It has happened at last. Nicko McBrain, the legendary drummer for the even more legendary IRON MAIDEN – THE GREATEST BAND OF ALL TIME, there is no argument whatsoever on this subject as far as I am concerned – has announced his retirement from touring:
Nicko wrote: “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. 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. 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! 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!'”
This is very, very sad news for those of us (like me) who grew up with IRON MAIDEN’s music – and especially for those of us (also like me) who have seen them live, in some cases multiple times. The IRON MAIDEN live experience is unlike anything else you will see for any other band. They are the only band whose gigs I have attended, where the crowd literally just sits there like blocks of wood, waiting for the opening act to get off the stage, until the main gig can begin.
It literally does not matter if DREAM THEATER are the openers – I have actually been to a gig where DT opened for MAIDEN, back when I lived in Amerikhastan. The audience simply claps politely and gives them the vibe of, “GTFO already”.
Indeed, the only time I have EVER seen an opening act get serious enthusiasm and applause at a MAIDEN gig, was when ALICE COOPER opened for them, during their 2015 American tour – which, again, i remember quite well, because I attended two of those shows.
That is because the live show MAIDEN brings, is over the top and mind-blowing. It is loud, bombastic, and tremendous fun.
Nicko McBrain is – well, was – a huge part of that experience. His drumming style is the rhythmic backbone of the band. His sense of timing is completely unique – I have never heard another drummer replicate it, and that includes drummers who are MUCH younger, faster, and more technical than he is.
The MAIDEN live experience will never be the same again. And the reality is, the clock is ticking down to the time when IRON MAIDEN, itself, as a band, will disappear off the scene.
This was inevitable. Father Time remains unbeaten, and always will be. It is our fate to age out and die eventually. That fate is coming for all the members of IRON MAIDEN, all of whom are in their sixties or older. It is coming for all of the great bands of the 70s and 80s – many of whom are still on tour, and still making bands a THIRD their age look weak by comparison.
I am talking of bands like JUDAS PRIEST, URIAH HEEP, MEGADETH, HELLOWEEN, and many others. These are the stalwarts of heavy metal as a genre. They continue to perform live, they still kick ass, and they are still tremendous fun to watch.
But… they, too, will one day retire and step away. Or, more likely, their band members will start dying off.
That fate is inescapable, and we have to accept that fact. But it still is a bitter pill to swallow, to be reminded that the band I have followed and loved for literally DECADES, is finally winding down.
4 Comments
No matter what band opens for Iron Maiden, the preparation track “Doctor, Doctor” from UFO creates more enthusiasm. This is how you recognize newbies to Iron Maiden live shows: They don’t sing along when “Doctor, Doctor” is finally played.
100%. My first IRON MAIDEN concert was back in 2006, and I remember being quite mystified when “Doctor Doctor” blared through the speakers and the whole arena went bananas. By the time of my third and fourth concerts, back in, I think, 2008 and 2010, I understood quite well what was going on, and heartily joined in.
2006 must have been the AMOLAD tour, right? They really had some balls to play the new album in its entirety. Back then, they really had trust in their fresh material.
In 2005, they only played songs from the first four albums, i.e. no Fear of the Dark, which is probably the most popular songs among newbies.
Oh yeah. It was hugely controversial with fans. I remember seeing them – for the very first time – in Camden, NJ, which is basically the absolute worst crap town imaginable (well, outside of real shithole countries – India, Pakistan, England, that sort of thing). They played the entire AMOLAD album, start to finish, and there were old-school fans behind me yelling, “PLAY OLD SHIT!!!”.
The backlash got so bad that they changed the setlist halfway through that tour schedule, to include “more classics”, as it were. I think they renamed the tour to “A Matter of the Beast”, to accommodate more stuff from TNOTB.
Back then, they did still have a great deal of confidence in their newer material, but honestly, the quality really dipped for a couple of albums – up until The Book of Souls, which I think will always remain their latter-day peak.