That would be a pretty epic gig. Personally I'd scrap Wasted Years and have Flash of the Blade or Infinite Dreams in its place. I'm happy to see Purgatory and Back in the Village up there. Phantom of the Opera and Hallowed Be Thy Name form a perfect coupling - they are my fav Maiden songs. And I am surprised about the Trooper's omission but I'm sure I can live with (or without) it. :D

Here are the near misses & omissions from my Ultimate Iron Maiden gig........

Prowler - I wanted to put it in and it was going to go third. But then I remembered the abomination that was Prowler 88 and stuck Killers in instead.

Charlotte The Harlot / Strange World - I would have loved to have had these two in because i love both these songs but there's only so many you can have from one album. With a Dianno era gig these two would be dead certs.

Women In Uniform - Would love to have dropped this in just to seriously annoy people. I quite like this song actually.

I've Got The Fire - I wish i'd finished the gig with this now. Maybe I could slip it in right at the end after Sanctuary.

Ides Of March / Wrathchild - Good , but they would have be my 4th choice opener.

Innocent Exile / Drifter - Good songs but nothing special , better suited to a Dianno era gig.

Twilight Zone - Decent little single but just not decent enough.

Prodigal Son - I would have loved to have dropped this song in just to see the reaction. I actually think this is one of their most underrated songs.

Children of the Damned - This is really the only serious contender of Number Of The Beast I left out. I've just never really liked this song much. I find it a bit of a dirge to be honest. Dropping it wasn't really that difficult.

The Trooper - This is probably the biggest omission of the lot. I don't hate this song but I was never really a big fan of it either. Because it's played so often that indifference has turned to boredom & quite honestly if I listen to an album with this on now I tend to skip it. So that's why I left it out of this gig.

Die With Your Boots On - Totally forgot about this song. May have stood a chance if I remembered but in the end I think I would have dropped it.

Rime of the Ancient Mariner - Probably the only serious omission from the Powerslave album. I do like this song to be honest and it got dropped pretty late in the day but the length of it was always going to work against it with this type of gig. I just don't like it THAT much to justify using up 15 minutes of a gig. Simple as.

Caught Somewhere In Time - The only other real contender from the Somewhere In Time album that would be included. In fact it would be my 3rd choice gig opener.

And I'd just like to finish by saying if I had dated the gig up to the 7th Son era Infinite Dreams wouldn't make it. Sorry, just was never a fan of it.

It's funny -- for me 7th Son was important because it came out when I was a kid still into metal and I went out to buy the tape, like, day of release. I will always have a bit of a soft spot for it but I consider everything that came afterwards...unessential. I know some older fans who feel the same way about Somewhere in Time and that Powerslave was the last good album.

Anyway, what are your picks for 7th Son?

I actually got into Iron Maiden the day Somewhere In Time came out, but I ended up buying Number Of The Beast instead because I knew a couple of songs on it already.
I went back & bought Somewhere In Time the following week.

I never really warmed to the stuff after that album. I got the feeling they lost their edge a little bit. I don't know what my picks for 7th son would be, I don't think I've listened to it since the early 90s.

They certainly lost their edge and it can be argued that a lot on Somewhere In Time is below par too and I rarely listen to the album and 7th Son as a whole is piss poor but Infinite Dreams and The Evil That Men Do are redeeming features.

Personally my favourite Maiden record is Seventh Son. I would put Infinite Dreams, The Clairvoyant and The Evil That Men Do in mine, along with Flash of the Blade and Prowler.

Back when 7th Son came out I guess my tastes weren't developed enough for me to differentiate it too much from other Maiden (even though older was clearly better even at the time). I'm also a sucker for cover art and I love the glaciers and the blue on that cover. I've gone back and listened to it again in recent years and yea it's got that late-80s stench all over it. If it weren't for nostalgia I would hate it. However, since nostalgia always counts, I pretty much agree with mojopunk on its best songs. I can even still get a bit of a thrill off that ultra-cheesy beginning part of 'Can I Play With Madness'

Charlotte the Harlot is such a fun song and I agree about Prodigal Son being underrated... it's quite unconvential by Maiden standards.

Quite possibly my fave Di'Anno era track. It's almost funky! The guitar solo is stellar too!

I seem to remember Dianno saying it was his favourite track too.

I think I'll do Sabbath next.