During an April 8 appearance on SiriusXM‘s “Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk”, IRON MAIDEN guitarist Adrian Smith spoke about the band’s upcoming “Run For Your Lives” world tour, which is scheduled to launch on May 27 in Budapest, Hungary. The trek will mark MAIDEN‘s first with new drummer Simon Dawson, who previously played with MAIDEN co-founder Steve Harris as a member of his BRITISH LION project. Asked what fans can expect from the tour, Smith said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “Yeah, it should be great. It should be great. A new setlist. We’ve been doing [‘The Future Past’] thing for the best part of three years, so it’s a completely new set. I think the fans are gonna absolutely love it. And we’ll be starting rehearsing in a couple of weeks. And it’s just getting ready for it and going out again. And I can’t wait, really.
“After the first show, it’ll be all over the Internet,” he continued. “Everyone’s gonna know the setlist, everyone’s gonna know what it looks like, everyone’s gonna know the fuckups we made. That’s just the way it is now. But, yeah. it’ll be special, I think.”
IRON MAIDEN‘s longtime drummer Nicko McBrain played his last-ever gig with the band more than four months ago in São Paulo, Brazil.
The 72-year-old British musician, whose real name is Michael Henry McBrain, announced his retirement on December 7, 2024 in a statement on MAIDEN‘s web site and social media. He also said that night’s concert at Allianz Parque in São Paulo, Brazil would mark his final show with the iconic heavy metal act.
Despite the fact that he is stepping away from touring, McBrain said that he will remain closely connected to IRON MAIDEN and continue to be involved in “a variety of projects” with the band, while also focusing on personal ventures and his existing businesses.
On December 8, 2024, IRON MAIDEN announced Dawson as its new touring drummer.
The São Paulo performance marked the final show of “The Future Past” world tour, which began in May 2023.
Last September, IRON MAIDEN promised fans “a spectacular and elaborate new show” on its 50th anniversary tour in 2025 and 2026.
MAIDEN said it will “cover classics and fan favorites from the first nine albums, from ‘Iron Maiden’ to ‘Fear Of The Dark’, many of which we haven’t played in years and many we will likely never play again in the future. We have already been hard at work for months putting together an even more spectacular and elaborate new show which will bring the songs to life more than we have ever been able to do before.”
“Fear Of The Dark” marked singer Bruce Dickinson‘s last album before he exited MAIDEN and then later returned in 1999.
Smith was born in Hackney, East London, on February 27, 1957. He joined IRON MAIDEN at the end of 1980. Adrian is the bandmember who has collaborated on the most side projects outside of IRON MAIDEN, as well as writing and recording a series of albums in the early ’90s, before rejoining the band.
Tapped to replace Clive Burr in 1982 after touring activities for the “Number Of The Beast” album 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 Harris take MAIDEN down more adventurous paths. He eventually became 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.
Source: blabbermouth.net
