Iron Maiden have added more dates to the 2026 leg of their epic Run For Your Lives world tour – including a return to one of the UK’s most iconic outdoor music venues. As well as headlining two European festivals in Denmark’s Copenhell and Norway’s Tons Of Rock in June next year, the metal legends will also play a special one-off date at Knebworth on Saturday July 11. It will be their first appearance at Knebworth since headlining the much-missed Sonisphere festival in 2014.
“We knew that we had to bring the Run For Your Lives show back to the UK again next summer as there was such a phenomenal demand for tickets this year but we wanted to do something a bit different especially as it would be hard to top the show at London Stadium!” says longtime Iron Maiden manager Rod Smallwood.
“Well, we think that Knebworth is the solution – besides being a legendary venue for historic concerts over the years going right back to Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, the Stones and Queen – it also gives us the outdoor space and control to create something very special for our fans!
“Of course, we also have history there too with our headline appearances at Sonisphere some years ago, who could forget that World War I Centenary dog fight over the park’s tree line with Bruce full guns blazing in his own Fokker triplane?
“However, this time we will be taking over the whole of the grounds ourselves and turning it into as much of a ‘Maiden World’ as we can for all our fans to enjoy!
“Our Eddie’s Dive Bars have proved immensely popular on this current tour so our intention is to create our biggest one yet which will also be open on the Friday for the campers from the separate communal camping and glamping areas. For those lucky Friday night campers there will be a full programme of Maiden-themed entertainment there that night, which we expect to include some live music, DJs, the aforementioned dive bar, along with other attractions and entertainment we are currently working on to make it the best warm up for the big day!
“So we hope you will join us next year as we continue to celebrate five decades of Iron Maiden. It’s going to be one for the history books…in a really historic venue!”
Joining Iron Maiden at the Knebworth show will be Mongolian folk metal sensations The Hu, plus riotous rock ‘n’ roll from the UK in the form of The Darkness and The Almighty, and from Australia in the form of Airbourne.
Tickets go on sale on Saturday September 27 at 10am
via ironmaiden.knebworth.com, myticket.co.uk, ticketmaster.co.uk and ironmaiden.com
See the full list of Run For Your Lives 2026 tour dates below. Reviewing this year’s opening night of the tour for Metal Hammer, Merlin Alderslade wrote of the show’s snazzy new digital visuals: “A revised way of doing the traditional Giant Eddie may sit oddly with some fans, but it undeniably looks impressive and certainly fits with this new-look stage show. As an anthemic Wasted Years brings us home courtesy of another banger of a digital set, it seems Iron Maiden have pulled off a rare trick: celebrating the past by stepping into a bold new future.”
Iron Maiden Run For Your Lives 2026 European tour dates:
May 23: Athens OAKA, Greece
May 26: Sofia Vasil Levski Stadium, Bulgaria
May 28: Bucharest Arena Națională, Romania
May 30: Bratislava Národný Futbalový Štadión, Slovakia
Jun 02: Hannover Heinz von Heiden Arena, Germany
Jun 10: Amsterdam Ziggo Dome, Netherlands
Jun 17: Milan San Siro Stadium, Italy
Jun 22: Paris La Défense Arena, France
Jun 24-27 Cophenhell 2025 (date TBC)
Jun 24-27 Tons Of Rock 2025 (date TBC)
Jun 28: Lyon-Décines Groupama Stadium, France
Jul 07: Lisbon Estádio da Luz, Portugal
Jul 11: Knebworth, UK