IRON MAIDEN's NICKO MCBRAIN celebrates 71st birthday onstage in Finland (video)
06-06-2023
IRON MAIDEN drummer Nicko McBrain, who turned 71 yesterday (Monday, June 5), celebrated his birthday onstage with his bandmates during their concert last night (Sunday, June 4) at Nokia Arena in Tampere, Finland. An official video capturing the moment has been uploaded to MAIDEN‘s YouTube channel.
Watch the footage below.
Tapped to replace Clive Burr in 1982 after touring activities for “Number Of The Beast” concluded, McBrain brought a degree of finesse and technicality that was largely missing from IRON MAIDEN‘s early output. Whereas Burr was often lauded for his heavy-handed, punk-oriented style, McBrain was largely the opposite, playing with a degree of dexterity and flair that helped primary songwriter Steve Harris take MAIDEN down more adventurous paths. He is now the third longest-tenured member of MAIDEN, behind Harris and guitarist Dave Murray.
McBrain spent his early drumming years playing for the likes of Pat Travers and French rockers TRUST, eventually falling on to the radar of Harris and MAIDEN during the group’s initial European tour.
McBrain recently shared a new nine-minute video breakdown of the drum kit he is using for the 2023 leg of the band’s “The Future Past” world tour. The trek, which launched on May 28 in Ljubljana, Slovenia, is scheduled to hit North America in September and October.
In November 2019, Nicko announced that he would be playing the Manchester, U.K.-based drum brand British Drum Co. and carry the title “International Ambassador” with it.
British Drum Co. has been around since 2015, launched by drum builder Keith Keough four years after he sold his own company, KD Drums, to Premier. Premier is the company McBrain endorsed for much of the ’90s and 2000s. Nicko now plays the British Drum Co. Legend Series.
Nicko has his own IRON MAIDEN artwork on all the drums in his kit. Each drum features MAIDEN‘s mascot Eddie and has its own story relating to the stage set and to the history of “The Future Past “ tour.
“Senjutsu” came out in September 2021 on Warner records. It marked MAIDEN‘s second consecutive double album behind 2015’s “The Book Of Souls” which is the longest MAIDEN album, with a running time of 92 minutes.
The full track listing is:
01. Senjutsu (8:20) (Smith/Harris)
02. Stratego (4:59) (Gers/Harris)
03. The Writing On The Wall (6:13) (Smith/Dickinson)
04. Lost In A Lost World (9:31) (Harris)
05. Days Of Future Past (4:03) (Smith/Dickinson)
06. The Time Machine (7:09) (Gers/Harris)
07. Darkest Hour (7:20) (Smith/Dickinson)
08. Death Of The Celts (10:20) (Harris)
09. The Parchment (12:39) (Harris)
10. Hell On Earth (11:19) (Harris)
“Senjutsu” was released on the following formats and available to order/save at www.ironmaiden.com:
* Standard 2CD Digipak
* Deluxe 2CD Book Format
* Deluxe heavyweight 180G Triple Black Vinyl
* Special Edition Triple Silver And Black Marble Vinyl (Details to follow)
* Special Edition Triple Red and Black Marble Vinyl (Details to follow)
* Super Deluxe Boxset featuring CD, Blu Ray and Exclusive Memorabilia
* Digital album [streaming and download]
IRON MAIDEN hadn’t released any fresh music since 2015’s “The Book Of Souls” LP, which was recorded in late 2014 in Paris, France with Shirley.
“The Book Of Souls” was the longest MAIDEN album, clocking in at 92 minutes, with lyrics heavily based in the themes of death, reincarnation, the soul and mortality.
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