Unplayed live songs and the future of Maiden: what's next?

I think we underestimate popularity of NPFD and FOTD album songs among casual music fans.

Internet numbers on songs like Wasting Love are crazy high and songs like Tailgunner, Bring your..., Be quick, wasting love and from here to...are songs that you can find on a lot of random rock playlists on YT and Spotify, even those songs still get radio play in my region.

Few of my friends who never listen to metal music said that they know Maiden because of Be Quick and Wasting Love.

Maybe some of those songs will be back on set next tour or Powertrip fest.
 
I'd love it if they focused on reunion-era albums and included some of their unplayed gems.

My dream setlist of this would be the following, but please feel free to swap some of the unperformed songs for the likes of Blood Brothers, Wildest Dreams, Brave New World or Fear Of The Dark and the usual live staples from The Number Of The Beast for a more realistic setlist.

Ghost Of The Navigator
Isle Of Avalon
Montségur
Lost In A Lost World
Shadows Of The Valley
Rainmaker
Man of Sorrows
The Legacy
Starblind
Dream Of Mirrors
The Man Who Would Be King
Iron Maiden

Out Of The Shadows
No More Lies
Wicker Man
 
I'd welcome a rarity show from the 90s very much. Which is probably very unlikely.

They've done 1 song so far in almost all their tours that I was blown away by and that's 20 years ago.

Lord of the Flies on DOTR tour.
So maybe, just maybe, throw in something unusual like Childhoods End, Edge of Darkness, Como Estais Amigos or Fates Warning
 
gazda said:
I think we underestimate popularity of NPFD and FOTD album songs among casual music fans.
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I think this is more true than false. Besides Afraid and Fear, songs like Tailgunner, Public, No Prayer, Bring Your Daughter, Be Quick, Wasting Love, Judas Be My Guide and Childhood's End are popular enough. No Prayer and Tailgunner are easy and popular deep cuts now. Fugitive too. From Here To Eternity is a great sing-along song live.

From Blaze era, Futureal and (really doubt it) When Two Worlds Collide, Como Estais Amigos, Blood On The World's Hands, Edge Of Darkness, Aftermath?
 
after hearing alexander live i wouldn't stress myself for another wanted song (that struggle went tooo long for us) but on the other hand now there is hope for some other hidden gems.
1- i would really love to a set starting with the aggressive energy of be quick or dead.
2- infinite dreams is one of their musical and lyrical peaks ever, and they didn't play that one on the new maiden england even they rehearsed it. and it was in their top 10 most loved songs in fc magazines in 90's.
3- i always think that edge of darkness with bruce will be an instant classic.
4- killers, because it wasn't played in the early days.
5- and last of all, it won't happen i know but : flash of the blade will be great, with a led screen showing argento's movie phenomena the scene where the song plays.
 
The most popular songs (after Alexander) that are due to return or played for the first time imo are:

Infinite Dreams
Only The Good Die Young
To Tame A Land
Still Life
Sea Of Madness
The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner
Rime Of The Ancient Mariner
Flash Of The Blade
Killers
Prodigal Son
Be Quick Or Be Dead
Judas Be My Guide
Futureal
Brave New World
Out Of The Silent Planet
The Thin Line Between Love And Hate
Dance Of Death
Paschendale
The Reincarnation Of Benjamin Breeg
Starblind
Empire Of The Clouds
The Parchment*
 
Poto said:
But I think Alexander will be the only exception to the rule.
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With that being said I was told Maiden intended to do Sun and Steel on the original Senjutsu tour. That might also explain why they released the Sun and Steel beer with Senjutsu Eddie around the same time the album came out.

Maybe on the next tour?

I don't think we will get more albums, and for the next tour I think a lineup change is likely. Wouldn't surprise me if next year is Nicko's last full tour. 2025/26 might see a big final stadium tour with hits and deep cuts/never played before songs. Trooper, Hills, Beast, 2 Minutes etc plus Sun and Steel Only the Good Die Young, Killers, Paschendale and some others.
 
Maybe a 1 year tour for their 50th anniversary playing lots of classics with some rarities as well.

A new album and a tour to go with it, possibly the same way Future Past is where they choose another older album to go with it.

I would like a tour focusing on the albums after Bruce and Adrian returned.
 
Mosh said:
Under what circumstances would Maiden bring out another unplayed song? Try to be as realistic as possible.
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The only circumstances is if some band member gets a hankering for playing a certain track, like Bruce did with Alexander. I don't think there will ever be a scenario where the band sit down and explicitly start thinking about picking a deep cut to bring back. The choice of songs they played from SIT shows this, they pretty much played the same as the original tour, with only the deep cut being swapped in. Even though Steve had mentioned he thought Lonliness should be played, they still went with old reliable Heaven Can Wait.

Plus, you also have the scenario where, they played most of the best tracks on the original tours. They aren't going to build a whole tour around busting out Quest for Fire or The Prophecy. And the 90s deep cuts would have even less appeal to the casual fan.
 
Poto said:
With that being said I was told Maiden intended to do Sun and Steel on the original Senjutsu tour. That might also explain why they released the Sun and Steel beer with Senjutsu Eddie around the same time the album came out.

Maybe on the next tour?
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Sun And Steel - that's a surprise. Not one of Maiden's most well known songs. So maybe there's a chance for playing more rare songs. I doubt they will play it on the next tour though as it fits in with a SJ tour.
Poto said:
I don't think we will get more albums, and for the next tour I think a lineup change is likely. Wouldn't surprise me if next year is Nicko's last full tour. 2025/26 might see a big final stadium tour with hits and deep cuts/never played before songs.
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I think we will get at least one more album, but the question is whether it will be sooner or later. I also think there will be no change in the lineup.
And maybe we will get 2 more tours with the right songs chosen.
Maiden95 said:
Maybe a 1 year tour for their 50th anniversary playing lots of classics with some rarities as well.

A new album and a tour to go with it, possibly the same way Future Past is where they choose another older album to go with it.
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A 50th anniv. tour to be only 1 year? Possible, but not very likely. New album tour like the current one is a good formula, but which album is as popular as SIT? It should be an album of rarely played songs. POM, Powerslave, BNW, I guess.
 
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Kalata said:
A 50th anniv. tour to be only 1 year? Possible, but not very likely. New album tour like the current one is a good formula, but which album is as popular as SIT? It should be an album of rarely played songs.
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From the 80's albums I feel like Powerslave could be the one, it got its major setlist in 2008-2009, of course Powerslave was played on the Book Of Souls tour and Aces High and 2 Minutes To Midnight on Legacy tour. Choosing 5 songs from it though would mean the return of Rime Of The Ancient Mariner as well as a song that has never been played (or played in a really long time).

I doubt they would choose any of the 90's albums, but from the reunion Brave New World or A Matter Of Life And Death could work. Other than Wicker Man, Blood Brothers and For The Greater Good Of God they haven't played songs from those albums since 2010.
 
LooseCannon said:
I guess the best way to tell is to check to see if there's something they've never played that one band member has been particularly firm about wanting to play, especially from before the end of the first Bruce era. Interviews from that time suggested a level of heat between Steve on one side, and H/Bruce on the other. Most famously around Flight of Icarus and the speed it was played - and sped up a hint on LOTB, it rocked. Bringing back a few classics really seems more likely to me.

Maiden has done a limited NOTB tour retrospective, and a far more intense SSOASS retrospective. Early Days served as one for Killers and IM, and I can't see them interested in doing one for anything in the 90s.

Which, to me, leaves only one real option: a Brave New World tour. They've played most of the songs from that live already, and it would be an excellent way to re-live the rejuvenation of the band, the restoration of the epic lineup, the top live album. Maiden was as-on top of the world by the end of the Brave New World Tour as they had been in 1985, so I think it's a logical bit.
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I always wanted to hear The Thin Line between Love and Hate. I'd also love to get Starblind live but I feel they had that chance twice already and passed on it. It's a shame. Damn good song. Would've made the Legacy tour more insane than it already was.

As others have mentioned, Only the Good Die Young has been on Steve's radar for some time. The song even had an appearance on Miami Vice back in 1988... It would be cool to see them swap CIPWM for that on the USA leg of this tour. One could hope lol
 
gazda said:
I think we underestimate popularity of NPFD and FOTD album songs among casual music fans.

Internet numbers on songs like Wasting Love are crazy high and songs like Tailgunner, Bring your..., Be quick, wasting love and from here to...are songs that you can find on a lot of random rock playlists on YT and Spotify, even those songs still get radio play in my region.

Few of my friends who never listen to metal music said that they know Maiden because of Be Quick and Wasting Love.

Maybe some of those songs will be back on set next tour or Powertrip fest.
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Yep, the "disappointment" of the FotD album always felt to me more like a hardcore fandom issue - even back then it was rather huge (and it must have been the first Maiden album I've heard played by my father) and we shouldn't underestimate how many people will check the album out because of the rather famous title track.

7thRunner said:
I'd love it if they focused on reunion-era albums and included some of their unplayed gems.

My dream setlist of this would be the following, but please feel free to swap some of the unperformed songs for the likes of Blood Brothers, Wildest Dreams, Brave New World or Fear Of The Dark and the usual live staples from The Number Of The Beast for a more realistic setlist.

Ghost Of The Navigator
Isle Of Avalon
Montségur
Lost In A Lost World
Shadows Of The Valley
Rainmaker
Man of Sorrows
The Legacy
Starblind
Dream Of Mirrors
The Man Who Would Be King
Iron Maiden

Out Of The Shadows
No More Lies
Wicker Man
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This is great. I could personally do without Tears of the Dragon v2, eh, sorry, I meant Wasting Love v3, oh, silly me, Out of the Shadows and I'd switch Man of Sorrows with the superior Dickinson song (though I could live without neither, personally), but you picked many songs I'd like to see as well.

The casuals would flip their shit from this setlist, though.
 
Wouldn't it be nice to see a future tour where all of the reunion albums save for Senjutsu are focused on?

Tracks from BnW through TBoS only - and Iron Maiden, Fear of the Dark, Trooper, and 1-2 classics from TNOTB album. Partly for selfish reasons (I wasn't able to see any shows between 2000 and 2018), but also because the great tracks on these albums have been largely neglected for the past 10 years (minus TBOS songs from 2014-2017).

At least 2-3 of the following deep cuts would justify the cost of me traveling to see 3-4 shows: Out of the Silent Planet, The Thin Line Between Love and Hate, No More Lies, Montsegur, Paschendale, The Legacy, Starblind, The Alchemist, Isle of Avalon, The Man Who Would Be King (yes I'm a sucker for the TFF album - criticism from the fanbase at large be damned!!), The Red and the Black, The Book of Souls (Title Track).

Paschendale may be a bit of a downer (I've been known to bawl my eyes out about every 1 in 3 listens), and The Thin Line Between Love and Hate may have a few too many slow/moody parts, but the rest of the songs that I've listed would carry over well (with Maiden's tried and true 'Anthemic' vibe) in a live setting, IMHO.

I'm that oddball Reunion-era super fan who rates TFF as highly as most rate AMOLAD and who rates AMOLAD as moderately/fair to middling as most rate TFF, haha!!
 
Diesel 11 said:
A final thought right now: after the current tour ends, will Maiden return to the studio for album 18, or will they hit the road again for a 50th anniversary tour? Bruce said before the third leg of LOTB that the band was discussing playing Senjutsu live in full. Obviously that didn't happen, and instead we get the opening trio of "Senjutsu" - "Stratego" - "The Writing on the Wall" on the third Legacy leg, and now on The Future Past Tour we're also getting "Days of Future Past", "The Time Machine", "Death of the Celts", and "Hell on Earth". Should a 50th anniversary tour happen, and assuming that Maiden aren't going to celebrate the anniversary instead by releasing another album, could the three remaining Senjutsu songs - "Lost in a Lost World", "Darkest Hour", and "The Parchment" - get included in that tour? It's a little weird to think of what one could call the Senjutsu Tour being split into three different tours proper, but it's a possibility if they're really so fond of all the songs as much as they said they were.
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Love your thinking here -- and Lost In a Lost World, Darkest Hour, and the Parchment happen to be my 3 favorite songs on Senjutsu (and have been since about 2-3 months after Senjutsu was released - it took just a little while longer for Darkest Hour to sink deep into my heart and soul).
 
Pibroch_Whistler said:
Wouldn't it be nice to see a future tour where all of the reunion albums save for Senjutsu are focused on?

Tracks from BnW through TBoS only - and Iron Maiden, Fear of the Dark, Trooper, and 1-2 classics from TNOTB album. Partly for selfish reasons (I wasn't able to see any shows between 2000 and 2018), but also because the great tracks on these albums have been largely neglected for the past 10 years (minus TBOS songs from 2014-2017).

At least 2-3 of the following deep cuts would justify the cost of me traveling to see 3-4 shows: Out of the Silent Planet, The Thin Line Between Love and Hate, No More Lies, Montsegur, Paschendale, The Legacy, Starblind, The Alchemist, Isle of Avalon, The Man Who Would Be King (yes I'm a sucker for the TFF album - criticism from the fanbase at large be damned!!), The Red and the Black, The Book of Souls (Title Track).

Paschendale may be a bit of a downer (I've been known to bawl my eyes out about every 1 in 3 listens), and The Thin Line Between Love and Hate may have a few too many slow/moody parts, but the rest of the songs that I've listed would carry over well (with Maiden's tried and true 'Anthemic' vibe) in a live setting, IMHO.

I'm that oddball Reunion-era super fan who rates TFF as highly as most rate AMOLAD and who rates AMOLAD as moderately/fair to middling as most rate TFF, haha!!
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Oh please, yes!

I think I might do without the Alchemist (one of the only somewhat weaker Janicktracks in the past 1/4 of a century - and I love the bloke's work, see below) and in general I love AMOLAD, unlike you, so I'd like to see it represented more, apart from the sublime Legacy - I guess BTATS or even The Longest Day would hardly offend anyone - but this sounds great to me.

I also wonder how not just Thin Line, but TMWWBK as well would come across live, in fact, I'm also kinda worried how would they reproduce Isle of Avalon on stage, but it'd be worth trying, definitely.


*
JudasMyGuide said:
You know, as the go-to Janick fan, I feel entitled to say that I probably like The Time Machine the least* of his contributions to the last eight albums (yes, that is since TXF), with the possible exception of Gates of Tomorrow.

And it is still a rather solid song. Even if we were talking only about composing, that bloke has been giving his best to Maiden for the past 30 years.

Out of those 8 albums I mentioned, he wrote or co-wrote my favourite song on 6 of those (okay, I'm not 100 % sure about The Talisman anymore, but then again, he had the favourite song and the second one on BNW, so it probably evens out)

(he'd almost have TXF as well, if 'Arry didn't bring out his best game - and while competing with 'Arry on Senjutsu seems even more futile, I'm still giving an honorable mention to Stratego).



*Ah, don't listen to me, I'm just mostly disappointed that the chorus didn't go

A time machine
In a time machine
A time machine
In a time machine

In a time machine
A time machine
In a time machine
A time machine
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JudasMyGuide said:
Yep, the "disappointment" of the FotD album always felt to me more like a hardcore fandom issue - even back then it was rather huge (and it must have been the first Maiden album I've heard played by my father) and we shouldn't underestimate how many people will check the album out because of the rather famous title track.



This is great. I could personally do without Tears of the Dragon v2, eh, sorry, I meant Wasting Love v3, oh, silly me, Out of the Shadows and I'd switch Man of Sorrows with the superior Dickinson song (though I could live without neither, personally), but you picked many songs I'd like to see as well.

The casuals would flip their shit from this setlist, though.
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Fear of the Dark as an album was certified platinum 3.5 times by Billboard meaning 3.5 million copies so clearly many of the fans know the album. Powerslave and Somewhere in Time have both been certified 4.5 times each according to Billboard so not a big difference, but at the same time, kinda is
 
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