Iron Maiden are not just back on the road. They are rolling out a full scale celebration of fifty years of metal history with the Run For Your Lives World Tour, running from 2025 into late 2026. The tour leans hard into the band’s classic era, packs in heavyweight support acts, and marks a turning point for the line up, which is exactly why fan pages and metal communities are locked in on every new date and set list drop.
The concept is simple and brutal in the best way. The tour is built around material from Maiden’s first nine albums, from the self titled debut through Fear of the Dark.
Bruce Dickinson has already set expectations sky high, telling fans “We’re gonna be doing stuff we’ve never, ever done before, and it’ll be a setlist for the ages.” That message went out at the end of 2024 as the band wrapped The Future Past tour and turned the page to a full anniversary cycle.
The run began on 27 May 2025 in Budapest and the first European leg is a wall to wall stadium and arena sprint across Hungary, the Czech Republic, Scandinavia, the UK, Iberia and the rest of mainland Europe. The 2026 extension picks up again in late May in Athens, then moves through Sofia, Bucharest, Hanover, Milan, Paris and a long list of major festival slots before crossing the Atlantic.
The final stretch takes in Toronto, Montreal, a row of United States arenas and stadiums, San Antonio and a closing night in Mexico City on 2 October 2026.
Support across the tour reads like a mini metal festival in itself. Halestorm are on select European dates in 2025, bringing a modern hard rock edge in front of a very old school crowd. The Raven Age and Avatar appear on other European nights, while the 2026 stadium run around mainland Europe adds Evergrey, Trivium and Anthrax to the rotating guest list.
In North America, Megadeth step in as the primary special guest on several shows, with Anthrax joining key dates including Mexico City and selected stadiums. Meanwhile one off events stack even more bands on top, from The Darkness, The Hu, Airbourne and The Almighty at Knebworth in England to Sabaton and a long list of European acts at Rock Imperium in Spain.
For fans planning posts and coverage, the set list is the real story hook.
The opening night in Budapest confirmed that this is a deep dive into the classic catalog: The Ides of March, Murders in the Rue Morgue, Phantom of the Opera, The Number of the Beast, Powerslave, Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Run to the Hills, Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, The Trooper, Hallowed Be Thy Name, Iron Maiden, then an encore run of Aces High, Fear of the Dark and Wasted Years. It is the kind of show that lets older fans tick off songs they thought they would never hear again, while younger fans get a crash course in why this band defined a whole corner of metal.
There is a historic shift behind the drum kit as well. This is the first Maiden tour in more than forty years without Nicko McBrain, who stepped back from touring after health issues and formally retired from the road in 2024. British Lion drummer Simon Dawson is now handling live duties. The change is emotionally heavy for long time fans, but early reports point to a faithful, high energy take on the classic feel that still lets the anniversary story move forward.
For page owners and community managers, this tour is ready made content. Every city offers a run of angles: practical guides to venues and travel, fan meetup announcements, short vertical clips from outside the venue, crowd shots, set list graphics for each night and quick primers on the support acts so casual listeners know why Halestorm, Megadeth, Anthrax or Trivium matter before they walk in. Tie that to local stories, like a country’s only stadium date or a long awaited first time appearance, and you get posts that fans actually share instead of scroll past
Run For Your Lives is set up as the definitive Iron Maiden experience for this era. It celebrates the first nine albums, frames the band’s fifty year history, introduces a new touring drummer and puts a stacked bill of support acts in front of packed stadiums. For metal fans, this is the tour that will dominate stories, reels and set list debates all the way to October 2026.
