The decision to play the whole album on that tour was extremely controversial at the time, as the punters were upset about not hearing more of the classic songs. From a PR perspective, it probably wouldn't have been ideal to release an album featuring one of these shows at the time. I've always felt the Somewhere Back in Time / Flight 666 sequence was a somewhat cynical reaction to the bad publicity they got for the first leg of the Matter of Life and Death tour, but it did really well, and they've alternated "new album" tours with nostalgia tours ever since. (I suppose they set the precedent with the 2005 tour, which also featured a nostalgia setlist, but they didn't release anything from that either.)
I saw them on that tour and really didn't enjoy. I must admit I just can't stand the predictability of playing an album all the way through in order (Unless it's The Wall or something like that). Add to the fact that it was obvious they would then play Hallowed, Fear, Number, IM and Run To the Hills. Just didn't do it for me I'm afraid. Liked the album though.
Maiden's setlist construction had become a bit of a running joke in fan circles at this point, as it was a mortal lock that they were going to play half the new album and the same 10-12 warhorses as they always played. Playing all of A Matter of Life and Death felt like a reaction to that, but it clearly wasn't what fans wanted, so they started doing the nostalgia tours with (somewhat) deeper cuts, which apparently is what the fans want. And even though the "new album" tours are still pretty much exactly what I described above, they don't get as much static about it anymore.
I haven't heard the recording yet, but the fact that it was planned in advance should not mean a thing. If the result is a below par performance from one of the members (and the vocalist, no less) then there's wisdom in canceling the release. After all, lack of appropriate lighting (or something like that) was the excuse for not releasing the complete Hammersmith 1982 video. A sick Dickinson sounds like a more solid reason than that to me.
"Nostalgia" type tours predate A Matter Of Life And Death - 1999, 2003, 2005. As for the 2008 tour, it can't have been a reaction to 2006 if it was in the cards since the 2004/2005 Part 1: Early Years thing.
That's a bummer. I don't know how I would've felt about it had I gotten to see that tour (as someone else said, not a huge fan of full album shows), but as a sort of "quarantine stopgap release" it would've been more interesting than this. I loved this tour in person, of course, but for an actual audio release, I'd rather hear some stuff that hasn't been on live Maiden albums before. Even the two Blaze songs were already on Rock In Rio. Go into the vaults and dig up all the (then-)new stuff played on one or two tours then dropped forever that hasn't made an official live album.
For a 62 year old man to sing as he does is absolutely amazing I just don’t enjoy the sound he makes now... As a maiden fan I still get everything, but I doubt I’ll be listening to it again. I really dislike having to say anything negative about the band. no doubt some will feel I should keep my thoughts to myself, but isn’t that what a forum is for to share opinions
Absolutely, say what you think, speak your mind, tell us how you feel! It's nice when people agree, but it's not a pre-requisite. We're among civilized b*st*rds here.
I could be confused but I'm pretty sure I have at least one proshot DVD of that tour. EDIT: Hmm, must be confused, just checked my Maiden DVD stuff, I have a 4 audience camera mix of that tour, not proshot. From a show in Italy. Been ages since I watched it, can't recall how good it is but hazily think it was OK. Probably have the FM show mentioned above, maybe that is what I was thinking of...
No, you are perfectly entitled to your views, keep posting them! Nights of the Dead is not the best live album that Maden have released, but like all Iron Maden releases it's still very enjoyable. After what Bruce has been through we are lucky that he can sing at all! Vocally his best days are probably behind him, but it's still great to hear him. My main problem (at the moment) with Nights of the Dead is that the mix makes some of it sound quite muddy in places... this is only based on listening to the album on Spotify though so hopefully when the LP's arrive the album sounds a bit better on my system.
You’ve hit the nail,on the head here I think Maybe if they moved Bruce’s voice back in the mix a bit and gave it a touch more reverb/echo ( I’m obviously not a producer so I may not be eloquent enough to get across what I mean here) it would sound better you’re right though, for a 62 year old man who’s been what he has been through to sound as good as he does is an absolute miracle that’s why I hate moaning about him as much as I do.... but I can’t just say, oh he sounds amazingly brilliant just because of his life tragedies I have no doubt that man is still an absolute legend in my eyes though
I'm surprised they wouldn't have done this at Auditorio Nacional instead. It's pretty big, and the sound is better there (or at least it was pretty good sound when I saw Gustavo Cerati there in 2003).
That's how I feel. The setlist (other than Where Eagles Dare coming back) seems pretty rote, so I can't see wanting to just listen to it. If I couldn't watch the performance, why bother?
Sad to see people saying Brucie's voiced aged based on this recording, go check some 2018 recordings on youtube. the Athens show or the Stockholm one for example, Bruce nails it. Like I said, he was sick on the Mexico nights. As for the video, I believe we'll get something after the 3rd leg more cinematic than Live Chapter. IM released flight of icarus and rtth on their youtube from live shows, the also recorded a performance of rtth for the football video. On Download 2020 livestream event they played a video from aces high with video from RiR, Mexico different than the RiR livestream. I am expecting something like Live Chapter and Flight 666, every song on a different venue
Yeah, to be honest this particular tour was my least favorite of all the "Legacy" tours. That is not to say that it was substandard, but I enjoyed Somewhere Back In Time and Maiden England much more. I felt that listening to this new release reinforced that !
That's right!. Auditorio Nacional was built ex profeso for music performances. It was renewed by Master Architect Teodoro González de León around 1991 and was re-opened with a Chicago Concert in their October 1991 tour in Mexico, around the Twenty One Album Tour. But since it's a smaller venue against Palacio de Los Deportes (10 K versus 20 K) , profit was decided in a much larger amount of eager fans of the Maiden.
My colored vinyl sounds very good. It is cut by Chris Bellman and pressed nicely. I listened to it loudly on headphones last night really loved the separation in the instruments. I saw the tour in Vegas and Houston and would happily see them again on this - seemly never ending- tour.
I find that hard to believe. Maiden fans are such a consistent and loyal bunch, it would seem that any video release is a no-brainer, and one should be able to predict exactly how many units will sell.
I'm with you on this. Maiden fans are not only loyal to a fault, but they are also legion. If a live album makes commercial sense, so does a concert bluray. Hell, package them together and most of us will still eat it right up. Experience Hendrix just released a 2CD+bluray set of Jimi's Maui concerts. You can't convince me that one will make money but a similar Iron Maiden release won't.
Oh yes, yikes. The chorus on Run To The Hills is abysmal. What are those flat backing vocals all about?
In general the songs on youtube don't have many views for maiden sadly Only 8k views on RTTH, but yes the backing vocals are putrid And now listen to the video from 2018 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEjGuDcDJjU much better innit?
The backing vocals on the 2018 video are probably just as bad, but, unlike on the new version, they are very low in the mix. The combination of placing the backing vocals higher in the mix and the strange, subdued crowd noise recording means that those backing vocals are way too prominent in the new version.
I honestly don't know what everyone's problem with backing vocals on Run To The Hills suddenly is. They've been like this at least since the start of current lineup era if not earlier. It's just that the mix on new album emphasizes them.