British heavy metal icons Iron Maiden have revealed the first round of dates for their jam-packed 2026 schedule. The tour will kick off with a summer run through Europe, focusing heavily on major festivals and stadium shows in countries the band won’t be visiting in 2025. After this initial leg, the band will head to other parts of the world later in the year, with those dates to be announced in the coming months.
The newly announced European dates include several headlining festival performances. Additional festival dates will be revealed by the organizers in collaboration with ironmaiden.com. The band also confirmed that 2027 will be a year off from touring, making the 2026 shows even more special for fans.
Steve Harris, Iron Maiden’s founding bassist, expressed his excitement about the ongoing Run For Your Lives tour. “We are all loving this Run For Your Lives tour. The fans have been amazing, the set list is perfect for the 50th anniversary, the show is arguably our best ever and ticket demand was incredible with pretty much everywhere sold out and over a million fans attending. So we all thought we should play some more shows in Europe before heading out to other parts of the world later in the year.”
Harris also confirmed that Simon Dawson will continue to join the band on drums for this leg of the tour. “Of course, Simon Dawson will be joining us once again on the drummer’s stool, and both he and the whole band would like to thank our fans for the terrific reception you have given him on the first leg.
“We’ve always enjoyed playing festivals, especially as we get to play to people who aren’t just there for us, and we love that challenge! So we decided to revisit as many great metal festivals as we could get to in this period. Plus we will also get to play stadiums in Greece, Romania, Slovakia, and Bulgaria where we didn’t get to this year and have always loved playing to the passionate fans out there.”
Rod Smallwood, the band’s longtime manager, praised the incredible response to the tour so far. “We were absolutely blown away by the overwhelmingly positive reaction of our fans and from across the mainstream media to the first leg of our Run For Your Lives tour. We knew we had created a special show, but the energy of all our fans at every single concert we played was picked up on by the band and I think we all experienced something really memorable, and arguably our best tour ever.”
Smallwood also reflected on the important role festivals have played throughout Iron Maiden’s history. “Throughout our career, festivals played a huge part, starting with Rock In Rio in 1985, of course, by enabling us to play in front of new fans and hopefully convert them to being Maiden fans, which, in the absence of radio or mainstream media, helped enormously to increase our following. So this tour, based around most of Europe’s pre-eminent metal fests, is also a huge thank you to those very festivals for playing such an important part in the fifty years… and counting… story of Iron Maiden.”
In addition to festival appearances, the band will perform stadium shows in several key regions. “Besides Eastern Europe, we will also play some stadium shows in regions we missed in Germany (Hannover), France (Lyon-Décines), and Italy, the latter at Milan’s legendary San Siro Stadium, home of both AC and Inter Milan. We will, I am told, be the first ever metal band to play there. It’s always great to break more new ground — even after all these years!!”
Smallwood hinted at something special for the U.K. fans, teasing a mystery event for July 11. “You will note the schedule below just says U.K. show for July 11th and there is a good reason for that! We are working on something special for our loyal U.K. fans, including an extension of our Eddie’s Dive Bar concept we launched last year… so watch this space!”
He also announced a special return to Paris La Défense Arena on June 22. “Fans will also notice we will play Paris La Défense Arena again on Monday, June 22nd after already playing two sold-out nights there this year to 75,000 fans… but there is good reason for that! Yes, we know you have been asking, so we are going to film this special show for you and for posterity!
“We chose an indoor stadium to see the best of the production and also a great audience which we know Paris is and always has been for us. So we decided to return to Paris and hope fans there still want to see us! This will be our 31st show ever in Paris — it’s always been a bit special since we first visited there with KISS back in 1980!”
Smallwood also addressed the band’s request for fans to limit phone use during concerts, noting the positive response so far.
“Finally, it was really special to see that the vast majority of our fans appreciated and respected our request to severely limit their use of phones at our concerts, ideally just keeping it in their pockets the whole time, especially in those standing areas in front of the stage. There were exceptions in a couple of places, sadly, but overall 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.”
To ensure a distraction-free filming experience in Paris, the band is partnering with Yondr to create a phone-free environment. “While we encourage our fans to follow this again at all our shows in 2026, in Paris specifically, we will be working with Yondr, the company that creates phone-free spaces where fans are given a secure locked pouch which allows you to keep your phone on you at all times. They will facilitate this process ultimately for the benefit of you, our wonderful fans, and I am sure that, like all of us, you do not want to watch the resulting film, seeing banks of phone screens in the shot.
“Therefore, to help our film crew, we will make the huge floor at La Défense completely Yondr phone-free so we can ensure the show — and, of course, all of you in the crowd — look as phenomenal as possible on camera!”
He added that the rest of the venue will rely on fans to self-police their phone use. “In the rest of the venue, we are requesting that fans once again keep their phones in their pockets and enjoy the show ‘in the moment’, rather than raise their phone in the air trying to film sections and thus inconveniencing those around them. So 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!”
Smallwood concluded by reassuring fans outside Europe that they will also be included in Iron Maiden’s 2026 plans.
“And, as I mentioned before, for all our fans outside Europe, we most definitely have not forgotten you and have some big announcements coming later for 2026. Rest assured we will be visiting as many of you as possible next year before the band take a well-earned break from the road in 2027.”
“Run For Your Lives” European tour dates 2026:
May 23 – Athens, Greece – Oaka
May 26 – Sofia, Bulgaria – Vasil Levski Stadium
May 28 – Bucharest, Romania – Arena Națională
May 30 – Bratislava, Slovakia – Národný Futbalový Štadión
June 02 – Hannover, Germany – Heinz Von Heiden Arena
June 10 – Amsterdam, Netherlands – Ziggo Dome
June 17 – Milan, Italy – San Siro Stadium
June 22 – Paris, France – Paris La Défense Arena
June 28 – Lyon – Décines, France – Groupama Stadium
July 07 – Lisbon, Portugal – Estádio Da Luz
July 11 – Uk Headline Show – Details To Be Revealed
