Iron Maiden have announced a huge Knebworth headline show for the summer of 2026, with support from The Darkness, The Hu and others.
Last week, the band shared details of a European stadium headline tour for next year, an extension of their two-year, 50th anniversary ‘Run For Your Lives’ tour.
That announcement included a tease of a major UK show, and now they have confirmed that they will top a bill at the legendary outdoor venue in Hertfordshire on Saturday 11 July, with a hand-picked set of opening acts made up of The Darkness, The Hu, Airbourne and The Almighty.
The “weekend event” will include the biggest Eddie’s Dive Bar ever, as well as Maiden-themed food and other specialised stalls, with proceedings kicking off on Friday 10 July for fans with camping tickets.
Tickets go on sale at 10am on Saturday (September 27) and you can find yours here.
Iron Maiden manager Rod Smallwood has said: “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!”
“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!”
Justin Hawkins, frontman of The Darkness, has said: “We’re thrilled to announce that The Darkness are to appear LIVE in support of the legendary Iron Maiden at Knebworth! Iron Maiden are among our favourite all-time bands and what’s more, they are named after my second favourite medieval torture device. My favourite would be the Pear of Anguish. So those in attendance can expect us to force our music into them, whereupon the catchiness of our tuneage will expand until they tell us everything. Yay!!!”
Earlier this year, Iron Maiden shared a message with fans, urging them to “severely limit the use of their phone cameras out of respect for the band and their fellow fans” during their ‘Run For Your Lives’ shows.
This year’s run of shows were the first with new touring drummer Simon Dawson, who was appointed following the touring retirement of long-term sticksman Nicko McBrain. McBrain announced he would be “taking a step back” from touring last year due to suffering a minor stroke in 2023, which left him partially paralysed on his right side from the shoulder down.