{"id":468192,"date":"2025-10-02T10:25:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T10:25:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/468192\/"},"modified":"2025-10-02T10:25:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T10:25:11","slug":"iron-maiden-contemplated-retirement-following-drummer-nicko-mcbrains-live-departure-says-steve-harris","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/468192\/","title":{"rendered":"Iron Maiden contemplated retirement following drummer Nicko McBrain&#8217;s live departure, says Steve Harris"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/iron-maiden\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Iron Maiden<\/a> contemplated calling it quits following long-time drummer Nicko McBrain\u2019s retirement from touring, bassist Steve Harris has revealed.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"post-content-read-more\">\n<li aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-leveltext=\"\uf0b7\" data-font=\"Symbol\" data-listid=\"212\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559683&quot;:0,&quot;335559684&quot;:-2,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Symbol&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\uf0b7&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><b>READ MORE:<\/b><b>\u00a0<\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/reviews\/album\/iron-maiden-senjutsu-review-3035836\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><b>Iron Maiden \u2013 \u2018Senjutsu\u2019 review: an imaginative instant classic\u00a0<\/b><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In 2023, Nicko McBrain \u2013 who has been with Iron Maiden since 1982 \u2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/music\/iron-maiden-drummer-nicko-mcbrain-reveals-he-suffered-stroke-that-left-him-paralysed-on-one-side-3477778\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">suffered a minor stroke, which left him partially paralysed on his right side from the shoulder down<\/a>. Following the stroke, McBrain revealed that he wasn\u2019t able to perform at the caliber required of him, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/music\/iron-maidens-nicko-mcbain-to-take-a-step-back-from-the-grind-of-the-extensive-touring-lifestyle-3820013\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">in December 2024 played his final show with the band<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In a new chat with Rock Candy, per <a href=\"https:\/\/www.loudersound.com\/bands-artists\/steve-harris-nicko-mcbrain-departure-iron-maiden\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Louder Sound<\/a>, bassist and founding member Steve Harris revealed that McBrain\u2019s medical setback and subsequent retirement from touring led the rest of the band to ponder if it was time they called it a day.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo be honest, we didn\u2019t really have a choice and had to make the change after Nicko suffered his health issues,\u201d Harris shared. \u201cIt was what it was, and we had a decision to make as to whether we wanted to carry on or not.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cObviously, we had a tour booked at the time that it happened, and the rest of us all wanted to continue. But ultimately, after we got through all that, it was Nick\u2019s decision to step away, and we all respected the fact that he\u2019d decided to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Following McBrain\u2019s retirement, Iron Maiden confirmed that the legendary drummer has not left Iron Maiden, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/music\/iron-maidens-nicko-mcbain-to-take-a-step-back-from-the-grind-of-the-extensive-touring-lifestyle-3820013\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">will still track drums in the studio for any future Iron Maiden material<\/a>. As for the live shows, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/music\/iron-maiden-announces-new-drummer-after-nicko-mcbrain-departure-3820085\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">he\u2019s been replaced by Simon Dawson<\/a>, and the band have recently announced a number of new shows.<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3894433\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/iron_maiden_new.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1270\"  \/>Iron Maiden. CREDIT: John McMurtrie<\/p>\n<p>Last month, the band announced a 2026 European tour,\u00a0 with shows in Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, France and Portugal. They\u2019ve also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/music\/iron-maiden-announce-knebworth-show-for-summer-2026-with-the-darkness-the-hu-and-more-3894431\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">announced a massive UK date at Knebworth for next summer<\/a>, with support from\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/the-darkness\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Darkness<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/the-hu\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Hu<\/a>\u00a0and others.<\/p>\n<p>They\u2019ve since been announced as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/music\/the-cure-have-announced-another-huge-festival-for-summer-2026-headlining-nova-rock-with-bring-me-the-horizon-iron-maiden-and-more-buy-tickets-3894565\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">one of three headliners for Austria\u2019s Nova Rock 2026 alongside The Cure and Bring Me The Horizon<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Iron Maiden contemplated calling it quits following long-time drummer Nicko McBrain\u2019s retirement from touring, bassist Steve Harris has&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":468193,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3936],"tags":[77,3981,269,453,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-468192","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-metal","10":"tag-music","11":"tag-rock","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115304092540902309","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=468192"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468192\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/468193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=468192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=468192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=468192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}