Watch NICKO MCBRAIN Get Hit By Falling Gong After It Is Played By BRUCE DICKINSON

Nicko McBrain avoided serious injury when a 40-inch symphonic gong landed on his back during IRON MAIDEN's concert in Dublin, Ireland late last month.

The incident happened during the performance of the song "Alexander The Great" on June 24 at 3Arena. Midway through the track, MAIDEN singer Bruce Dickinson approached the drummer atop the walkway that runs from side to side behind McBrain's drum kit. After Bruce used a mallet, a type of percussion beater with a large, felted head, to hit the instrument, the gong, which appeared to be loose, became detached from its stand, falling behind Nicko and apparently hitting the drummer on his back. Bruce then paused for a second, clearly surprised by the turn of events, before cracking a smile at the audience and making his way to the right side of walkway. Within a couple of seconds, a stage hand could be seen working on getting the gong secured back to the stand.

When McBrain released a video in May introducing his new drum kit, he touched upon the 40-inch gong that he is using on MAIDEN's "The Future Past" world tour. At the time, he said: "This is a beautiful Paiste gong. They made this specially for me. They have to make these to order, and I ordered it, like, two months before the tour started — a couple of months ago — and bless their hearts, the guys over in Hamburg at the gong factory made this for me."

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.

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.