Metal, Hardcore, Indie, Rock
Longtime drummer Nicko McBrain of Iron Maiden discussed his final performance with the British heavy metal icons, which happened in São Paulo, Brazil, almost a year ago, in a recent interview with Dan Shinder of Drum Talk TV. In a statement posted on Maiden’s website and social media on December 7, 2024, the 73-year-old British artist, whose true name is Michael Henry McBrain, announced his retirement. He added that the performance at Allianz Parque that evening would be his last with the renowned rock group, as reported by blabbermouth.net.
It was a very mixed-emotions show. Obviously, I had 50,000 kids chanting my name and [they] gave me a fantastic, emotional welcome. And then also when I got up the front of the stage at the end of the night — I’ve always gone and been the last guy to come off stage, to be able to say good night and thank you to all the fans and stuff. And this night was unbelievably special. I remember I thought to myself, ‘I’m gonna burst out in tears here in a minute.’ I felt that emotional, and I thought, God’s saying to me, ‘Look, it’s okay, Nick, if you wanna cry. That’s why we gave you tears and emotion.’ Anyway, so I thought, ‘No, maybe stay strong. Do your weeping offstage. But the most important moment that I felt from the whole thing was not only the love of the fans and the adoration that they showed me and the love, was when I went to go on stage, all the backline, they gave me a salute and a farewell. That was their last time they would actually be with me on an IRON MAIDEN show, with me performing. So that was a terrific emotion. And there were some tears, I gotta admit — some of my truly dear friends on the tour for many years had a tear in their eye.
He was already with the right mindset.
I certainly was in the mental space. To be honest with you, when we made [the] ‘Senjutsu’ [album in 2019], I was thinking, ‘All right, after the ‘Senjutsu’ tour, I’ll hang it up.’ I had made it my mind up, because I was feeling, my body was feeling like, well, I was 70 years old or 69, 70. As we know, the pandemic hit. Everybody experienced it. We all lived through it, and God bless those that that did, and, unfortunately, there were a lot of folks that didn’t make it. Anyway, that kind of put us back by two years, ’cause we couldn’t release that album once we’d got it finished. And so then you have to have your album out for a little while and then you plan a tour around it. So we did the ‘Legacy Of The Beast’ tour. And that ‘Legacy Of The Beast’ tour was in four parts over two years. And it was, like, ‘Okay, well, I think I’m gonna hang it up after this.’ My mindset was always to think about, ‘It’s time for me to step down and give it to a younger fellow.’ … So, yeah, I had my mind set, even back then, of thinking about, ‘I’ll make this the last tour.’ But then it went into ‘The Future Past Tour’.
Nicko made reference to his stroke in his Boca Raton, Florida, home in January 2023, which left him “paralyzed” along one side of his body and “worried” that his musical career was over.
I was very blessed that the band would stick behind me and take that journey that I took in my recovery and the fact that I have a handicap, ’cause I can’t play 16th-note rolls [anymore]… So I had to compromise with drum fills. And the band stood by me for almost two years. It was a year and a half of touring. We did the end of the ‘Legacy [Of The Beast]’ tour and then ‘The Future Past’. And you are going into the 50th anniversary, which is obviously a massive tour for the band to celebrate. But I knew I couldn’t have opened with ‘Murders [In The Rue Morgue]’. I mean, that drum fill at the beginning was just… I could have scratched through and done something else and changed the intro. But this is a celebration of those records, the first nine albums. So, that then, on the back end of having that decision in the back of my mind a couple or three years [earlier], it made it easier. And I sat with Steve in L.A. and we talked and discussed that very thing, and the things that I couldn’t play against the things I could. And we were outweighing my health issue, and they were all very worried about me. They didn’t wanna see me — and I didn’t wanna see myself drop dead on stage. But mind you, having said that, if the good Lord calls me up, I would prefer to do it on a gig.
Nicko made this statement on how he told the other members of the band that he was retiring from touring with Maiden and how Maiden chose to name Simon Dawson as their new touring drummer.
Obviously, I was talking with Rod [Smallwood] and Andy Taylor, our managers, and Dave Shack, who’s been part of the MAIDEN family for many years now. And he’s like Rod’s left-hand guy or right-hand guy. He’s kind of taken over the everyday running of things with MAIDEN. And we talked about it. And when I was with Steve, we were talking about Simon doing a rehearsal with the band in Portland. We had a couple days off there. Well, here’s the thing — a travel day and a day off after that. That’s really nice. We talked about that, and [Steve] said, ‘Are you okay with it?’ I said, ‘Of course I am.’ I said, ‘If, God forbid, anything happened to me in the next, say two weeks or the next week or the next gig, Simon will be able to cover for me, and you don’t lose the rest of the tour.’ I mean, it would be how we would deal with that if any one of us fell ill. I mean, there have been the times when we’ve lost shows because Bruce, he’s got laryngitis or something. But if you get the flu [as a non-singing musician], you go on stage; you just have to muscle through it, as a pro musician. As they say, the show must go on. So, yeah, I understood that and I gave that my blessing, and Simon went in. And then after that we all had a meeting. Simon wasn’t there. It was myself, Rod and the band. And we all talked about me retiring after the tour. So the band were aware of it prior to Simon going in to do the rehearsal. So there was no skullduggery involved. It was all talked about prior to the announcement. I personally asked the management and the band to leave the announcement till after the gig, to January this year. I wanted to spend Christmas without having everybody and their mum sending me texts and my phone ringing off the hook: ‘Oh, what’s this? You’ve left the band.’ But Andy Taylor turned around to me. I remember the conversation like it was yesterday. Again, we were in L.A. And he said, ‘Nick, by the way, what’s this about you not wanting to make an announcement on your last show? You need to go out in a blaze of glory. You don’t want to go out on a wimpish whim.’ And I went, ‘You’re right. I’m being selfish.’ I didn’t want it because I didn’t want all my mates and family phoning me up or whatever. So, we talked about that there and then, and he convinced me that it was the right thing to do, because the notion I had was, ‘Yeah, let’s tell everybody in the new year. Let’s get Christmas and new year out the way.’ And it was a lovely way to announce it. The only thing I got a little upset about was I did ask them not to announce Simon until the Monday. ‘Cause on the Sunday I was traveling home from São Paulo to Florida. And they were gonna make the announcement almost immediately, and I said, ‘Give it a day or two.’ Well, they gave me 24 hours. Not even that — they announced it the next morning, that Simon was gonna go and be my replacement, which really doesn’t matter when they did. But I did ask them to leave it an extra day. And I must admit I was a bit miffed off about that. I went, ‘Oh, they could have left it another 24 hours.’
In more recent news, West Ham United and Iron Maiden have proudly collaborated to launch a new football shirt that celebrates the commemorative 50-year anniversaries of the Hammers’ 1975 FA Cup triumph and the formation of the world-famous band Iron Maiden.
The new shirt, which is available to purchase now, is the latest product within the ‘Die With Your Boots On’ football clothing range. The Claret and Blue shirt is the next milestone in the 50th anniversary celebrations, which earlier this year saw Iron Maiden play an incredible sold-out concert at the Hammers’ home, London Stadium.
Steve Harris, founder, bassist, and primary composer for the heavy metal band, is a lifelong Hammer and former youth player, and he was joined on stage by band mascot Eddie where both wore the shirt to the adoration of the 65,000 crowd in east London!
Modelled by current West Ham stars including talisman and captain Jarrod Bowen, the shirt features the iconic 1975 Cup Final badge and the classic Claret & Blue piping around the neck and arms. The shirt also features the Iron Maiden logo emblazoned across the front of the shirt and IMFC on the right breast.
It is made of hexagon polyester & comes with Steve’s infamous No 11 on the back and the collaborative Hammer & Bass guitar logo with Est.1975 underneath it. The shirt encompasses the incredible connect West Ham United and Iron Maiden have through Harris’ love for the Club. Earlier this year following Iron Maiden’s blockbuster show, the band took on a West Ham United staff XI at The Foundry, the home of the West Ham United Foundation which serves as a community hub for 60,000 people each year.
