The drummer who left Iron Maiden‘s touring lineup in 2024 returned to the stage at The Barn in Sanford, Florida on Saturday to begin a five-date run through Florida and Georgia.
Nicko McBrain spent forty-two years behind the kit in Iron Maiden before a stroke pushed him off the road. On Saturday night (August 29) he opened a short run of shows in Florida and Georgia playing that same catalogue, this time with his own project Titanium Tart.
The tour began at The Barn in Sanford, Florida. Fan-filmed footage from the show has been posted by the “Capnharris” channel on YouTube and can be seen down below.
Titanium Tart play Iron Maiden material exclusively, and the Sanford set leaned heavily on the band’s longer, more involved pieces rather than sticking to the singles.
Nicko McBrain Titanium Tart Sanford Setlist:
- “The Number Of The Beast“
- “Infinite Dreams“
- “The Writing On The Wall“
- “The Clansman“
- “Sign Of The Cross“
- “Darkest Hour“
- “Stranger In A Strange Land“
- “When The Wild Wind Blows“
- “The Trooper“
Encore:
- “For The Greater Good Of God“
- “Rime Of The Ancient Mariner“
- “Hallowed Be Thy Name“
Two of those songs, “The Writing On The Wall” and “Darkest Hour“, come from Senjutsu, the 2021 album that turned out to be McBrain‘s last studio record with the band.
Remaining Tour Dates:
- Sep 5 – Culture Room, Fort Lauderdale, Florida
- Sep 11 – The Albatross, Jacksonville, Florida
- Sep 13 – Center Stage Loft, Atlanta, Georgia
- Sep 19 – OCC Roadhouse, Clearwater, Florida
Joining McBrain in Titanium Tart are Rob Stokes on bass, Eldad Kira on keyboards, Mike Rivera and Mitch Tanne on guitar, and Paolo Velazquez on vocals.
McBrain suffered a stroke in January 2023 but said nothing publicly for seven months, not wanting to disrupt the tour that was underway. When he did break the news in August that year through Iron Maiden‘s website, he described a transient ischaemic attack that left him paralysed on his right side from the shoulder down, and said he had been “worried” his career with the band was finished. He put his recovery at roughly 70 percent at that point.
He returned to the stage but found the demands of a full Iron Maiden touring schedule too much, and stepped back from the road in December 2024. Simon Dawson, drummer in Steve Harris‘ side band British Lion, took over the touring seat.
That was his second serious health episode in four years. McBrain was diagnosed with stage 1 laryngeal cancer in 2020 after noticing a change in his voice the previous year, and had the tumour removed within a week. He discussed it in a single interview with the University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine in September 2021 and otherwise said almost nothing about it publicly.
McBrain joined Iron Maiden in December 1982, in time for the 1983 album Piece Of Mind and the tour that followed, replacing Clive Burr. The two bands had crossed paths the previous year, when McBrain‘s then-group Trust supported Maiden on the U.K. leg of the Killers tour in 1981. Burr died in 2013 after living with multiple sclerosis.
Where Burr played with a heavy, punk-influenced attack, McBrain brought a lighter touch and more technical control, and that shift gave principal songwriter Steve Harris room to write the longer, more ambitious material the band moved towards from the mid-eighties onward. By the time he left the touring lineup, McBrain was Iron Maiden‘s third longest-serving member, behind Harris and guitarist Dave Murray.
