DAVE MURRAY On IRON MAIDEN Retiring: “We’re All Set Up For This Tour, And After That We’ll See What The Future Holds”

Everyone in Iron Maiden is in their mid-to-late sixties. Drummer Nicko McBrain is 72 now and just retired from the road completely. It sucks to think about, but at some point Iron Maiden is gonna retire. While Iron Maiden guitarist Dave Murray doesn’t know exactly when that’ll be, he tells Music Radar that the band will know when it’s time.

“To me, there’s nothing worse than seeing a band you like on stage and they look like they shouldn’t really be there doing it. We’re nearly hitting the seventies mark now, but I think we will all know when it would be time. It would be a mutual decision.

“I think there’s a time and a place to bail out with dignity and grace — as opposed to dragging it out. If you can leave it at that high level, and then bow out gracefully, I think it would be satisfying for us. And not just flog a dead horse, when you’re doing it for the wrong reasons.”

Murray continued, referencing Iron Maiden‘s Run For Your Lives tour that the band is planning on stretching in 2026. Murray noted Iron Maiden is plenty prepped for the trek, but doesn’t know what their plan is afterward: “We’re all set up for this tour, and after that we’ll see what the future holds. But at the moment the band sounds great, we still have that excitement and adrenaline when we go on stage. We’re still enjoying it, and that’s what it’s all about, really.”

And again, it would surely suck to see Iron Maiden finally hang it up. But we’ve gotten so many classic tracks and so many great tours from the band over the decades, what’s there to complain about? Iron Maiden are fucking legends.