On the day of Iron Maiden’s performance in Sao Paulo, the band announced that this show would be drummer Nicko McBrain’s last show with the band. Nicko McBrain announced that he would be leaving the group earlier that day. “After much consideration, it is with both sorrow and joy, I announce my decision to take a step back from the grind of the extensive touring lifestyle,” McBrain explained Saturday morning on IronMaiden.com. “Today, Sat, Dec 7th, Sao Paulo will be my final gig with Iron Maiden. I wish the band much success moving forward.” No more than a few hours after the end of the show, Iron Maiden took to the internet to quickly announced that the replacement drummer would be Steve Harris’ British Lion drummer Simon Dawson.
The announcement was a surprise to many Iron Maiden fans who had speculated that the band would chose Steve Harris’ 36 year old drummer and nephew Joe Lazarus. Joe‘s father, Steve Lazarus, wrote in a comment section on MAIDEN‘s Facebook page:
I 100% agree that not going with Lazarus was a bad move. Simon is a drummer in a band with some of the most disappointingly forgettable material I’ve ever heard. I’d have to go back and listen and see if he is any good. I was really pulling for Lazarus because I thought I would’ve been cool to see the band pushed just a bit by some young blood. I’m not saying Nicko didn’t push the band because he did up until his stroke. I just think some youthful energy would’ve been fun to see and hear behind the band. Normally I would say that the leader of a band would use their best judgement when making a decision like this but Harris also is the one that hired Blaze Bayley of all people to replace Bruce Dickinson from 1994 – 1999 releasing the two worst albums of Maiden’s long career.
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