The tour will feature a rotating cast of Halestorm, Avatar, and The Raven Age as supporting acts. Each performance promises to be a grand spectacle, with Iron Maiden being renowned for dedicating months to crafting elaborate and visually stunning shows. Vocalist Bruce Dickinson expressed his excitement, stating in a press release, “Next year is a very special one for Iron Maiden and we’re going to be giving our fans a once-in-a-lifetime live experience.” 

Manager Rod Smallwood echoed Dickinson’s enthusiasm, emphasizing the band’s commitment to delivering an extraordinary tour. “With well over 100 million albums sold and almost 2500 shows in 64 countries and counting, to countless millions of fans, we are all still loving every second and consider every tour a new challenge to bring something different and exciting to our fans. And for this very special one, we’re pulling out all the stops!” he said in the band’s press release. 

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The tour’s name, Run For Your Lives, pays homage to the band’s iconic song “Run to the Hills” and hints at the exhilarating experience that awaits fans. The tour includes 5 UK and Ireland dates in Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow, Dublin, and the London Stadium, a venue that holds special significance for bassist Steve Harris as a lifelong supporter of West Ham United. 

“My love of football and my support of West Ham is no secret, and I know many of our fans around the world have shared that with me too. So we’re all very excited to be playing at the London Stadium as part of the Run For Your Lives tour,” said Harris. “And of course, it’s not just London – the whole UK tour is going to be a real celebration for all of us. To be able to bring this very special show to all our fans across the UK and Ireland next year is going to be a great way to mark 50 years of Iron Maiden.” 

With over 100 million albums sold and almost 2,500 shows in 64 countries and counting, Iron Maiden, formed in 1975 in Leyton, East London, by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris, is a pioneering force in the heavy metal genre. Their debut self-titled album, released in 1980, set the stage for a series of critically acclaimed records such as The Number of the Beast, Powerslave, and Seventh Son of a Seventh Son.  

The band has promised to cover classics and fan favourites from their first nine albums, some of which they haven’t played in years and may never play again in the future. “This is going to be a huge couple of years for Iron Maiden, and Eddie of course, and we are very excited about what we have up our sleeves for you fans throughout the whole of our 50th year. I promise you are all going to be very happy indeed!” Dickinson assured. 

For fans old and new, this tour offers an opportunity to witness the band’s legendary stage presence and hear the music that has defined a genre.  

Tickets go on sale next week with pre-sale going live on September 23rd via the Iron Maiden fanclub website while general tickets for UK and Ireland dates will go on sale from Friday September 27 12pm BST via LiveNation.  

The Future Past Tour is coming to the UK in 2023!

Tickets are on general sale Friday 14th Oct at 9am – https://t.co/5xe0TZaiC3#IronMaiden #TheFuturePastTour pic.twitter.com/wgo00q6Jg1

— Iron Maiden (@IronMaiden) October 7, 2022

In the press release for the tour bassist Steve Howard revealed the band’s thinking behind the tour: “Following the release of our latest album, Senjutsu, we updated the current Legacy of the Beast Tour a little by opening the show with the first three songs from it, with the Japanese Palace stage set. As it doesn’t make a lot of sense to repeat this for a Senjutsu album tour, we thought about other options and we’ve decided to revisit Somewhere In Time as that tour didn’t feature in the various retrospective history tours we’ve played over the years. They were based on our 80’s concert videos and sadly we did not film that tour (blame the manager!!).

He went on to discuss the importance of the fans in this decision: “We have had lots of requests from fans over the years for many tracks on it so we are now going to play them, plus of course a few others we know you will like! It will also be particularly satisfying to finally get to play some of the more epic tracks on Senjutsu, it’s been a long wait! 2023 is going to be an exciting time and we’re really looking forward to seeing everyone again in the UK, Ireland and around Europe”.

The band’s manager Rod Smallwood added: “This combination of the two albums we feel is very exciting. We know fans want to hear those epic cuts on Senjutsu for the first time live and we think that by combining it with an iconic album like Somewhere In Time it will make for another really special tour for fans old and new! Of course, for a new album tour in Europe and the UK we will go back largely to the relative intimacy of arenas and we know fans will be very happy about that too!”

Iron Maiden are currently in North America on the final leg of their epic Legacy Of The Beast World Tour, with many dates being rescheduled twice due to the pandemic.  Support on the UK tour will be announced at a later date. The UK shows can be seen below:

26/06/2023 – Ovo Hydro – Glasgow
28/06 – First Direct Arena – Leeds
30/06 – AO Arena – Manchester
03/07 – Motorpoint Arena – Nottingham
04/07 – Utilita Arena – Birmingham
07/07 – O2 Arena – London