Saxon's Nibbs Carter leaves tour over 'family emergency'

A picture of Nibbs Carter
Nibbs Carter (Image credit: Getty)

Saxon bassist Nibbs Carter has left the band’s European tour due to a “family emergency.”

The NWOBHM icons say in a statement that Carter will miss six shows, with Greek musician Gus Macricostas filling in as his temporary replacement. Macricostas has previously played with Battleroar.

Saxon say: “We know you will all welcome Gus to the Saxon family for the albeit brief run of shows until Nibbs returns.”

Carter missed Sunday’s show in Ljubljana, Slovenia, and will also sit out gigs in Bologna, Milan, Bilbao, Madrid and Barcelona.

In October, Saxon drummer Nigel Glockler was reunited with one of the nurses who helped him recover from life-saving brain surgery.

Glockler took seriously ill ahead of a scheduled Newcastle gig on the band’s winter UK tour in December 2014 and was diagnosed with an aneurysm. One of the medics who looked after him at the city’s Royal Victoria Infirmary was a Saxon-loving nurse.

On is remarkable return to action, Glockler told TeamRock: “My local surgeon nearly fell over when I told him I was gigging already in April last year. They were really expecting it might take a year or two for me to get back to live performing.

“I’m not having to do anything too different. I just generally take better care of myself – I drink plenty of water and get lots of rest. I have a job to do with Saxon and I can’t burn the candle at both ends.”

Saxon are working on the follow-up to 2015 album Battering Ram and recently issued live package Let Me Feel Your Power. They will tour the US with UFO next year.

Saxon tour dates 2016⁄17

Dec 13: Bologna Zona Roveri, Italy
Dec 14: Milan Live Club, Italy
Dec 16: Bilbao Santana 27, Spain
Dec 17: MAdrid San Miguel, Spain
Dec 18: Barcelona Razzmatazz, Spain
Dec 20: Lyon Le Transbordeur, France
Dec 21: Lille Le Splendid, France
Dec 22: Antwerp Trix, Belgium
Mar 09: Houston Scout Bar, TX
Mar 10: Dallas Gas Monkey Live, TX
Mar 11: San Antonio Alamo City Music Hall, TX
Mar 14: San Diego House Of Blues, CA
Mar 15: San Francisco The Independent, CA
Mar 16: Los Angeles Belasco, CA
Mar 18: Anaheim The Grove, CA
Mar 19: Las Vegas House Of Blues, NV
Mar 21: Denver Summit Concert Hall, CO
Mar 24: Sioux City, hard rock Casino, IA
Mar 26: St Charles Arcada Theater, IL
Mar 28: Cleveland House Of Blues, OH
Mar 29: New York B.B. King’s, NY
Mar 30: New York B.B. King’s, NY
Apr 01: Jim Thorpe Penn’s Peak, PA
Apr 02: Allston Brighton Music Hall, MA

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Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.