IRON MAIDEN's STEVE HARRIS: 'It's Amazing That This Band's Been Going For 50 Years'

IRON MAIDEN bassist Steve Harris spoke to Music Radar about the band's upcoming 50th-anniversary tour, which will take place in 2025 and 2026. The "Run For Your Lives" world trek will see Harris and his bandmates perform classic songs off their first nine studio albums, from their 1980 debut "Iron Maiden" to 1992's "Fear Of The Dark", which marked singer Bruce Dickinson's last album before he exited the group and then later returned in 1999.

"It's amazing that this band's been going for 50 years," the 68-year-old Steve told Music Radar. "When you really think about it, it's insane. How many songs we've done, how many albums, how many tours… it's outrageous. And it's fantastic to see so many young people in the audience now. A couple of shows that we did recently, we had youngsters, real youngsters, like nine or ten years old, and then some others like teens or early twenties. So we're still generating new fans all the time. And I think that's because we put on a good, entertaining show. We're still playing really well. And for all those young people turning up, I think a lot of them — dare I say it — I don't think they've seen anything like it. We're seeing all these young people in the front row, and they must think we're ancient now. Well, we are, I suppose. You know, when I was 17, I thought that 25 was old."

IRON MAIDEN's longtime drummer Nicko McBrain played his last-ever gig with the band earlier in the month in São Paulo, Brazil.

The 72-year-old British musician, whose real name is Michael Henry McBrain, announced his retirement on Saturday, December 7 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, IRON MAIDEN announced Simon Dawson as its new touring drummer. Dawson is a former session drummer and Harris's longtime bandmate in BRITISH LION.

Back in 2019, Harris told SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk" that there has been no talk of MAIDEN retiring anytime soon, despite the fact that all the members are in their late 60s.

"We all feel that if we feel we're not cutting it anymore, then we'll discuss it and that will probably be the end of it," he explained. "But at the moment, we don't feel like that. We feel that we definitely still are pulling our weight, so to speak. We're just doing well. So far so good. I don't wanna tempt fate, but we are doing good."

In 2022, Dickinson told Full Metal Jackie's nationally syndicated radio show about MAIDEN's longevity as well as the group's multigenerational appeal: "We're not planning to retire at all, really. I think we'll probably drop dead onstage. I can think of worse places to drop dead. But no, we're not planning on retiring. We're all still firing away [with] loads of energy and loads of enthusiasm.

"With respect to our fans, we've got generations of fans now," he continued. "Even at [my] spoken-word shows, I can crack jokes about the age of the audience only because half the audience is, like, my age, but the other half of the audience is often way, way younger. So it's brilliant. We've got this whole intergenerational thing going. And, obviously, at the MAIDEN shows, it's even bigger, the emphasis on that. And huge numbers of women. It's fantastic. 'Cause it always used to be cliché, back when I was starting in the early '80s, that heavy metal was just, like, misogynist, male-dominated stuff… But no, it's not true. There's loads and loads of heavy metal fans who are girls."

The São Paulo performance marked the the final show of IRON MAIDEN's "The Future Past" world tour, which began in May 2023.

The "Run For Your Lives" world tour is scheduled to launch in May 2025 in Hungary. Dates announced so far go through July 2025 in Germany.

When the "Run For Your Lives" trek was first announced, Dickinson said the 50th anniversary tour will give "fans a once-in-a-lifetime live experience. This is a tour that's gonna put a smile on your face and a cheer in your throat. If you've seen us before, then get ready to take that experience to a whole new level. If you've never seen us before, then what the hell have you been waiting for? Now's your chance to find out what you've been missing! IRON MAIDEN's definitely gonna get ya!"

The band 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."

Photo by John McMurtrie (courtesy of Live Nation)