Iron Maiden's Bruce Dickinson Good As New After Hip Replacement Last Year

One of rock's most energetic frontmen has admitted that his onstage acrobatics and his other hobbies have taken a painful toll on his body.

Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson recently disclosed that he underwent a hip replacement procedure during pandemic shutdowns last fall.

“I had a new hip installed several months ago. So I got five and a half inches of titanium hammered into my leg,” Dickinson told Download Festival host Kylie Olsson. "'Cause I run around onstage and jump, and [after] 40 years of fencing left-handed, it was just worn out.”

The singer continued, explaining that damage to his hip joint wasn't the only injury with which he's been dealing: “I mean, the last tour was really quite painful. And I put it down to the fact that during the last tour, just shortly before the last tour, I also broke my Achilles as well. My Achilles tendon snapped. … It's horrible. That was two years ago, basically. So I got that stitched back together and went out on tour three and a half months later. So I couldn't actually walk properly or run. So I modified what I did onstage and nobody figured it out. I was amazed.”

Dickinson had been exercising furiously during the shutdowns to stay fit, but his pain was only getting worse. He said he opted for surgery last October, hoping to have completed rehab by the next round of Iron Maiden tour dates, whenever that would be. So far, it's gone as planned.

"So now, with my new hip. ...I'm back training, fencing again. It's absolutely incredible. I've been doing physio and doing weights that I haven't done since I was 16 or 17. I'm squatting 100 kilos. It's mental what your body can do."

In 2015, the same year Iron Maiden released its last studio album, Book of Souls, Dickinson underwent chemotherapy for a cancerous tumor on his tongue.

Maiden's twice postponed 'Legacy of the Beast' world tour is set to resume in Europe in June 2022. The new dates include an appearance at Download Festival in the U.K.

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