Bruce Dickinson: 'Iron Maiden will never retire'

Taking questions from the audience on his spoken word "What Does This Button Do?" tour in Bucharest, Romania on Saturday night (8th February), Bruce was asked what will happen to Iron Maiden once the current band members retire.

Bruce replied "I like that. There's always hope. 'After the current members retire,' there'll be a whole load of Iron members.

“We won't even have f***ing holograms. You know what I mean? You can actually have real Iron Maiden members that kind of look like us but are not us. That's good. I like that. It's not a bad idea. Then we can just sit back and (collect) royalties and do no work. Good idea!”

He added: “It'll never happen, because we're never going to f***ing retire.”

It’s not the first time, Iron Maiden have rubbished the idea of retiring. Bassist and sole constant member Steve Harris told Trunk Nation last year: "We all feel that if we feel we're not cutting it anymore, then we'll discuss (retirement) and that will probably be the end of it.

"But at the moment, we don't feel like that. We feel that we definitely still are pulling our weight, so to speak. We're just doing well. So far so good. I don't wanna tempt fate, but we are doing good."

Speaking to Planet Rock’s Paul Anthony backstage in Nottingham at the opening date of the Book of Souls Tour in May 2017, Steve commented: “I think we’re all in pretty good shape so we’ll do it as long as we can really.

“He (points at security guard) is looking at me over there ‘cos he wants a job for the next few years as well. Don’t we all?!”

Iron Maiden headline Download Festival on Saturday 13th June as part of their blockbuster Legacy of the Beast Tour.

Taking place at Donington Park from Friday 12th to Sunday 14th June 2020, Download Festival also boasts performances from KISS, Alter Bridge, Disturbed, The Darkness, Volbeat, Airbourne, The Wildhearts, British Lion, Deftones and may more.

Tickets are on sale from Planet Rock Tickets now.

Last month, early Iron Maiden singer Paul Di’Anno announced he will retire from the live stage after one final concert at Beermageddon Festival on Sunday 30th August 2020.

Paul will perform with the band newly formed collective Ides of March, which also features fellow early Iron Maiden members Terry Wapram (guitar), Terry Rance (guitar) and Doug Sampson (drums). Bassist Speed Harris from Iron Maiden tribute band Hi-On Maiden completes the line-up.

According to Beermageddon, Paul Di’Anno has been advised by doctors to retire after ‘experiencing serious health difficulties’ in recent months.