lower register for a longer time, there's only the beginning of Hallowed and the "When we think that we've used all our chances"-part in Blood Brothers really. I loved the way he sang the beginning of Dance of Death and Talisman on the Final Frontier Tour.
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Yep, still true (Great Unknown for Hallowed).



Lego said:
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Favorite clip from the current tour.
 
matic22 said:
I especially think he struggles more with the fast pronounced high phrases as he gets older (eg. TRATB, Trooper, HBTN), while the high notes are still there on the slow sung parts (eg BOS). But overall I think Bruce sounds less energetic on this leg than he did last year. I don't know why (something like the 2014 leg of the ME tour compared to the 2013 leg). I just hope they record another killer album at the end of the year that will give them the push again like TBOS did last year.
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Maybe he just needs a few weeks to get going. Just like last year.
 
harrisdevot said:
Maybe it has something to do with the fact that he had feared for months that he would not be able to sing and tour anymore. Last year's tour was surely a relief. This year, it's a bit back to usual business.
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This. I think it's this. But again with a potentialy new album and new stage set next year, there could be some new wind in the sails. We can never know with Bruce. I also think that this year's set has worse flow than last year's. Also TOAC gave Bruce a breather, while he hasn't got one this year (there is still a scream in Wrathchild) and it worked better live than TGU live IMHO.
 
I don't think it's age. Bruce had surgery & he was clearly struggling with his speech just talking when we first heard him again in public. Everything isn't back to normal, maybe it never will be. I think it's just more obvious now on songs that were always a bit more challenging to begin with. But it is early days on the tour, so maybe we're being a little quick to judge here...
 
CriedWhenBrucieLeft said:
I don't think it's age. Bruce had surgery & he was clearly struggling with his speech just talking when we first heard him again in public. Everything isn't back to normal, maybe it never will be. I think it's just more obvious now on songs that were always a bit more challenging to begin with. But it is early days on the tour, so maybe we're being a little quick to judge here...
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IFAIK he didn't have surgery. Just heavy radiation and chemo sessions. But that destroyed a lot of functions in his throat for quite a while.
 
CriedWhenBrucieLeft said:
I don't think it's age. Bruce had surgery & he was clearly struggling with his speech just talking when we first heard him again in public. Everything isn't back to normal, maybe it never will be. I think it's just more obvious now on songs that were always a bit more challenging to begin with. But it is early days on the tour, so maybe we're being a little quick to judge here...
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I disagree 100%. Last year when the tour started he was also struggling here and there, but when the tour moved on, he got a lot better. I went to São Paulo show last year (when the tour was like 1.5 months old) and Bruce was MUCH better than TFF tour and Maiden England, at least the shows I attended. In fact, he nailed 95% of the songs. I don't think the cancer stuff has changed ANYTHING on his voice. Having said that, I think right now he is getting used again and as the tour moves on, he will get better. But then, just like last year, he will get tired and he will lose a little bit of his voice by the mid-end of the tour. But that's purely because of his age. Nothing to do with chemo at this point, in my opinion.

So, to sum it up, lucky are the ones who will see Maiden as they play during the first 2 or 3 months or tour. But well, this tour is not going to last long, right?
 
matic22 said:
South America and Scandinavia are 80%.
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Eh, not so sure the Scandinavian gigs have that many die hard fans anymore. Many corporate companies get dozens of tickets for every big show (shows with 10 000+ attendantes) to their employes, so most of those people are going to the show just to have some beers and chatting around like any random weekend party...
 
I am reading all this speculation but I don't agree with most. The gasping for breath in TGU in Frankfurt did not happen in Antwerp, the slow phrasing of the Trooper (Bruce at his worst -at least- since his return in Maiden; don't think he ever sang this slow in the nineties either. Some people did not like the sound of his voice but he could keep up) in Hamburg did not happen in Antwerp. It went worse as the tour progressed.

I don't know what is happening with the man but I am more caring about him than any spectator. Poor Bruce, really. This is not "getting used to" or "he needs to warm up". He needs ro recover. I hope for him it happens soon because it is a long tour in these circumstances. Thankfully the man is immensely popular. Blaze would get annihilated by fans after such a performance.
 
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Things could be greatly improved if they slowed some songs down, never mind tuned guitars down. Trooper is almost falling-over-itself fast, and I don't see why they needed to speed up IESF, when it's a new song, and doesn't need to live up to any 80s past glories. I just don't think Bruce's voice has ever lent itself to fast passages, and it's taking him longer to engage his voice properly these days. He excels on longer notes. This was happening pre-chemo too, but he did point out some time ago that he lost a certain amount of feeling and movement due to chemo, and we don't know if he ever fully got that back.
 
Brigantium said:
Things could be greatly improved if they slowed some songs down, never mind tuned guitars down. Trooper is almost falling-over-itself fast, and I don't see why they needed to speed up IESF, when it's a new song, and doesn't need to live up to any 80s past glories. I just don't think Bruce's voice has ever lent itself to fast passages, and it's taking him longer to engage his voice properly these days. He excels on longer notes. This was happening pre-chemo too, but he did point out some time ago that he lost a certain amount of feeling and movement due to chemo, and we don't know if he ever fully got that back.
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He never lost it in 2016. Not like this.

Trooper and IESF are not faster than in 2016 or in Antwerp.

My point is: we're witnessing a FIRST downfall (of these proportions), however temporary, whatever the reason.
 
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I never said that. I think it was the worst since the nineties, at least. But indeed, perhaps also eighties, thus worst ever. In the eighties (and perhaps also nineties) he might have had some worse sounding gigs (losing voice) but not keeping up the way this went, I have never heard (of) that before. This Trooper in Hamburg performance, it is something else than a voice problem.

Premature has something to with future, right?
I am judging (by analysys and memory) the past.
 
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