Rock fans who like their music hard, fast and loud love Iron Maiden. And many of them have been asking for the band to visit their hometown.

The band played for millions in European cities like Vienna, Madrid, and Stockholm. Over 70,000 fans got to see their favourite heavy metal band rock-out live in London, England in June. Some of them mentioned that they travelled from South and North America to experience them live.

Then, just the other day Iron Maiden released dates for the North American leg of the Run For Your Lives world tour in celebration of the band’s 50th anniversary.

The tour marks 45 years since Iron Maiden first visited Canada and the United States on the 1981 Killer World Tour. It’s been decades since some fans have seen them play live in-person. Many now have kids who discovered this colourful band in their parents’ record crates.

Steve Harris, songwriter, bass player and the band’s founder, says Iron Maiden is looking forward to “belting out all those great old songs,” – brilliant classic rock songs that stand the test of time from the band’s early period. Hallowed Be Thy Name, Run to the Hills, Trooper, Number of the Beast, Killers, Powerslave, and 2 Minutes to Midnight are all on the set-list for “the 50th birthday party.”

Megadeth and Anthrax to Join Iron Maiden on Tour

U.S. heavy metal behemoths Megadeth, and Anthrax will join Iron Maiden on the tour. Megadeth will be playing all the shows — on what was announced as their last ever tour. New York thrash metal outfit Anthrax will play the bigger shows.

Iron Maiden will be performing at stadiums and amphitheatres constructed to accommodate the state-of-the-art production made especially for the tour. The set resembles their very graphic album covers depicting Egyptian pharaohs, battleships, and characters straight from their song lyrics come to life in full costume on stage, inluding their mascot Eddie.

Fans know the band well, but for those who don’t, Iron Maiden songs often refrence mythology, great poems (Rime of the Ancient Mariner), religious and spiritual texts (Number of the Beast, Hallowed Be Thy Name, Revelations) and Medieval practices of torture or fantasies about that century created in Victorian times. Some song and album titles are taken directly from literature (Phantom of the Opera).

The speed and drive of their music channel old-world fears delivered in orchestrated theatrical outburst of rage on stage. Battalion-like drums, shrapnel guitars, commanding vocal execution from lead singer Bruce Dickinson, and rich harmony from band members singing seamlessly together.

Songs About the Futility of War

Dickinson doesn’t just sing, he performs. He offers up his whole body up to the music as he tells the story of the Charge of the Light Brigade, based on the Alfred Tennyson poem about a cavalry riding through the valley of death on horseback.

Iron Maiden’s songs depict the fear behind the pillage and plunder that ensue when cultures collide. They describe the plight of the conquered when people are at the mercy of their conquerors in songs like Run to the Hills. This song is about the pain and misery inflicted on Indigenous peoples by white newcomers. 

Pashendale, Tailgunner, Speed Of Light, Death Or Glory and The Final Frontier also touch on war. Aces High begins with a speech from British Prime Minister Winston Churchill (Never Surrender) about escaping the perils of the second world war. The lyrics describe bomber pilots getting airborne after the air raid siren goes off: “Run, live to fly, fly to live, do or die.” 

“The Clansman is a nine-minute Steve Harris masterpiece, beautifully sung by the Wolfsbane vocalist. The song deals with the Scottish struggle for independence and freedom from English oppression in the 13th and 14th centuries,” according to Metal Talk from their list of 20 top Iron Maiden hits of all time. 

Where is Iron Maiden Playing?

The Run For Your Lives world tour will reach Southeastern Europe in countries such as Greece, Romania and Bulgaria, regions where they didn’t get the chance to visit in 2025. The tour has been extended to Canada, the United States and Mexico in North America.

Iron Maiden will visit in Germany (Hannover), France (Lyon-Décines) and Milan’s legendary San Siro Stadium in Italy (officially Stadio Giuseppe Meazza), home of both the AC and Inter Milan football teams. Iron Maiden will be the first ever metal band to play in that stadium.

The upcoming July 11 show will be something special for UK fans including an extension of the Eddie’s Dive Bar concept launched last year. They are revisiting the Paris La Défense Arena on June 22 after playing two sold-out nights there this year to 75,000 fans. Their first visit was with KISS back in 1980. The Paris concert will be the 31st time they’ve played the city. This show is particularly special as it will be filmed.

Another favourite city of theirs is Los Angeles, the upcoming visit will be their 25th and they’ve already added a second show. They will also headline the Louder Than Life Festival, America’s biggest rock festival, in Louisville, Kentucky.

The band says they’re looking forward to playing Parc Jean-Drapeau, an outdoor venue in Montreal, Quebec and the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas, two of the biggest shows they have ever played in North America. They’ve chosen to play Estadio GNP Seguros in Mexico City and a few of the biggest amphitheatres in multiple cities across the U.S. including venues in Harrison, New Jersey and Hershey, Pennsylvania. 

Visit Core Music Events 2025 for some tour dates.