Longtime Iron Maiden drummer Nicko McBrain played his final show with Iron Maiden on December 7 in São Paulo, Brazil. Iron Maiden has since recruited drummer Simon Dawson of British Lion for future live shows, which begin in May 2025. In the meantime, Iron Maiden has shared an emotional video recap of McBrain's final show that you can watch above.
At the time of his retirement, McBrain 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!
Iron Maiden vocalist Bruce Dickinson also had some very kind words about McBrain on stage during his final show, saying: "Tonight is a very special night, as some of you, I think probably all of you, will know, because this morning we announced, Nicko announced that he was stepping back for playing live drums with Iron Maiden. For 42 years Nicko's 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.
"So, we have a lot more music to get to tonight, and I want the rest of the night to be a celebration of Nick, a celebration of the joy that he's brought to everybody around the world, not just here in Brazil. All right? And with that, on we go!"
