UPDATE: Iron Maiden Have Played Their First Show Of 2022 In Croatia

Here are the changes that Iron Maiden has made to the 2022 Legacy Of The Beast setlist!

Original Article:

Iron Maiden already have a busy 2022 planned. The band has rescheduled dates from the 2020 leg of the Legacy of the Beast World Tour to make up, and they’ve added new dates. The press release for that tour announcement gives a few clues about what the setlist might look like. For those who didn’t see the original run of the Legacy of the Beast tour, here’s what it looks like:

Courtesy of: Setlist.fm

That’s a hell of a setlist on a good day, and now it looks like we’re getting some songs from Senjutsu added to it. There are a couple of other questions surrounding the set: will they add other older songs to the set, and what songs from Senjutsu make the cut? They’re likely going on a Senjutsu World Tour after this one, playing the majority of that album. But we’re assuredly getting a small taste of the album on this tour.

Some Hints As To What We’ll Get On The Tour

I would bet my life that “Writing On The Wall” is played on this upcoming section of the tour. Outside of that, it’s a huge wild card as to what other songs they would play. It’s even wilder to think about what songs they’d have to chop off to fit the Senjutsu tracks in. Pro Wrestler, Rock Star, and Iron Maiden Fan Chris Jericho had this to say about speculation on the upcoming tour:

Now, he’s not a member of Iron Maiden or a member of their management, but he is friendly with the band, and his band Fozzy has toured with Iron Maiden, so there could be some validity to his comments. Also, adding four new songs to the set is pretty sizeable. The last time Iron Maiden played more than 16 songs in a setlist was back in 2013 when they played 17 songs on the Maiden England tour.

Adding in two songs is hard enough; adding four might be impossible. Checking the press release, here’s what manager Rod Smallwood is quoted as saying:

You can be sure that we will still be featuring all the “hits” and the key elements of the original tour like the Spitfire, Icarus, Hell, flamethrowers and pyro and the rest – but we will shake it up a bit and Trooper Eddie will have serious competition in the new Senjutsu ‘world’ we are adding.

Breaking That Quote From Rod Smallwood Down

So the Spitfire goes with “Aces High”, Icarus goes with “Flight of Icarus”, Hell goes with “Number of the Beast”, and the flamethrower goes back with “Icarus”. So those three songs are safe. Considering that every Iron Maiden setlist has “Iron Maiden” and “Fear of the Dark” since the dawn of time, those should be regarded as pretty safe. Samurai Eddie and Trooper Eddie are fighting on the tour poster, so “The Trooper” is also pretty safe.

The original setlist and stage show went through various phases; there’s the “War” section, and then the stage changes to “Religion”, and then finally to “Hell”. Considering that they’re adding a Senjutsu world to that stage show, a song like “Hell On Earth” starts to make more sense.

Outside of those songs above and the encores, I wouldn’t expect any significant changes regarding old tunes. Sorry, we’re probably not getting “Stranger In A Strange Land” or “Alexander The Great” on this tour. With all that information taken into account, here’s what the setlist likely looks like with four Senjutsu songs added in.

The Likely Four Senjutsu Song Setlist For Legacy Of The Beast 2022

  1. Aces High
  2. Where Eagles Dare
  3. 2 Minutes To Midnight
  4. The Clansman
  5. The Trooper
  6. Senjutsu
  7. Writing On The Wall
  8. Stratego
  9. Hell On Earth
  10. Flight Of Icarus
  11. Fear Of The Dark
  12. The Number Of The Beast
  13. Iron Maiden
    Encore
  14. The Evil That Men Do
  15. Hallowed Be Thy Name
  16. Run To The Hills

So that cuts out “Revelations”, “For The Greater Good of God”, “The Wicker Man”, and “Sign of the Cross” for the four Senjutsu tracks. Who knows how likely it is that they play all four back to back, but in some order, that’s what the setlist could look like. Another set that changes up the order a bit could look like this:

  1. Senjutsu
  2. Where Eagles Dare
  3. 2 Minutes To Midnight
  4. Writing On The Wall
  5. The Clansman
  6. The Trooper
  7. Stratego
  8. Hell On Earth
  9. Flight Of Icarus
  10. The Evil That Men Do
  11. Fear Of The Dark
  12. The Number Of The Beast
  13. Iron Maiden
    Encore
  14. Aces High
  15. Hallowed Be Thy Name
  16. Run To The Hills

On the Maiden England tour, the band did use Aces High as the encore opener. However, “Senjutsu”‘s sound and overall vibe works a lot better as the concert opener rather than being in the middle of a show. Iron Maiden don’t like changing up the formula a whole lot for their concert setlists; they follow the same basic structure.

Finally, if Iron Maiden only decide to add two Senjutsu songs to the setlist, it’ll probably look like this:

  1. Aces High
  2. Where Eagles Dare
  3. 2 Minutes To Midnight
  4. The Clansman
  5. The Trooper
  6. Revelations
  7. Writing On The Wall
  8. The Wicker Man
  9. Either Stratego, Hell On Earth, or Senjutsu
  10. Flight Of Icarus
  11. Fear Of The Dark
  12. The Number Of The Beast
  13. Iron Maiden
    Encore
  14. The Evil That Men Do
  15. Hallowed Be Thy Name
  16. Run To The Hills

Some Things To Remember About The Legacy Of The Beast World Tour

I know that some out there who want the mega-deep cuts off albums will be disappointed by this set. For people who already saw the first leg of the tour (like me, you can read about it here and here), only adding two songs would be a bit of a disappointment too. However, you have to remember that not everyone worldwide got to see the Legacy of the Beast tour. There are rescheduled dates from 2020, and there are now new dates.

That stage show that Iron Maiden put on was among their best. Whether it was the rotating stage show or just the music they played. Iron Maiden gave fans their all on the tour. So think of it like this, we’re getting the same excellent stage show, plus two new songs that none of us have ever heard live. Sounds like a pretty good deal to me.

We can all hope and pray that they add in some other older songs, but that’s not likely to happen. After all, they usually reserve those spots for their new album tours to keep longtime fans invested in what they’re playing. Think “Powerslave” and “Children of the Damned” making it onto the Book Of Souls World Tour.

For those holding out hope for “Alexander The Great”, we might not ever get that song, but it’ll certainly be awesome to hear “Writing On The Wall” and other Senjutsu tracks mixed in with our old favorites.

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