Why wasn't the reunion an instant success in America?

[Perun]

EDIT: I kinda doubt it was the result of 2005 Ozzfest, which didn't seem that succesful, at least according to Wiki

"At Iron Maiden's last Ozzfest performance, on 20 August 2005 at the Hyundai Pavilion at Glen Helen in San Bernardino, California, several negative events took place. During the first song, several members of the crowd, brought on by Sharon Osbourne, bombarded the British metal band Iron Maiden with eggs, bottle caps and ice after vocalist Bruce Dickinson allegedly ridiculed Ozzy's need for a teleprompter during his performances, as well as the Osbourne family's ventures into reality television (The Osbournes, Battle for Ozzfest).[12] During three of Iron Maiden's songs, the P.A. system was switched off, cutting power to Dickinson's microphone and then to all the band's instruments. During the concert, Bruce Dickinson can be heard accusing the festival's organizers of deliberately cutting off the band's power. On Iron Maiden's departure, Sharon Osbourne came on stage to make a few statements, telling the audience that she "absolutely loved Iron Maiden" but thought that Dickinson is a "prick."

I remember people at the time saying Maiden stole the show wherever they played, and that rather than a supporting slot on the Ozzfest bill they should have done a headlining tour on their own. There was even some speculation that, apart from Bruce's behaviour, this triggered jealousy on Sharon's part that resulted in Eggfest. Whether or not that is true is for you to decide.
The reason why 2008 was a success in the US was because it fully catered to the Play Classics! crowd. I really don't think there's more of a mystery to it. Maiden's name was out there again thanks to a number of tours and this time they promised to play all the hits and didn't threaten to play anything recent, so that's that.

 

[GhostofCain]

I remember people at the time saying Maiden stole the show wherever they played, and that rather than a supporting slot on the Ozzfest bill they should have done a headlining tour on their own. There was even some speculation that, apart from Bruce's behaviour, this triggered jealousy on Sharon's part that resulted in Eggfest. Whether or not that is true is for you to decide.

Iron Maiden went down that well on the first night of the Ozzfest tour, that on the second night their live sound was sabotaged, much to Doug Hall's annoyance (and quite probably the band's annoyance too). I would not be surprised if Bruce's subsequent comments against reality TV where not only motivated by his despise of it, but also by the band's shows being sabotaged by a reality TV diva.

 

[Iron Lurker]

The Blaze albums weren't received well at all in the USA. They were playing small clubs there then. A lot of people wrote them off as dead and buried. Plus heavy metal was so out of fashion in America in the 90's and much of the 2000's. Just took some time for folks here to notice them again. And as someone else here said us old school guys introduced Maiden to the younger generation, that helped too.

 

[srfc]

Ozfest was a big break for Maiden, even with all the Sharon nonsense, in fact that probably helped them too.

No surprise that the subsequent album AMOLAD was their first ever US top 10 record.

 

[Deleted member 7164]

Maiden in America in 1990s is basically non-existent. The question is why isn't it an instant success, and the question is wrong. It was an instant success, because EHT was played in front of small arena audiences, the same kind of venues Maiden did on their last prominent USA tour in 1991. Everything in between (Bruce or Blaze) was either avoid USA or play mostly clubs. Therefore returning to arena standard just on the wings of reunion alone is the definition of instant success.