In an interview with The Press-Enterprise, drummer Nicko McBrain let slip a concept that’s been floated as a possibility for Iron Maiden’s future.
Iron Maiden headlined the huge Battle of San Bernardino as part of their 2012-13 Maiden England World Tour. Nicko spoke with The Press-Enterprise for the occasion, sharing some thoughts about Maiden’s many years of performing in Southern California, including the infamous clash with the Osbournes in 2005.
We already know that Maiden are likely to do a 2014 summer tour, and towards the end of the interview McBrain muses that the idea of doing their own festival has been kicked around. “You never know, you just never know in this game,” McBrain said. “I think it would be great to do a Maiden Fest.”
Thanks to Adam Hansen for pointing out the interview! Check it out in its entirety right here!
In earlier years, Nicko liked to speed fast cars around Southern California. These days, golfing probably takes precedence.
Maiden Revelations 
they deserve to have their own festival with great bands, being the best live band ever…
What a tasty treat that would be! Dream line-ups anyone? For me (openers first): Testament, Mastadon, Anthrax, Iron Maiden. I’m getting old, so not sure I could handle more than four bands!
That sounds like a fantastic lineup… I’d really like to see another NWOBHM titan like Judas Priest share the tour as well, I think that would be fantastic!
I thought about Priest, but it felt wrong having them as a support band, even for Maiden! Some bands should just always be headliners!
Well, that’s the novelty of festivals — to have headliners share the stage, so Priest would be an awesome candidate for this! So would Motorhead and a ton of others I could probably come up with once I finish my coffee…
But, this is Nicko we’re talking here. We all love him because after all, what’s not to love? But, let’s face it, Goddess bless him, he’s a talker. When he says “kicked around,” it very well could’ve been two sentences uttered from the back of the short bus while eating his pizza. Now, don’t get me wrong, this would be absolutely amazing if they actually manifest it, but I’m not sure if I should hold my breath just yet.
Cheers, Christer! 🙂 Here’s to hoping it happens…
Credit’s all yours, Adam! 🙂
I bet this is just Nicko’s usual talk without really having a clue about what would happen. 🙂
I dunno, Nicko sometimes knows more than he lets on. Like in an interview from the NAMM convention in January 2012: “oh we may tour this year, but we don’t know where or when.” Yeah right…
Well, that assessment kinda goes against Nicko actually being on to something with the Maiden Fest mention. He often says things that aren’t true or about to happen. He also claimed around the same time (late 2011, I think) that the 2012 tour would not be a Seventh Son concept. Yeah right… 😀
But, we still love him, no matter what planet he’s on, don’t we? 🙂
Plus, the interview specifically says the idea was tossed around “a few years ago”. Maiden like to plan things out a few years in advance, so… seems like convenient timing to bring the topic up again.
But Nicko’s sense of time is also questionable (no pun intended!) … In the interview he says they have dusted off Phantom for the current tour. Oh yeah, it hadn’t been played in all of 3 years! That statement is actually pretty shocking in light of the many long-lost classics that should have been in the set but weren’t…
In any case, the cycles of new albums and retro tours could conceivably be over now. The postponement of the Maiden England DVD in 2008 seems to indicate that the Maiden England tour wasn’t in the pipeline before that. Now, by 2013, they might have taken the 80s retro thing as far as they want. The massive repetition of recently played material in the set seems to point that way. Which leaves open the question: Do they envision a new cycle of albums and tours in the future or will the next album be the end game…?