For the first time in their history, Iron Maiden performed “Alexander the Great (356-323 BC)” lately. This raises the question of what other song they should eventually perform live. The band should perform more of their 1988 hit “Only The Good Die Young” from Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son, according to Iron Maiden bassist Steve Harris, who spoke with Metal Hammer about the matter.
“There’s a few tracks that would be nice to dig out once in a while, I suppose. I think ‘Only The Good Die Young’ is a really nice song that would be nice to play.”
“We did play it a couple of times. It would be nice to play that, maybe. It’s a bit more, one of those obscure songs. But it’s just… what do you drop out?! That’s the problem. So many songs, so many albums.”
Harris later admits in the same interview that Iron Maiden really only picks their setlists to please themselves, and doesn’t pay too much attention to what’s actually popular. Which is fair – dudes have been doing it for damn near 50 years. Gotta keep yourselves entertained at a certain point, right?
“This might be blunt and brutal, but we don’t do it for the audience. We do it for our own thing first. We’ve gotta feel comfortable with what we’re playing and enjoy it, and then hopefully they’ll like it. That’s always been our stance all the way through. We don’t do a census of, ‘Oh does everyone like this or like that?’, or whatever. We don’t do that.”
