On Saturday, 7 December, 2024, Nicko McBrain played his final show with Iron Maiden in Brazil. The concert culminated McBrain's decades-long stint with the heavy metal legends as well as their Future Past tour.
That same day, McBrain issued a statement on the band's Instagram page, stressing that he's retiring from touring but not from creating music with Iron Maiden. He also noted that he will remain involved with his multiple business projects, including, "The British Drum Company, Nicko McBrain’s Drum One, Titanium Tart, and of course, Rock-N-Roll Ribs!"
At the time of posting, Iron Maiden had yet to confirm McBrain's replacement, writing, "Maiden always gets their man and our already chosen new drummer will be announced very shortly." The next day, they revealed that Simon Dawson will step up to the task. The English drummer has been playing with Iron Maiden founder and bassist Steve Harris since 2012, appearing on three tracks on Harris' British Lion then on the entirety of 2020's The Burning.
Dawson's first tour with Iron Maiden begins on The Run For Your Lives tour in Budapest on May 27th. The 32-show tour will run through Europe and the United Kingdom, wrapping up in Warsaw, Poland on 2 August, 2025.
McBrain's retirement from touring comes after 42 years on the road and in the studio with Iron Maiden. He's the third-longest serving member after Harris and guitarist Dave Murray, having appeared on every album since 1983's Piece of Mind. Interestingly, he has only a single songwriting credit in the band's catalog, that being "New Frontier" from the 2003 record Dance of Death. He's also the band's oldest member, finally stepping away from the stage at 72 years old.
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