 | Written by Alex Stojanovic (C) 2026 MetalMasterKingdom.com IRON MAIDEN Run For Your Lives World Tour 2026 w/ Megadeth @ Scotiabank Arena Toronto, ON, Canada August 29, 2026 "SCREAM FOR ME, TORONTO!". Those four legendary words have graced Toronto yet again as Iron Maiden made their bi-annual return to our town to now celebrate an incredible 50 year milestone anniversary of metal dominance as one of the all-time kings of metal. Any time a legacy band goes on tour, it's always a special occasion, but there's very few legacy bands who really make their return to a city a truly special spectacle, and Maiden is one of those bands. Having spent last year and this past summer lighting up Europe on the Run For Your Lives Tour, the band have just begun a rather short run across North America, with further global touring to come in Latin America, Japan and Australia to round out the year, as well as their long-awaited induction into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame after so many years of eligibility. Needless to say, it's a significant year for Maiden. |
With a purely old-school setlist that was remained exclusive to the albums in the band's first decade from the self-titled album up to Fear Of The Dark, which honestly are the songs everybody prefers to hear, all guns were blazing on nostalgia, and boy did we ever get spoiled with the setlist they amassed for this tour. With this new tour, new stage show and new setlist, there also came for the first time in 35 years, a new member. After the Future Past Tour concluded in 2024, Nicko McBrain announced his retirement from touring after 42 years behind the kit due to ongoing complications from a stroke he suffered in early 2023, which caused some significant changes to his performance on said tour, but he bowed out with absolute grace. The biggest question now was who the band were going to get to succeed Nicko after 4 decades. Well, Maiden always "find their man", and in came Simon Dawson, who plays with Steve Harris in British Lion, and has proven to be a more-than-worthy successor.
We Torontonians were the lucky chosen ones to be the North American tour's opening city with two back to back sold out nights at the Scotiabank Arena on August 29 and 30. The grounds of the arena and much of the downtown core were swarming with Maiden t-shirts, bottles of Trooper beer, as well as costumes worn by cosplayers who were over at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre for the city's other big annual event this weekend: Fan Expo, with some people even going to both the convention and the concert. However, to see people from both worlds colliding was both amusing and cool at the same time. I have to say that this North American tour really features a two-for-one because along with Maiden, the special guests are another one of metal's all-time greats: Megadeth. Talk about being spoiled.
By the time the first bunch of the crowd was settled in, the lights went out and Megadeth kicked off the night with a furious punch. Now, I have been quite critical of Megadeth over the last bunch of years with the overly predictable status of their setlist, and that didn't really change tonight, especially that they were a "support act", so you can't blame them on that front. However, it was really nice to hear them launch into the new track "Tipping Point" to start the set, which felt like a shock to the system after having grown accustomed to the over-repeated opening sequence of the "Prince Of Darkness" intro video followed by "Hangar 18", although that song came in second in the set for this one. With not a lot of talking between songs, but rather letting the music do the talking as per usual, Dave Mustaine and the crew tore their way through the standard staples like "Angry Again", "Sweating Bullets", "Tornado Of Souls", "Symphony Of Destruction", "Peace Sells" and the signature closer "Holy Wars". The only other new song was "Let There Be Shred", which Dave aptly dedicated to all the guitar players in the audience, and it was one of two songs that featured an on-stage appearance from Vic Rattlehead, the other being "Peace Sells", and each time in a different coloured suit. I gotta say that I was a bit surprised that "A Tout Le Monde" and "Trust" weren't on the setlist, but at the same time, I was kind of relieved because it was two less predictable songs that are always played.
Now it was time. As per tradition, "Doctor Doctor" warmed up the crowd before the lights went out, and a jaw-dropping quadruple shot of Killers material started the show, with "Ides Of March" playing in the background of the intro video, before Maiden thrust on stage as if they were still in their 30s, and fired into "Murders In The Rue Morgue", "Wrathchild" and "Killers", only to be followed by "Phantom Of The Opera". It was around this time that we got the first of two Eddies appearing on stage in the show, with the first one donning the Killers look during the Killers title track. While Maiden have also embraced technology, this was the first tour where they had a giant LCD screen behind them which projected stunning visuals of Eddie in different scenarios and other animations for each song. With four rare Paul Di'Anno (R.I.P.) era tracks kicking off the show and the new screen, you can tell this was going to be a Maiden gig unlike any other.
If that wasn't enough to spoil us, we got treated to even more gems like "Infinite Dreams", which the band haven't played in since the Seventh Son Tour in 1988, but also "Powerslave", "Rime Of The Ancient Mariner" and "Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son". The rest of the set gave us many of the standard setlist staples, like "Number Of The Beast", "Run To The Hills", "2 Minutes To Midnight", "The Trooper", "Hallowed Be Thy Name" and "Iron Maiden". Some of the staples came with their own theatrical moments, particularly Eddie coming out for a second time during "The Trooper", and Bruce Dickinson singing from an on-stage cage during "Hallowed Be Thy Name". Some songs even came with flame blasts. As the main set ended, we were treated to a great triple shot of staples in the encore, with "Aces High", "Fear Of The Dark" and "Wasted Years", all closing out what was a Maiden setlist for the ages. Being the joker that he is, Bruce even took a quick moment early in the show to quirk about the recent Lake Ontario nonsense of the last few days by calling the lake by it's proper name, causing the crowd to roar with approval (Google the story if you don't know).
To close things out, let's quickly circle back to the subject of Bruce. There are simply not enough words to describe this man and his abilities and energy levels. He is an absolute freak of nature for still sounding as incredible as he does vocally and being as energetic as he is, all at the age of 68. While Steve Harris hit the big 70 this year, and Dave Murray, Adrian Smith and Janick Gers all hitting that number in the coming months, the stamina displayed on that stage over an astounding 2 hours is a testament to the fact that passion defies the laws of age, and Maiden is a primary example of that testimony.
While Maiden have announced that they will be taking 2027 off from touring, we are already counting the days to their return in 2028 and beyond, and what magic they will cook up then, whether it's another celebratory tour, or even the slight chance of releasing and touring behind a possible new studio album. I have a pretty good feeling that it will be the former more than anything, but you never know. Either way, long live the kings of British metal, and UP THE IRONS!
We Torontonians were the lucky chosen ones to be the North American tour's opening city with two back to back sold out nights at the Scotiabank Arena on August 29 and 30. The grounds of the arena and much of the downtown core were swarming with Maiden t-shirts, bottles of Trooper beer, as well as costumes worn by cosplayers who were over at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre for the city's other big annual event this weekend: Fan Expo, with some people even going to both the convention and the concert. However, to see people from both worlds colliding was both amusing and cool at the same time. I have to say that this North American tour really features a two-for-one because along with Maiden, the special guests are another one of metal's all-time greats: Megadeth. Talk about being spoiled.
By the time the first bunch of the crowd was settled in, the lights went out and Megadeth kicked off the night with a furious punch. Now, I have been quite critical of Megadeth over the last bunch of years with the overly predictable status of their setlist, and that didn't really change tonight, especially that they were a "support act", so you can't blame them on that front. However, it was really nice to hear them launch into the new track "Tipping Point" to start the set, which felt like a shock to the system after having grown accustomed to the over-repeated opening sequence of the "Prince Of Darkness" intro video followed by "Hangar 18", although that song came in second in the set for this one. With not a lot of talking between songs, but rather letting the music do the talking as per usual, Dave Mustaine and the crew tore their way through the standard staples like "Angry Again", "Sweating Bullets", "Tornado Of Souls", "Symphony Of Destruction", "Peace Sells" and the signature closer "Holy Wars". The only other new song was "Let There Be Shred", which Dave aptly dedicated to all the guitar players in the audience, and it was one of two songs that featured an on-stage appearance from Vic Rattlehead, the other being "Peace Sells", and each time in a different coloured suit. I gotta say that I was a bit surprised that "A Tout Le Monde" and "Trust" weren't on the setlist, but at the same time, I was kind of relieved because it was two less predictable songs that are always played.
Now it was time. As per tradition, "Doctor Doctor" warmed up the crowd before the lights went out, and a jaw-dropping quadruple shot of Killers material started the show, with "Ides Of March" playing in the background of the intro video, before Maiden thrust on stage as if they were still in their 30s, and fired into "Murders In The Rue Morgue", "Wrathchild" and "Killers", only to be followed by "Phantom Of The Opera". It was around this time that we got the first of two Eddies appearing on stage in the show, with the first one donning the Killers look during the Killers title track. While Maiden have also embraced technology, this was the first tour where they had a giant LCD screen behind them which projected stunning visuals of Eddie in different scenarios and other animations for each song. With four rare Paul Di'Anno (R.I.P.) era tracks kicking off the show and the new screen, you can tell this was going to be a Maiden gig unlike any other.
If that wasn't enough to spoil us, we got treated to even more gems like "Infinite Dreams", which the band haven't played in since the Seventh Son Tour in 1988, but also "Powerslave", "Rime Of The Ancient Mariner" and "Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son". The rest of the set gave us many of the standard setlist staples, like "Number Of The Beast", "Run To The Hills", "2 Minutes To Midnight", "The Trooper", "Hallowed Be Thy Name" and "Iron Maiden". Some of the staples came with their own theatrical moments, particularly Eddie coming out for a second time during "The Trooper", and Bruce Dickinson singing from an on-stage cage during "Hallowed Be Thy Name". Some songs even came with flame blasts. As the main set ended, we were treated to a great triple shot of staples in the encore, with "Aces High", "Fear Of The Dark" and "Wasted Years", all closing out what was a Maiden setlist for the ages. Being the joker that he is, Bruce even took a quick moment early in the show to quirk about the recent Lake Ontario nonsense of the last few days by calling the lake by it's proper name, causing the crowd to roar with approval (Google the story if you don't know).
To close things out, let's quickly circle back to the subject of Bruce. There are simply not enough words to describe this man and his abilities and energy levels. He is an absolute freak of nature for still sounding as incredible as he does vocally and being as energetic as he is, all at the age of 68. While Steve Harris hit the big 70 this year, and Dave Murray, Adrian Smith and Janick Gers all hitting that number in the coming months, the stamina displayed on that stage over an astounding 2 hours is a testament to the fact that passion defies the laws of age, and Maiden is a primary example of that testimony.
While Maiden have announced that they will be taking 2027 off from touring, we are already counting the days to their return in 2028 and beyond, and what magic they will cook up then, whether it's another celebratory tour, or even the slight chance of releasing and touring behind a possible new studio album. I have a pretty good feeling that it will be the former more than anything, but you never know. Either way, long live the kings of British metal, and UP THE IRONS!
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