Why don't Maiden delve deeper into their back catalogue?

How many years left? 5? 10? 10 more tours? 10 more Halloweds and 10 more Fears? Or lots of variety?
I think it's great they play a good amount of new material, beside me not keen lately, but there's too much staple time.
They have been blessed with a talent and it is their duty to use it to the full before it's too late!
 
matic22 said:
This Les Paul has a Floyd Rose... It's so called Les Paul Axcess.
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Regardless of that, he used bends as pitch control, not whammy bar. Not the way it's played usually. Check out one of the few pro-bootlegs, saw it there.
 
Zare said:
Regardless of that, he used bends as pitch control, not whammy bar. Not the way it's played usually. Check out one of the few pro-bootlegs, saw it there.
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Dave has his Floyds set up Van Halen style (resting on the body of the guitar). So I don't know what you are refering to here.
 
Usually Dave plays Strat, and when playing Powerslave solo he uses tremolo bar for pitch control.
This time Dave played Les Paul, and he used bends for pitch control, regardless of his Les Paul being equipped with tremolo bridge. I'm trusting you on that one, honestly I didn't spot it. Although I don't remember usual Les Paul fixed bridge either.

Anyways.
 
Forostar said:
I find this a little vague. Did his answer have to do with not playing deep cuts, or with mistakes you talked about. Or both?
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I gently asked him why he didn't rotate his setlist and why familiar favorites show up on every tour (much like with Maiden). He was very nice/cool about it (and I did my best to not sound like a jackass fan when I asked). He's probably a bad example as he's heavily reliant on samples and backing tracks to reproduce what he does in the studio (and then he gets locked into a specific set every night as a result) whereas Maiden is much more organic. One thing he does do that's cool is that he pulls out deep cuts for special one-off shows.
 
Devin digs into his back catalog way more than Maiden does. But he also has a different approach to playing live, as you mentioned. He's played several of his albums in their entirety and last year did a by request show, where a couple songs that had never been played live before made an appearance.
 
i wish they played some older stuff like Where Eageles dare or Alexander, Nicko's drumming on those tunes is unbeleivable! or maybe even play New Frontier since the man himself wrote it haha!
 
soundwave said:
I gently asked him why he didn't rotate his setlist and why familiar favorites show up on every tour (much like with Maiden). He was very nice/cool about it (and I did my best to not sound like a jackass fan when I asked). He's probably a bad example as he's heavily reliant on samples and backing tracks to reproduce what he does in the studio (and then he gets locked into a specific set every night as a result) whereas Maiden is much more organic. One thing he does do that's cool is that he pulls out deep cuts for special one-off shows.
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Alright, this is very different from what you said earlier. Anything else? Can I have a take 3? ;)
 
Sea Of Madness and its mid-tempo heavy groove could be done today. Especially seeing how they stick to album tempos.
Maybe we should focus on discussing deep cuts which didn't work back in the day but would work now. It's more logical to presume that way. And include songs that were played originally but weren't played on re-visit tours.

My suggestions : Killers, Flight Of Icarus, Still Life, Sea Of Madness, Stranger In A Strange Land, No Prayer For The Dying, Sign Of The Cross, The Clansman, Dream Of Mirrors, No More Lies or For The Greater Good Of God if deep cut(s) were to be included on tour of another theme.
If the tour revolves around deep cuts, we could maybe get Infinite Dreams, Brighter Than A Thousand Suns, Paschendale and more complex songs. However I don't think they'll ever play songs that weren't played before.

I still believe they find it hard to play complex pieces in high-energy environment such as their own gig, especially with the way set lists are formulated. They are a heavy metal, not a progressive rock band, they jump out on the stage to do two fast rockers while 50.000 people are going nuts, and it may be that it's hard to tone down to do song like Paschendale after that. I don't believe they can't walk into a practice room right now and play Infinite Dreams perfectly by the third attempt.

It will also be really interesting to see how they break down their record->record-tour->themed-tour cycle after The Book Of Souls. By looking at the intervals, it's the perfect time. I wouldn't be surprised if they do a more controlled show with accent on complex songs. I think Nicko also expressed wish to play at Royal Albert Hall but didn't find it appropriate for a typical Maiden gig. They did one-offs before numerous times.
 
Overall, I'm quite satisfied with what Maiden has played since BNW. On the Book Of Souls tour, they could have easily done Wrathchild, 2 Minutes, and Run To The Hills instead of Children Of The Damned, Wasted Years, and Powerslave so those were pretty amazing to see on an album tour. And who knows what they have in store for the future. A tour with rotating songs like Metallica and Rush have done would be pretty sweet. And when they time comes for their final farewell tour, I would like for them to play at least 1 song from every album in their discography. They haven't done that since the Fear Of The Dark tour.
 
I think Maiden dives enough on his catalogue. I posted this on TBoS tour thread, but, considering the majority of the titan Metal and Rock bands, Maiden is one of the few that actually rotates their set, plays new stuff and bring back old classics from time to time. About the history tours, however, one can complain about a classic don't making a big return, but we all need to consider one thing: maybe the band just don't want to play it. Maybe Infinite Dreams was such a mess on the rehearsal they wanted to play something that works. Maybe Flight of Icarus (a personal favorite of mine) brings back heated arguments, so they decide to put it aside in the name of good will. Maybe they're not in the mood to rehearse 3 weeks trying to master Alexander the Great (we're talking about a band that dropped a few songs midtours because they didn't thought the result was premium).
If there were fan pressure (aka no invites to festivals and/or half empty arenas), they would try to play a few wild cards, obviously. But things go exactly the other way around, they recieve a lot more buzz and money if they focus on the classics.

The band don't want to do the extra work when they can focus on new things and the bulk of their audience don't want to see deep cuts at all. All things considered, Maiden does dive enough in their catalogue. Commercially speaking (after all, the band is a business, not a charity company), makes no sense to them to focus on rehearsing Stranger in a Strange Land when Wasted Years pleases both the band and the audience more.
 
CriedWhenBrucieLeft said:
I play guitar. Guitarists as they get older seem to lose a certain amount of consistency. See criticism, in this forum, of Dave Murray or John Petrucci. You could aim this criticism at Satch or Buckethead or any other guitarist.
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I also play guitar. And I always find it curious that rock musicians are the most prone to lose something with age and not replace it with something else.
A great classical pianist at 25 will floor you with exuberant performances full of fire; that same pianist at 65 will not be able to play like that but will amaze you with the wisened introspection and subtlety of touch that only experience brings. Same with jazz, blues, country or flamenco where the older guys frequently are able to give the young guns a good run for their money.
In contrast the successful older rockers are usually the ones who can still play like when they were young. There are exceptions of course - I for example think Bruce is more consistent live now that in Maiden's 80s prime - but it seems that rockers that lose the young fire remain with only the blandness.
I suppose approaching practice as an athletic exercise also counts but apparently rock is the genre most dependent on the stamina of youth.
 
I disagree. Lots of veteran bands still show the youth how it should be done.
Spaniard in the Works said:
A great classical pianist at 25 will floor you with exuberant performances full of fire; that same pianist at 65 will not be able to play like that
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Nope. E.g. from 23.30 or 24.50 or 28.28
And ever heard of Richter? That man played full of fire on old age as well.
 
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I'm really pleased with the Book of Souls Tour setlist.

Lots of BOS stuff plus Powerslave, Children, Wasted Years... which are not overplayed by any means. Not even Blood Brothers is.

And NOTB, Trooper and Halloweed... Come on. 95% of the audience is willing to listen JUST those three songs. At least we got rid of RTTH and Running Freeman.
 
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