Iron Maiden officially inaugurated the “Run For Your Lives World Tour 2026” on Saturday 23 May in Athens, kicking off the new leg of the tour celebrating fifty years of their career. After the previews released by Bruce Dickinson in the previous weeks, the band actually delved deeply into their historical repertoire, building a setlist strongly oriented towards the Eighties and also including songs that had been absent from live performances for decades.
Here is the setlist of the Iron Maiden concert in Athens:
- Murders in the Rue Morgue
- Wrathchild
- Killers
- Phantom of the Opera
- The Number of the Beast
- Infinite Dreams (first performance since 1988)
- Powerslave
- 2 Minutes to Midnight
- Rime of the Ancient Mariner
- Run to the Hills
- Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
- The Trooper
- Hallowed Be Thy Name
- Iron Maiden
Encore:
- Aces High
- Fear of the Dark
- Wasted Years
Among the most anticipated moments of the evening was above all the return of “Infinite Dreams”, resurrected for the first time after almost forty years, while classics much loved by fans such as “Killers” and “Phantom of the Opera” also retained their place in the lineup. However, “Alexander The Great” was absent, which many hoped to see again after recent live appearances.
Iron Maiden will also arrive in Italy on 17 June 2026 for the concert at the San Siro Stadium, an event which should propose a very similar lineup to the one presented on the opening night in Greece.
For the first time in its history, the San Siro Stadium in Milan will host an event entirely dedicated to heavy metal. Iron Maiden have in fact announced the new stages of their “Run For Your Lives World Tour”, which will also stop in Italy.
After the great success of the concert held last July in Padua, the band will return on 17 June 2026 to the Scala del Calcio to celebrate 50 years of career together with the Italian fans. The setlist will include the group's most iconic songs, selected from the albums published between the self-titled debut in 1980 and “Fear Of The Dark” in 1992.
Steve Harris says: “We're all excited about this tour. The fans have been fantastic, the set list is perfect for the 50th anniversary, the show is probably our best ever and the ticket demand has been incredible, with almost all tickets sold out and over a million fans in attendance. So we thought we'd play a few more shows in Europe before heading off to other parts of the world later in the year. Naturally Simon Dawson will be joining us behind the drums once again and both he and the whole band would like to thank our fans for the fantastic welcome you gave him in the first leg”.
Daniel D`Amico for SANREMO.FM
