It is getting on time to launch the Iron Maiden live album series. I will kick it off on September 21^st, or maybe the 22^nd, I haven’t quite decided yet. I’m putting it off just a hair so that it’ll wrap up right before the holiday season toward the end of the year.

This series will be rundowns of the 13 official live albums. I’ve already covered most of the live EP stuff in my singles series, and bootlegs will be a separate thing I do a ways down the road. I’m not going to discuss the video stuff that’s been released, those have other content with them and I’ll give them their own series someday. This will only cover the audio albums, some of which don’t have accompanying video releases.

I have decided to go in order of album release rather than the year of the tour. It’s far easier to keep track of that way, though it does present a few odd issues with the Maiden England album. I chose to stick with the list I have and slot that one in on its 2013 release date even though both the video and CD had far earlier releases. I’ll go over that more on the actual post.

I’ve had almost all of these in my collection for a while, I’m only missing one. But I also haven’t listened to many of them in a long time so it was fun to go back through these. While a few don’t have sterling reputations I honestly wasn’t put off by listening to any of these. Though the Maiden live album machine didn’t truly get going until the reunion era when we almost have one from each album, it is nice to go over the stuff from different points in the band’s career. It does almost exclusively feature Bruce Dickinson on vocals, there is one album that has a bit of Paul Di’Anno stuff but that’s it for the other singers. Blaze Bayley never got an official live album and I would suspect there probably won’t be one, though I’d personally like to have one.

Next week I’ll have another post about Maiden live albums, that one will be a “wish list” of gigs I’d like to see released as well as a discussion about the Maiden live album process, which does generally get in the way of having a lot more live material. Then after I wrap this series up I’ll do a ranking that should wrap up the year.

My plan after that is to do a song ranking. That’s going to be a pain and I haven’t really got much into it yet so I don’t know exactly when it will kick off but it should get going sometime in early 2024. Other Maiden series will follow that, there is more than enough to talk about with this band who is only outpaced in marketing by the almighty Kiss.

That’s about enough to set the table for this series. Next week is the wishlist, then the proper series kicks off a week later. Until then, and during then and after then, up the irons.

The Iron Maiden Live Album Series

Live After Death

A Real Live One

A Real Dead One

Live At Donnington

Rock In Rio

BBC Archives

Beast Over Hammersmith

Death On The Road

Flight 666

En Vivo!

Maiden England ’88

The Book Of Souls – Live Chapter

Nights Of The Dead – Legacy Of The Beast Live In Mexico City

The Iron Maiden Live Album Ranking

The Maiden Live Album “Wishlist”