Do you think Iron Maiden has gained enough USA popularity to do a full arena tour?

[ADD]

Didn't sell out Shoreline in '03, sold out the small place in LA '04, Irvine '06 was pretty packed, Concord '08 I have no idea. Don't think it'd be wise for them to book a full scale arena tour here, and they almost certainly won't.

[Fe Maiden]

I'll respond to several things in the thread. Are they popular enough to do it? Yes! Would every show be a sell out? No! Who should open for them? Why not Heaven And Hell? They are scheduled to open for them somewhere in Europe!

http://www.bergenlive.no/K110810N2.html

Not sure with RJD being ill how well that will work

As for outdoor amphitheaters, some of them have terrific sound like Irvine does!

[Sanitarium78]

Originally Posted by Maiden33

Well that tour wasn't really a "full" tour. It was big by newer Maiden standards, but it was still relatively small. For a band like Maiden who has the power to force people to travel, the less shows they do, the better - because if they only do 6 or 8 shows, they will sell them all out, because people love them enough to travel from different places to see them. If they play 15-20 shows, I don't think they could maintain that level of sellouts. Whatever the closest shows to NYC, LA, and probably Toronto are would sell out, the rest would probably only reach about 75% capacity. Especially if it's gonna be an album tour.

While I do agree that there are a lot of fans who are willing to travel to see Maiden, I think there are many more who would not. There's a lot of people who have other things going on like work and family. Some may have money troubles to, and a road trip just isn't in the budget for a lot of them. To make a road trip to see them you have to be away from all this possibly for a few days and a lot of people just can't afford to give that up.

A full tour I think would draw well just because doing more dates means it's more convenient for people to go see them. Plus, there has to be many areas like where I live, that Maiden hasn't played in awhile. The last time they played here on their own was in 2000 The next time was when they did Ozzfest and since then nothing. So people will go to see them based on how long it's been since they've been around. Judging by the lack of US dates they do I know my area is not the only one they've neglected over the last 10years.

The other side of this is Maiden is their own worst enemy when it comes to how much they draw here. When you have Bruce saying in interviews about how boring the American crowds can be and they aren't gonna tour as much there now, that can turn people off from wanting to see them. I'm not saying Bruce isn't right about the difference in audiences but you can't say stuff like that and expect people to wanna see you all the time. Also, they've had this fascination for the last ten years of doing a shit load of new stuff and ignoring a lot of their 80s material. This to can turn fans off from wanting to see them live and they're doing a bunch of songs people aren't familiar with and leaving out the classics that most fans are going there to hear. Maiden needs to take some blame themselves if they feel they can't draw here because it's not completely the fault of the fans.

[rjturtle9]

Originally Posted by Sanitarium78

Also, they've had this fascination for the last ten years of doing a shit load of new stuff and ignoring a lot of their 80s material. This to can turn fans off from wanting to see them live and they're doing a bunch of songs people aren't familiar with and leaving out the classics that most fans are going there to hear. Maiden needs to take some blame themselves if they feel they can't draw here because it's not completely the fault of the fans.

There are already like 7 songs they do that are considered classics on every single tour they do. If that doesn't do the job then I don't know what the fans want. We just got a full 80s set on the last tour. It's time to bring out The Wicker man, Paschendale, The Clansman, and other "new" maiden songs that i consider to be classics just cause they're that good.

[IrritatedTrout]

Originally Posted by rjturtle9

There are already like 7 songs they do that are considered classics on every single tour they do. If that doesn't do the job then I don't know what the fans want. We just got a full 80s set on the last tour. It's time to bring out The Wicker man, Paschendale, The Clansman, and other "new" maiden songs that i consider to be classics just cause they're that good.

Exactly.

[Sanitarium78]

Originally Posted by rjturtle9

There are already like 7 songs they do that are considered classics on every single tour they do. If that doesn't do the job then I don't know what the fans want. We just got a full 80s set on the last tour. It's time to bring out The Wicker man, Paschendale, The Clansman, and other "new" maiden songs that i consider to be classics just cause they're that good.

What most fans want is more of the old stuff. Only about 25 percent of the audience who goes to see them at a given show now in the US really know and want the new stuff. Maiden still sells most of their concert tickets based on what they accomplished in the 80s. Yes, we did get a US tour full of 80s stuff recently. But it was a tour that many in the US, including myself didn't get a chance to see them on because they didn't come to their particular area.

I love their new stuff as well, they have a lot of new classics but these songs aren't as classic as the stuff they recorded from '82-'88. There are more fans out there I think who feel that way than ones who want to hear the new stuff. Like I said in my other post Maiden is partly responsible for alienating some of their fanbase in the US by doing limitted shows and playing new stuff all the time. It doesn't matter how good the new stuff is when most people go to see a classic rock band they wanna hear the classics.

[Maiden33]

Oh god, not another "what the fans really want" setlist debate.

Regardless of what the fans want, I hope Maiden has the good sense to take public opinion with a grain of salt. To be honest here, Maiden could play nearly any song and get a great crowd response, and I think they know that. I hope that the decision to exclude a song from a set list never includes the reasoning: "well, it's not that popular". Especially for a band like Maiden. Maiden seriously only have 6 songs (NOTB, RTTH, Trooper, Hallowed, FOTD, Iron Maiden) that are considered "essential", and they're not even really hits - they're just "classics". They should want to take advantage of their freedom and depth of catalog rather than give us the same secondary "hits" all the time.

God damn it, you have 14 albums worth of great material (at least 5-7 of which are considered undeniable classics among their fans) and a fanbase that actually KNOWS most of it. Take advantage of that and the fact that you're not a band with 12 or 13 big hits that can never leave a setlist, leaving you only a short amount of space for variation.

[TonyD]

Originally Posted by Maiden33

Oh god, not another "what the fans really want" setlist debate.

Regardless of what the fans want, I hope Maiden has the good sense to take public opinion with a grain of salt. To be honest here, Maiden could play nearly any song and get a great crowd response, and I think they know that. I hope that the decision to exclude a song from a set list never includes the reasoning: "well, it's not that popular". Especially for a band like Maiden. Maiden seriously only have 6 songs (NOTB, RTTH, Trooper, Hallowed, FOTD, Iron Maiden) that are considered "essential", and they're not even really hits - they're just "classics". They should want to take advantage of their freedom and depth of catalog rather than give us the same secondary "hits" all the time.

God damn it, you have 14 albums worth of great material (at least 5-7 of which are considered undeniable classics among their fans) and a fanbase that actually KNOWS most of it. Take advantage of that and the fact that you're not a band with 12 or 13 big hits that can never leave a setlist, leaving you only a short amount of space for variation.

Too lung, din't read
We'w just play the hoe new owl-bum an a few of ah hits.