Iron Maiden have asked fans to not excessively film and photograph their upcoming concerts.
The UK metal titans’ longtime manager, Rod Smallwood, says in a press release issued today (May 20) that the band want attendees at their Run For Your Lives tour to keep their phones in their pockets as much as possible.
He writes that a large number of phones in the air at shows “diminishes enjoyment”, both for the band performing and for fellow concertgoers.
He encourages people to instead remain “in the moment”, adding that the impending dates aren’t “just a celebration of our music”, but also “about our years of art, of [band mascot] Eddie and of the many, many worlds of Maiden we have created for you”.
Smallwood’s statement reads in full: “We really want fans to enjoy the shows firsthand, rather than on their small screens.
“The amount of phone use nowadays diminishes enjoyment, particularly for the band who are onstage looking out at rows of phones, but also for other concertgoers.
“We feel that the passion and involvement of our fans at shows really makes them special, but the phone obsession has now got so out of hand that it has become unnecessarily distracting, especially to the band. I hope fans understand this and will be sensible in severely limiting the use of their phone cameras out of respect for the band and their fellow fans.
“We would very much like you to be ‘in the moment’ instead and be fully actively involved to enjoy each and every one of these classic songs in the spirit and manner they were first played. This show isn’t just a celebration of our music; it is, as you will see, also about our years of art, of Eddie and of the many, many worlds of Maiden we have created for you.
“So please respect the band, respect the other fans and have the time of your lives as you join your Maiden family by singing your heart out, rather than getting your phone out!
“It’s really not a lot to ask, is it?”
The opening European leg of Maiden’s Run For Your Lives trek kicks off in Budapest, Hungary, next Tuesday, May 27. The shows will include the band’s largest-ever UK non-festival headliner since 2008, taking place at the 80,000-capacity London Stadium on June 28. See all confirmed dates below.
Maiden will play material from their first nine albums, 1980’s Iron Maiden through to 1992’s Fear Of The Dark. The jaunt will mark their first tour with live drummer Simon Dawson, who replaces longtime drummer Nicko McBrain. McBrain retired from the live stage following the conclusion of Maiden’s The Future Past run in 2024, having suffered a mini-stroke that affected his playing the year prior.
Maiden singer Bruce Dickinson has previously expressed distaste for mobile phones at shows. In an exclusive interview with Metal Hammer last year, he said he attended Ghost’s phone-free concerts in Los Angeles in October 2023 and loved the experience.
“Everybody was talking to each other like human beings!” he told us. “I’m sat there, in the normal seats, and the lights are on and people are going past going, ‘Hey, it’s the guy from Iron Maiden!’ They’re waving at me. ‘Hi!’ ‘Cool, hey!’ Job done!”
He continued: “Had they had a mobile phone, they would have been climbing over old-age pensioners [to take a picture]. The evidence of that was, after the show, everybody got their phones back and the backstage suddenly was like Animal House. Everybody was focussed on the show.”
Ghost themselves enjoyed the gigs as well, so much so that they’ve outright banned mobile phones from their current tour. Such hard-and-fast restrictions will seemingly not be in place for Maiden’s performances.
More Run For Your Lives dates outside of Europe are expected to be announced soon, with the tour set to extend into 2026. A 50th-anniversary Maiden documentary film will come out later this year.
Iron Maiden 2025 tour dates:
May 27: Budapest Aréna, Hungary *
May 28: Budapest Aréna, Hungary *
May 31: Prague Letnany Airport, Czech Republic *
Jun 01: Bratislava TIPOS Arena, Slovakia *
Jun 05: Trondheim Rocks, Norway ≠
Jun 07: Stavanger SR-Bank Arena, Norway *
Jun 09: Copenhagen Royal Arena, Denmark *
Jun 12: Stockholm 3Arena, Sweden *
Jun 13: Stockholm 3Arena, Sweden *
Jun 16: Helsinki Olympic Stadium, Finland *
Jun 19: Dessel Graspop Metal Meeting, Belgium≠
Jun 21: Birmingham Utilita Arena, UK ^
Jun 22: Manchester Co-op Live, UK ^
Jun 25: Dublin Malahide Castle, Ireland *^
Jun 28: London Stadium, UK *^
Jun 30: Glasgow OVO Hydro, UK ^
Jul 03: Belfort Eurockéennes, France ≠
Jul 05: Madrid Estadio Cívitas Metropolitano, Spain **
Jul 06: Lisbon MEO Arena, Portugal **
Jul 09: Zurich Hallenstadion, Switzerland **
Jul 11: Gelsenkirchen Veltins-Arena, Germany **
Jul 13: Padova Stadio Euganeo, Italy **
Jul 15: Bremen Bürgerweide, Germany **
Jul 17: Vienna Ernst Happel Stadium, Austria **
Jul 19: Paris Paris La Défense Arena, France **
Jul 20: Paris Paris La Défense Arena, France **
Jul 23: Arnhem GelreDome, Netherlands **
Jul 25: Frankfurt Deutsche Bank Park, Germany **
Jul 26: Stuttgart Cannstatter Wasen, Germany **
Jul 29: Berlin Waldbühne, Germany **
Jul 30: Berlin Waldbühne, Germany **
Aug 02: Warsaw PGE Narodowy, Poland **
* = Halestorm support
^ = The Raven Age support
** = Avatar support
≠ = Festival date
