Friday, I see one of my favorite groups and (I would argue)
the greatest metal band ever, Iron Maiden. I am prepared for something
resembling a religious experience, as the Maiden live experience is renowned as
one of the most electric imaginable. I have watched and listened to enough live
performances secondhand to know their ability to engage an entire crowd and entertain
like few others can, so I am obviously quite ready to finally witness their
showmanship myself.
Something I like to do, especially in anticipation of one of
the few concerts I have seen in my life, is create “dream” setlists for my favorite
artists. Most are restricted to a Notepad file, with no reason to share them
with more than a couple of people, but as I have done with Rush (pre-blog), I
will now go through what songs would comprise my ideal Iron Maiden show.
The rules are simple: the set must be around their usual
length (in this case, 17 songs); and even if I wanted otherwise, the handful of
songs that are guaranteed for every performance must be part of the set. The
rest is up to me, although it should be said these aren’t necessarily my favorite
17 Iron Maiden songs. I can’t really begin to narrow down that list, and I want
to have some diversity. Some fantastic crowd songs, for example, were cut
because if you include all of them, it becomes redundant. And if I were to
include all my favorite B-sides just to have a unique experience, I wouldn’t
have room for the even slightly more popular songs.
I will now begin.
Set
"Aces High"
On the World Slavery and Somewhere Back in Time tours, Iron Maiden opened with
“Aces High,” which I think is a perfectly high-energy opener. Opening with 20
seconds of piped-in music isn’t great, but you forget about that as soon as the
band pops out at full speed from behind the curtain.
“The Clairvoyant”
I wanted to include as much of Seventh Son of a Seventh Son (my favorite Maiden album) as I could,
but when I capped myself at 17 songs, I had to limit it to my favorites.
“The Man of Sorrows”
I don’t want to spend the entire set in the ‘80s. Iron
Maiden is the best metal band of all time not just because of how prodigious
their peak was, but because since their reunion, they have evolved and
continued to release great songs. I include “The Man of Sorrows,” one of my two
favorite songs from The Book of Souls,
as part of that effort to include some modern material.
“Only the Good Die Young”
Of the fantastic songs on Seventh Son of a Seventh Son,” I might like this one best.
“Back in the Village”
One of the things that is most compelling about metal is its
power to get someone with a usually calm disposition to want to mosh, or even
to break things. Iron Maiden has few of those kinds of songs; thrashy
aggression or heaviness is not their trademark. “Back in the Village” is one of
the songs in their arsenal that I would say have this element.
Does it actually breed mosh pits? Well, I don’t know,
because somehow, the band has never played it live, so no video exists. I bet
it would be exhilarating though.
“Empire of the Clouds”
19-minute songs aren’t for everyone, and somewhere in the
middle of a guitar solo, you may wonder why it couldn’t have been 16, but the
first time I heard “Empire of the Clouds,” I was amazed. I consider it one of
the best songs they have released since their heyday.
“Moonchild”
The ramp-up to this fairly high-energy song is a good way to
take us out of the previous epic and perhaps regain the attention of people for
whom “Empire of the Clouds” is not their jam.
“Blood Brothers”
The studio recording “Blood Brothers” is pretty unremarkable,
a middling track on Brave New World.
Despite this, it has become a staple of Iron Maiden live shows because the
simple chorus means a crowd can easily add tremendously to the experience by
singing along. If I were making a playlist, there are many songs I would pick
ahead of this one. I think I’d be missing out if I didn’t get to hear it in
concert.
“The Man Who Would Be King”
The last five songs off The
Final Frontier average 9 minutes and 5 seconds, and I like all of them a
lot. They do kind of run together, but I wanted to include one of them. I don’t
know if “The Man Who Would Be King” is my favorite of the five, but I lean that
way, so I picked it.
“Rime of the Ancient Mariner”
Speaking of long songs: we go to the longest one in the
band’s discography until The Book of
Souls was released, the progressive masterpiece that closes Powerslave.
“The Trooper”
“The Trooper” is the quintessential Iron Maiden live song
featuring elaborate riffs, a chorus that’s perfect for thousands of people to
scream in unison, Bruce Dickinson running around and jumping everywhere, and
props. It’s a concert mainstay for a reason.
“Fear of the Dark”
As good as the other contenders are, I can’t possibly think
of a better crowd song in the band’s catalog. Just watching videos of it gives
me chills.
“The Number of the Beast”
Probably the band’s best known song, “The Number of the
Beast” is a requisite for practically every Maiden show. I dislike it when
bands follow the “shut up and play the hits” template of setlist creation, but
I would be quite disappointed if this was not present.
“Phantom of the Opera”
I don’t pretend to know the material released during Paul
Di’Anno’s tenure as vocalist, but I know a few songs, and I know this one is well
worth hearing live.
Encore
“Hallowed Be Thy Name”
I’d like to end the set or encore with the best metal song
ever, as it in theory might be the ultimate high on which to end. However, I
think it’s the best of the songs I’ve chosen for the encore to start it.
“Running Free”
When “Running Free” comes up, it’s Bruce’s time to screw
around with the crowd and get them to destroy their larynxes yelling “I’M
RUNNING FREE.” As a song, it’s not anything special, but listening to and
watching live performances, it looks like great fun.
“Iron Maiden”
“Hallowed Be Thy Name” is a better song, but much like the
final song in a musical, I think “Iron Maiden” serves as a good farewell. It
has closed many main sets and should be a fine closer for the whole thing.
The Two-Night Version
There are many songs in
the Iron Maiden catalog that I could have included. If Iron Maiden were to for
some reason do two nights in Dallas (or Minneapolis), here is how I would like
those two sets to look. In the interest of (relative) brevity, I’ve left out
any commentary.
Night 1
Set
“Aces High”
“2 Minutes to Midnight”
“Out of the Silent Planet”
“Dance of Death”
“The Alchemist”
“The Man of Sorrows”
“Empire of the Clouds”
“Back in the Village”
“The Prisoner”
“Heaven Can Wait”
“Rime of the Ancient Mariner”
“Where Eagles Dare”
“Fear of the Dark”
“The Number of the Beast”
Encore
“Running Free”
“Sanctuary”
“Iron Maiden”
Night 2
Set
“Moonchild”
“Infinite Dreams”
“Can I Play With Madness”
“The Evil That Men Do”
“Seventh Son of a Seventh Son”
“The Prophecy”
“The Clairvoyant”
“Only the Good Die Young”
“The Man Who Would Be King”
“Revelations”
“Wasted Years”
“Blood Brothers”
“Powerslave”
“Run to the Hills”
Encore
“The Trooper”
“The Number of the Beast”
“Hallowed Be Thy Name”
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