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Watch: IRON MAIDEN's NICKO MCBRAIN Celebrates 71st Birthday Onstage In Finland

June 5, 2023

IRON MAIDEN drummer Nicko McBrain, who turns 71 today (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 and can be seen 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.

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