After 42 years behind the drums of the beast, a few days after the 2 concerts in Chile and after the recent passing of the former Iron Maiden singer Paul Di’Anno, this December 7th, Nicko McBrain announced his retirement from touring.
Nicko had a stroke in 2023 and even though he has recovered from that, he realized that he no longer can play as fast as before and that the touring lifestyle is now too hard on him.
Today, December 8th, we received the new drummer news. It will be Simon Dawson, British Lion’s drummer, the band of Iron Maiden’s bassist, Steve Harris, so everything will remain in the family.
Besides the obvious sad feeling that every Iron Maiden fan has now, I cannot help but wonder about the inevitable passing of time, not only for musicians to retire but for their health issues, deaths, and other unexpectedly sad events. We have witnessed these tragic moments that with each day come even closer, and that makes a reality the fact that these bands are not going to be around forever.
I know we have to find new bands (there are always good newer groups), but legendary names like Iron Maiden exist only a few, and it won’t be for long.
I guess I can call myself fortunate because I have seen a lot of these bands playing live, and some of them many times (Iron Maiden, 9 times so far), yet when they are not around any more it will be a sad day.
I have uncountable memories attached to all these bands, just like all of their die-hard fans.
Even though the majority of us, the fans, do not know most of these musicians personally, their loss affects us at an emotional level. Music is deep-rooted in our feelings. The positive side is that their creations will always be in our hearts, and we can bring them back anytime, just by listening to them.
For now, we can only enjoy what’s left of our favorite musicians, see them live when we can, and hope they will continue making music, even if it’s just for a little while.