Longtime Iron Maiden drummer Nicko McBrain has officially ended his touring tenure with the British Metal icons and received a hero's farewell during his final night performing with the group.
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Over the weekend, a post on the band’s social media accounts revealed Nicko McBrain would retire from touring with Iron Maiden and would soon play his final show with his bandmates. "After much consideration, it is with both sorrow and joy, I announce my decision to take a step back from the grind of the extensive touring lifestyle,” Nicko wrote. “Today, Saturday, December 7th, Sao Paulo will be my final gig with IRON MAIDEN. I wish the band much success moving forward.”
"I will, however, remain firmly part of the IRON MAIDEN family working on a variety of projects, my long time managers, Rod Smallwood and Andy Taylor, have in mind for me,” he added. “I'll also be working on a variety of different personal projects and focusing on my existing businesses and ventures, including The British Drum Company, Nicko McBrain's Drum One, TITANIUM TART, and of course, Rock-N-Roll Ribs!”
"What can I say? Touring with MAIDEN the last 42 years has been an incredible journey!,” he concluded. “To my devoted fan base, you made it all worthwhile and I love you! To my devoted wife, Rebecca, you made it infinitely easier and I love you! To my kids, Justin and Nicholas, thank you for understanding the absences and I love you! To my friends that are always there for me, I love you! To my bandmates, you made it a dream come true and I love you! I look into the future with much excitement and great hope! I'll be seeing you soon, may God bless you all, and, of course, 'Up the Irons!'"
In the same post, Maiden manager Rod Smallwood on behalf of the band shares, "Thank you for being an irrepressible force behind the drum kit for MAIDEN for 42 years and my friend for even longer. I speak on behalf of all the band when I say we will miss you immensely!"
During the second song of their set as they wrapped up their 81-date Future Past tour in São Paulo, Brazil, on Saturday (12/7) Iron Maiden officially announced on stage that Nicko (with the group since 1983’s Piece Of Mind, replacing Clive Burr) would be ending his touring career.
Addressing the 55K+ crowd as they chanted "Nicko” in unison, frontman Bruce Dickinson paid tribute to McBrain saying, "Tonight is a very special night… I think probably all of you will know, this morning Nicko announced that he was stepping back from playing live drums with Iron Maiden. For 42 years Nicko has been in this band. He was a drummer before I was a singer, he was a pilot before I was a pilot, and now he's not leaving the band, but he's just not playing live with us anymore."
McBrain's replacement, it has been revealed, will be drummer Simon Dawson, who plays in British Lion, Iron Maiden bassist Steve Harris's side project.
"As The Future Past Tour concludes after 81 shows to over 1.4 million fans, from Ljubljana to the Coachella Valley and from Western Australia to Sao Paulo, Iron Maiden are delighted to announce that stepping in behind the kit for 2025 is a name familiar to many of our fans – Simon Dawson, a former session drummer and Steve’s rhythm section partner of the past 12 years with British Lion," the group swiftly announced on social media after the dust settled. "A native of Suffolk, England, Simon first teamed up with Steve Harris back in 2012. He debuted on three tracks on the first British Lion album and all of the second critically acclaimed ‘The Burning’, plus the many subsequent tours in the US, UK, Europe, Australia, Japan, New Zealand &, most recently, both Mexico and South America."
Back in September, Iron Maiden announced the first dates of their 50th anniversary world tour would to kick off in May 2025, first with dates overseas, featuring a setlist packed with tracks from their first nine albums.
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