Iron Maiden Drummer Nicko McBrain To Perform At Prestigious Mountbatten Festival Of Music
Iron Maiden drummer Nicko McBrain will play at this year’s 52nd Mountbatten Festival of Music (MFM), to be held at the Royal Albert Hall in March. McBrain will take to the stage at the event to join The Massed Bands of His Majesty’s Royal Marines.
The heavy metal musician will be part of the three concerts that will offer fans a once-in-a lifetime experience during the evening concert on Friday 8 March; and the matinee and evening shows on Saturday 9 March 2024.
With 100 musicians drawn from the five Royal Marines Bands, alongside their world-famous Corps of Drums, the spectacular concerts showcase the outstanding versatility of some of the world’s finest military musicians.
Commenting on what might seem an unlikely combination of talents, Nicko says: “It is such an honour to be invited to perform with the Massed Bands of His Majesty’s Royal Marines at the 2024 Mountbatten Festival of Music. I feel so humbled to be a part of this fantastic event. I look forward to seeing you all at the Royal Albert Hall in March to enjoy rockin’ out to some Maiden ditties along with a few fantastic surprises!”
The Mountbatten Festival of Music is a major source of fundraising for the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charities and the Young Lives vs Cancer Charity and takes the audience on an exhilarating ride through the world of music, often premiering spectacular new arrangements and compositions, unique to this event. When combined with traditional military marches, music from the big screen, superb solo items, all accompanied by spectacular lighting effects, the Mountbatten Festival of Music has packed out the Royal Albert Hall annually for over 50 years.
Back in August, McBrain shared a statement revealing that earlier in the year he suffered a stroke that left him paralysed on the right hand side of his body.
McBrain suffered a TIA – known as a mini-stroke – back in January, which left him paralysed on his right side from his shoulder down.
In a video message to fans the drummer said, “Of course I was very worried that my career was over but with the love and support from my wife, Rebecca and family, my doctors, especially Julie my OT [occupational therapist], and my Maiden family I was able to bounce back to somewhere near 70% recovered.”
After 10 weeks of “intensive therapy”, McBrain started rehearsals in May with the rest of Iron Maiden ahead of their recent The Future Past tour. He continued, “I feel it’s important to let you know about this now instead of earlier as I was mainly concerned with doing my job and concentrating on getting back to 100% fitness. I’m not there yet but by the grace of God I’m getting better and stronger as the weeks go by.
“Thank you all for a most wonderful and magical tour so far, you have all been so amazing.”