Here’s a look at the new Eddie courtesy of the latest Metal Hammer Norway.
It’s started to hit mailboxes, and there’s some cool Iron Maiden coverage in it. What do you all think of this The Book Of Souls Eddie? You’re bound to run into him at some concert somewhere next year, aren’t you?
Maiden Revelations 
Eddie is finally back! Although I don’t generally agree with Derek Riggs’s opinions, I have to admit that he was right about the cover art of The Final Frontier: That’s not Eddie! In my opinion, this new Eddie is definitely the best non-Derek one.
Just 17 days left…we can do it! UP THE IRONS from Brazil!
I definitely dig the new Eddie. TFF was a bold, wildly different direction to take him in, but I can say I much prefer this iteration of him, which stays true to his traditional design while still being unique.
Eddie rules! I like the old-school, back-to-the-roots feel. The Book of Souls album cover does resemble that of the Iron Maiden cover (as many people have commented on already), and now with a stone axe in his hand, Eddie brings the Killers album to mind as well.
Is it Eddie, or is it Eddie’s Mayan ancestor???
Since when did Eddie not travel through time? 🙂
Very cool. I like it. Did the article shed any more light on the album?
I think Powerslave would be awesome song for the new Mayan Eddie to walk on stage. In light of Janick suggesting six or seven songs in his Glide Magazine interview, I think there could end up being six BoS songs in the set list going something like this hopefully:
1. If Eternity Should Fail
2. Speed of Light
3. When the River Runs Deep
4. Infinite Dreams (more realistic: Can I Play With Madness)
5. Heaven Can Wait
6. The Trooper
7. The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg
8. Sign of the Cross
9. Tears of a Clown
10. The Book of Souls
11. Powerslave (Would be an awesome song to have Mayan walk on Eddie, in my opinion)
12. Fear of the Dark
13. Iron Maiden
Encore:
14. The Man of Sorrows
15. Killers (more realistic: Wrathchild)
16. Hallowed Be Thy Name
I wonder if they’ll get ambitious and include ‘Empire of the Clouds’ in the set? It’d be a fine line between it being a showstopper and being just a bit too long for the main set.
From what the early reviews have said about the instrumentation on it, piano and orchestration, plus its sheer length, I’d say the chances are very close to zero.
Infinite Dreams. AHA-HA-HA-HA. Very funny. 😉
Yeah It’s wishful thinking on my part LOL. Mind you, after Children of the Damned wasn’t included in Eddie Rips Up The World in 2005, many would have thought it wasn’t going to appear in a set list again, then in the 2007 leg of the AMOLAD tour, there it was, so I guess you never know!
Well, the difference being that Infinite Dreams was rehearsed for the Maiden England tour but dropped. I agree somewhat with the comparison, but on the Early Days tour there where two other in-period songs of that kind in the set – Remember Tomorrow and Revelations. Infinite Dreams was replaced by out-of-period Afraid To Shoot Strangers… 😦
The Infinite Dream is lost.
Fair point, and I remain hopeful too! 🙂
Here’s hoping for at least one or two surprises in the setlist this year. I was pleasantly surprised with the inclusion of Aces High and Phantom of the Opera on the Maiden England tour, so who knows!
Indeed! 🙂
I’d like to see some surprises thrown into the mix. In fact, Remember Tomorrow or Revelations would be awesome. Or maybe finally play Flight of Icarus for the first time in an eternity.
Revelations would hardly be a surprise, would it? Being performed on the previous tour and several tours prior to that? 🙂 Now, Flight Of Icarus on the other hand… Drool…
Indeed the Infinite Dream almost certainly is lost.
But I agree with Christer on Flight of Icarus. That song or Stranger In A Strange land in the set instead would saturate my pants just as much as Infinite Dreams and during the period of their reissues for 80’s material (picture vinyl discs etc), they did seem to promote both songs quite a bit on the official Facebook page!
They also sold Tailgunner shirts on the last tour. 😉
Yeah, Stranger is a good idea. Probably also easier for Bruce to sing than Icarus. I’m seriously curious to hear how he sounds when the tour starts. But Icarus … I mean, it’s probably Maiden’s biggest ever single, certainly the only one that did any business in the US, and they haven’t played it since ’86.
Indeed!
If I could see/hear ‘Flight Of Icarus’ performed live again I could die a happy man. And judging by Bruce’s vocals on ‘Speed Of Light’ , he could knock it out of the park/arena/football stadium!!!
Come on Steve, you know you want to !!
I’m imagining the setlist will be something like:
> Probable: 5-6 songs from The Book of Souls
> Givens: Fear of the Dark, The Trooper, Iron Maiden, plus 1 or 2 of the following: Hallowed, Beast and Hills
> Likely: 1-3 songs from the reunion period albums
That only leaves about 3 to 5 slots in the setlist for older material, and you can bet that 2 Minutes to Midnight and/or Wrathchild will feature there too. I don’t expect anything from 1986 – 1998 to be played, save Fear of the Dark.
I’d be surprised if this isn’t spot on. Although I definitely wouldn’t rule out Heaven Can Wait for this particular tour. 😉
Any hints as to whether Heaven Can Wait will be included or not?
No, but isn’t it obvious? How about 30 000 Maiden fans yelling along with Bruce: “Heaven can waa-aaa-aaait!”
Haha – Ok, I get it now 🙂
In his handwritten thanks in the latest Fan Club mag, Bruce did write “…been humming Heaven Can Wait in the shower a lot…” Not that this is a setlist hint, but those lyrics to Bruce’s battle is really too poignant to be ignored, isn’t it?
Heaven Can Wait is my favorite song from Somewhere in Time, and I’d love to wail it with Bruce! It would be a fitting testament to him conquering cancer.
Indeed. Reading those lyrics now is really weird.
I didn’t know that about Bruce’s notes to the fan club, that’s cool. With that said, and having heard the album (which is great! Post an article so that we can discuss it! :)) today, here’s my very conservative setlist guess:
1. If Eternity Should Fail
2. Speed of Light
3. The Great Unknown
4. Wrathchild
5. The Trooper
6. Coming Home
7. The Book of Souls
8. Death or Glory
9. Run To The Hills
10. The Red and The Black
11. Heaven Can Wait
12. The Evil That Men Do
13. Fear of the Dark
14. Iron Maiden
Encore:
15. The Number of the Beast
16. 2 Minutes to Midnight
17. Sanctuary
I really hope the great unknown isn’t played live… It’s got to be the worst maiden track EVER imo.. yes .. including the angel and the gambler … What a f… up …
While I would agree that ‘The Great Unkown’ is definitely one of the lesser tracks on ‘The Book Of Souls’, and that everyone is, of course, entitled to his or her opinion, to say that it is anywhere approaching the tedious awfulness of ‘The Angel…’ is, to say the least, a bit strong.
I completely agree. There is nothing Maiden have done since 2000 that comes close to the perfect crap that is The Angel And The Gambler. Personally, I think the chorus in The Great Unknown is really good.
Yeah I could totally live without it too. To be totally, utterly honest I’m not that bothered about The Red & The Black either, but I can already see that it will probably get played as the big, epic piece of the set. Now, “Book of Souls” I would much prefer as the epic centerpiece to the show (I think both TBoS and TRaTB will be played).
For me the red and the black would be awesome as an instrumental in the likes of “losfer words (big ora)” If it was only without the first part and right after the first bunch of solos … I think the melody line of the chorus sounds a bit too … happy especially with the keyboard’s addition .. but the instrumental part in the end is spot on and could stand as a track itself ..
Yeah, my problem with it is that it doesn’t need to be 14 minutes long…
I think (more hope, maybe?) that ‘The Red And… will not make it into ‘The Tour Of Souls’ (??) setlist. The title track, IMHO, would be a better choice for the live centerpiece, especially considering that the stage show/decor will more than likely be Mayan/tribal based. Also, as has been predicted/hinted at, if ‘Heaven Can Wait’ is to make an (to my mind) unwanted return, that would be one woah woah sing-a-long too many.
The almost 4 minutes that would be saved could be used for a shorter, punchier song that hasn’t been played for a long time. Hey !?!? By the time the tour rolls out ‘Flight Of Icarus’ won’t have been played for 20 years and THAT’S almost 4 minutes of the best Maiden music ever and, judging by Bruce’s singing on the new album and if it’s put in the right place in the set so that he can rest his voice a little, ‘Flight… could take the roof off!
Thoughts?
First of all, it’s officially dubbed The Book Of Souls World Tour, so no semi-clever wordplay with this one. 😉
Personally, I think they’ll play The Red And The Black early in the set, like The Talisman in 2011, and have The Book Of Souls later in the running order. No problem playing both of them.
Icarus would rule, and it’s actually been 30 years. 🙂
My bet is that “The Book of Souls” will come earlier, much like “Dance of Death” did on that particular tour. It gives the opportunity for Bruce to kind of “set the scene” a bit (“welcome, to The Book of Souls …” etc etc).
I think TR&TB will come later, being the longer piece it will be in the slot traditionally reserved for things like When the Wild Wind Blows, Mariner etc.
I think there is almost 100% chance it will be played. It’s the Steve penned epic on the album, clearly composed with an ear towards crowd participation …
Whoops! Bit of a QC glitch there. Of course it’s been 30 years, not 20. That’s what happens when you post on the early commute when your brain is in, best case, 1st gear. Maybe I subconsciously thought that saying I’d last seen ‘Flight…’ played live 30 YEARS AGO made me sound/feel as old as Eddie looks on the new album cover? Who knows? Whatever it was………..terrible maths!!
Shame about the ‘Tour Of Souls’ thing – I used to look forward to seeing what the band would call their new world tour; Piece/Slavery/Somewhere On….