Heavy metal legends Iron Maiden have officially announced the North American leg of their “Run For Your Lives World Tour,” a massive run of shows celebrating the band’s 50th anniversary.
The trek, set for 2026, will see the British icons performing in stadiums and major amphitheaters across the United States and Canada. Fans will experience a brand-new, state-of-the-art stage production on a scale designed for huge outdoor venues, complete with a setlist drawn entirely from the band’s groundbreaking first nine albums.
The band will also headline Louder Than Life, America’s biggest rock festival, at the Highland Festival Grounds in Louisville, Kentucky, on Sept. 17, 2026.
Bassist and founder Steve Harris said the group is eager to bring its celebrated live show to North America once again.
“We are greatly looking forward to bringing this ‘Run For Your Lives’ tour to North America and hope the fans enjoy seeing the show and hearing the set list as much as we do playing it,” Harris said in a statement. “It’s an added bonus to have a few of our good friends on the tour with us. Megadeth are playing all the shows, and it’s an honour to have them join us on their last ever tour. We also have Anthrax with us on the bigger shows. We had a great time with them when they came out with us on ‘Ed Force One’ around the world in 2016. We’re delighted to have both bands with us for this tour and know our fans will enjoy seeing them.”
The upcoming run marks a historic milestone for Iron Maiden, who first visited Canada and the United States during their “Killer World Tour” in 1981. Forty-five years later, the band remains one of the most successful and enduring acts in metal history, with over 100 million albums sold worldwide and a reputation for arena-sized spectacle.
Frontman Bruce Dickinson said revisiting the group’s early catalog for the 50th anniversary has been especially rewarding.
“This whole tour has been such great fun,” Dickinson said. “I really enjoy belting out all these great old songs, and the whole band are loving playing them too! We’ve got all the big ones from that early period including ‘Hallowed Be Thy Name,’ ‘Run to the Hills,’ ‘The Trooper,’ ‘Number of the Beast,’ ‘Killers,’ ‘Powerslave,’ ‘2 Minutes to Midnight,’ and some of them we haven’t played in the U.S. for over 20 years! Plus there’s some real epics including my particular favourite ‘Rime of the Ancient Mariner’ and ‘Seventh Son…’ We are doing them all and more. I mean, who wouldn’t for a 50th birthday party!”
For Iron Maiden’s longtime manager Rod Smallwood, the band’s half-century milestone demands nothing less than their most ambitious live production to date.
“For a tour celebrating the 50th anniversary of Iron Maiden, the scale and incredible visual aspects of this tour deserve larger venues than the arenas we have generally played in the past,” Smallwood said. “We particularly chose this time of year to go bigger outdoors but to give us darkness when we go on stage so you will see the best of the production. Fans certainly won’t be disappointed in the show or the 50th anniversary set list, that is for sure!”
Tour to Feature the Biggest Performances the Band Has Played in North America
According to Smallwood, the tour will include major outdoor shows in Montréal and San Antonio’s Alamodome, both among the biggest performances the band has ever staged in North America. The itinerary also includes stadium stops in Los Angeles, New Jersey, and Hershey, Pennsylvania, as well as several of the continent’s largest amphitheaters, chosen for their strong acoustics and crowd energy.
Maiden will also attempt to bring their Eddie’s Pop-Up Dive Bar, a fan-favorite attraction during their recent European run, to North America for the first time.
The tour will continue the Trooper VIP Experience, a long-running fan-club tradition that offers early access, special seating, and limited-edition collectibles tied to the band’s own Trooper ale brand.
Another notable feature of the “Run For Your Lives” tour is a renewed request for fans to stay present and keep their phones tucked away during the show. Smallwood said that on Maiden’s recent European dates, audiences overwhelmingly respected the band’s plea to limit phone use, resulting in a stronger connection between performer and crowd.
“Our fans’ understanding and cooperation made a colossal difference to the atmosphere of every show and increased the enjoyment enormously for the band and fans alike,” he said. “So for all our North American shows we are once again requesting that fans keep their phones in their pockets and enjoy the show ‘in the moment.'”
Ever the cheeky showman, Smallwood added, “If a so-called fan near you thinks they are special and filming what they selfishly want, please just ask them, very politely of course, to put their phone somewhere the sun doesn’t shine!”
The upcoming tour also represents a full-circle moment for Iron Maiden’s relationship with American audiences. The group’s earliest U.S. shows in 1981 introduced many stateside fans to the raw, galloping sound that would define the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. Through the decades, that influence has continued to ripple across generations of hard-rock and metal acts, from Metallica to Avenged Sevenfold.
This time, the return to BMO Stadium in Los Angeles on Sept. 25, 2026, will mark the band’s 25th show in the City of Angels, a symbolic highlight for both Maiden and the Southern California fanbase that has supported them since their first visit more than four decades ago.
While the full North American itinerary has yet to be detailed city by city, the band has confirmed that an exclusive Iron Maiden Fan Club presale begins Tuesday, Oct. 28, followed by general on-sale tickets Friday, Oct. 31. Complete ticketing and tour information will be available at ironmaiden.com.
With their signature twin-guitar attack, operatic vocals, and elaborate stage shows, complete with pyrotechnics, massive backdrops, and of course the ever-evolving mascot Eddie, Iron Maiden remain one of the few bands able to command stadium audiences without compromise.
For fans, the “Run For Your Lives World Tour” is shaping up to be more than just another concert series. It’s a celebration of 50 years of heavy-metal history, a reunion of old friends, and a full-scale showcase of why Iron Maiden remain at the top of their game.
Or, as Dickinson himself might put it, it’s not just a show, it’s a birthday party, Iron Maiden style.
Iron Maiden 2026 Tour Dates
Aug. 29 – Toronto, ON @ Scotiabank Arena *
Sept. 3 – Montréal, QC @ Parc Jean-Drapeau *^
Sept. 5 – Harrison, NJ @ Sports Illustrated Stadium *^
Sept. 9 – Boston, MA @ TD Garden *
Sept. 11 – Bristow, VA @ Jiffy Lube Live *
Sept. 12 – Charlotte, NC @ PNC Music Pavilion *
Sept. 15 – Hershey, PA @ Hersheypark Stadium *
Sept. 17 – Louisville, KY @ Louder Than Life Festival
Sept. 19 – Shakopee, MN @ Mystic Lake Amphitheater *
Sept. 22 – Chicago, IL @ Credit Union 1 Amphitheatre *
Sept. 25 – Los Angeles, CA @ BMO Stadium *^
Sept. 29 – San Antonio, TX @ Alamodome *^
* Megadeth
^ Anthrax
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