The problem with playing SIT songs live - A tabu?

Absolutely. Bruce was still burnt out when they recorded it and (from all the footage I've seen), he seemed like he was a bit pissed off during the live run following the album. He was a little checked out, I think, and it shows on the recording and the live performances.
 
Another detail strikes me as a possible sign that the band was not really "into it" while recording the album: the fade out of " Stranger in a Strange Land" is really unusual (I think it had been the only case in the Maiden discography up to that point but I might be wrong) and might betray some lack of interest or at least certain urgency to finish the record off.
 
I disagree with that one. It's pretty easy to write an ending if you want one. I think the fadeout was an artistic choice precisely because it was unusual for them. They were just trying something different.
 
Fade outs seem like cop outs to me, especially when they're used a lot. But since it's so rare for Maiden, I can agree it was probably artistic. Works for the song too.

Besides, even if you're gonna argue the band wasn't in it, you have to leave H out of that argument. I think it's pretty obvious he was much more into this album than others, I doubt he lacked interest in finishing one of his own songs.
 
I see no reason to believe the band was or was not as into it as on the previous or later efforts. It's all speculation. All we know for sure is that Adrian didn't enjoy the tours the time and that Bruce was hurt by the fact that none of his songs were accepted for the album. We know that because they told us so. Does that mean Adrian doesn't like the album? He's said quite the opposite - in fact, in an interview I read back in 2006 he said that Somewhere in Time was his favourite album, despite the fact that he thought it was the only one that sounded dated. Does it mean Bruce didn't like the album or enjoy the tour? We have no evidence towards that. There are between one and a million reasons why the band doesn't play more material from Somewhere in Time live, and they are the only ones who know them.
 
Perun said:
I see no reason to believe the band was or was not as into it as on the previous or later efforts. It's all speculation.
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I agree that Adrian can be left out of the argument, as Mosh says. Yet, we do have bits of interview that hint to the fact that the band, as a whole, was not as committed as they could have been:

"Even Steve admitted that we even wrote some of the songs on Somewhere in Time, he wasn't completely on the case. I think we all came close to asking was it all worth it? If you can see that there's a whole world that doesn't give a shit about rock music, then you tend to get the while thing in perspective. If you get carried away on escapism - like the doctor who gets addicted to his own drugs - then you're the one who's left a casualty. You have to pull yourself back from it."

Bruce Dickinson, in Infinite Dreams, Dave BOWLER and Bryan DRAY, 1996, Boxtree, p. 92 (though not an official biography as such, the text was read, checked for accuracy and approved by Steve Harris and Keith Wilfort - then head of the fan-club and working for Sanctuary Management).
 
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Another factor for a song not featuring was that Steve was shocked that Heaven Can Wait was not voted onto the track listing for Ed Hunter. He thought it was a fans favourite but it appears not.

It was played on every tour up to that point and after that has only featured once or twice
 
How about the issue of where these songs fit in your average setlist, especially now new material exists, and how well they would work in terms of entertainment value? To create the best possible show, appealing to as wide an audience as possible, you need a setlist with some variety, with a least a few crowd-pleasers.

They make an effort to keep the crowd engaged - some would say too much effort, in the case of Bruce talking about buns in ovens during Phantom of the Opera recently. SIT is very popular in these parts, but what is the wider fanbase reaction to SIT tracks other than Wasted Years?
 
srfc said:
Another factor for a song not featuring was that Steve was shocked that Heaven Can Wait was not voted onto the track listing for Ed Hunter. He thought it was a fans favourite but it appears not.
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Maybe the fact of relying on Internet votes as early as 1999 (back when Internet was still a bit of a luxury, let alone the ADSL) was not representative of the fanbase's tastes... which are still somewhat indefinable today anyway!

Brigantium said:
SIT is very popular in these parts, but what is the wider fanbase reaction to SIT tracks other than Wasted Years?
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I think "Heaven Can Wait" is a reliable choice live (the "oh oh oh"s MUST have the crowd going, however used to the song it is, just like the "Fear of the dark!" echo to Bruce's invite), provided they have enough space on the setlist, which is, as you said, dwindling as they keep releasing albums.

As for the rest, I can only think of "CSIT" pulling a 2008-Moonchild as first encore, without being really convinced though. I can't imagine "SOM" and "SIASL" being played these days, as they evoke a period long gone (similarly, I wouldn't expect "TTAL" either). "SIASL" seems less dated though, and it was reprised in the US in 1999 (EdHuntour) but dropped afterwards, which doesn't bode well for further inclusion in the setlist.

EDIT I am just reminded that "SIASL" was dropped while Adrian was absent on a few dates because his father had just died - Janick not having enough time to learn the solo parts. Then they realized that the flow of the show was better without it and did not bring it back when Adrian came back.
 
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Brigantium said:
SIT is very popular in these parts, but what is the wider fanbase reaction to SIT tracks other than Wasted Years?
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The band cannot know in advance how these songs would land, live, these days. It would suit them well if they would rely a bit less on success of what has been done, and rather find out what happens when they do more (recenly) untried things.
 
Forostar said:
The band cannot know in advance how these songs would land, live, these days.
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I am not sure they are really interested in it. I think they feel they don't have anything to prove e.g no new market to break at this stage of their career, as was the case with "Flight of Icarus" -though not a favorite of Steve's- which was all the same included in the World Slavery Tour setlist, never to be selected again ever since.
Nowadays, this purpose is filled by the iTunes reeditions.

It would suit them well if they would rely a bit less on success of what has been done, and rather find out what happens when they do more (recently) untried things.
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They did surprise people with the entire rendition of AMOLAD and the US tour of summer 2010, which is still rather recent history. However, the Maiden England 2013-2014 setlist was particularly unsurprising as far as the setlist was concerned. Besides, I saw them in 2014, and they have really aged physically (particularly Steve and Nicko). Since Maiden have seldom been a band eager to "find out what happens", in other words to experiment, I (unfortunately) can't imagine them starting now. Maiden is no golden-years Dream Theater (1997-2005) in concert. But I hope to be wrong! ;)
 
Black Bart said:
I am not sure they are really interested in it. I think they feel they don't have anything to prove e.g no new market to break at this stage of their career, as was the case with "Flight of Icarus" -though not a favorite of Steve's- which was all the same included in the World Slavery Tour setlist, never to be selected again ever since.
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Flight of Icarus was played (probably three or four times) in the beginning of Somewhere on Tour.
 
Forostar said:
Flight of Icarus was played (probably three or four times) in the beginning of Somewhere on Tour.
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Indeed. I was not sure. I would be curious to know why it was dropped. The setlist of this tour, though, strikes me as reflecting a period of great confusion. I remember reading that they were well into the tour when Bruce's interest in performing with Maiden shows was rekindled.
 
Cool. We're going off topic here, but I wish the show in Zagreb was recorded as well (second gig of the tour; I am curious about the setlist).
 
Forostar said:
I wish the show in Zagreb was recorded as well (second gig of the tour; I am curious about the setlist).
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This seems to be the setlist: http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/iron-maiden/1986/dom-sportova-zagreb-croatia-63d18e37.html
I saw the same on another website but it is attached to a boot, links to which I think are not allowed here. Again, I find the setlist rather strange, possibly because of ROTAM which seems to be here only because the band couldn't or wouldn't play "Alexander the Great" (this is just speculation).

Basically, it is the same as Belgrade (date 1), only with "Sea of Madness" replacing "The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner" as song n°3, and "Where Eagles Dare" taking the place of SOM after the guitar solos ("Walking on Glass").
 
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Brigantium said:
They make an effort to keep the crowd engaged - some would say too much effort, in the case of Bruce talking about buns in ovens during Phantom of the Opera recently.
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At the Hellfest show (June 2014), he took advantage of some instrumental passages ("SOASS" among others) to keep an update of the score of the World Cup match between France and Switzerland. :)
 
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