There are concert bills that look good on paper, and then there are bills that make you wonder how three bands with this much history somehow ended up sharing the same stage. Saturday night was the latter.
Metal icons Iron Maiden brought their “Run for Your Lives Tour” to Sports Illustrated Stadium in Harrison, New Jersey, on September 5th for the first of two nights at the venue, with stacked support from thrash legends Megadeth and Anthrax. For a soccer stadium sitting in a somewhat isolated pocket of New Jersey, the surrounding area quickly became the center of the metal world. Maiden shirts and battle jackets seemed to be everywhere as fans poured out of the PATH station and made their way toward the stadium.
Inside, fans pressed against the barricade and held up Iron Maiden flags alongside flags from their home countries. People had traveled from across the globe to be there. Before Maiden even hit the stage, one fan from Bulgaria was almost overwhelmed with excitement talking about how far she had traveled just to be at this show.
That probably says more about Iron Maiden’s reach than any statistic could. Some of these fans have been following the band since the songs were new. Others weren’t even alive when many of them were released. That’s what makes this tour work.
Opening a stadium is never an easy job, especially when people are still making their way through the gates. Anthrax didn’t seem particularly concerned.
The New York thrash veterans had roughly 35 minutes and tore through a seven-song set that included “Caught in a Mosh,” “Madhouse,” “Metal Thrashing Mad,” “Got the Time” and “Indians.”
For me, as both a reporter and photographer, one of the best moments happened through the camera. Scott Ian had one of those signature jumps concert photographers are always hoping to catch at exactly the right moment. Saturday night, I got one.
Anthrax’s Scott Ian, photo by Kevin RC Wilson
Megadeth followed with just under an hour to work with, opening with “Tipping Point” before quickly ripping into “Hangar 18.”
From there, Dave Mustaine and company moved through “She-Wolf,” “Sweating Bullets,” “The Conjuring” and “Tornado of Souls” before closing with a pretty ridiculous three-song run of “Peace Sells,” “Symphony of Destruction” and “Holy Wars… The Punishment Due.”
Nine songs, roughly 50 minutes. There are bands that need two hours to remind you how deep their catalog is. Megadeth did it in less than one.
Megadeth, photo by Kevin RC Wilson
By the time darkness settled over Harrison, UFO’s “Doctor Doctor” came through the PA and everyone knew what was next. Iron Maiden didn’t come out with one of the obvious hits. Instead, they opened with “Murders in the Rue Morgue,” followed by “Wrathchild” and “Killers.”
It immediately established what “Run for Your Lives” is about. This isn’t just a greatest-hits tour celebrating 50 years of Iron Maiden. The band is digging into the first nine albums that built them, including songs that haven’t always had a permanent home in the set.
One of the best examples came with “Infinite Dreams.” Originally released on 1988’s Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, Maiden played the song throughout that year’s tour and then essentially put it away. It finally returned to the stage in 2026 after nearly four decades. For a lot of people inside Sports Illustrated Stadium, this was their first opportunity to ever hear it live.
Fans are still getting favorites like “The Number of the Beast,” “Run to the Hills,” “The Trooper,” “Fear of the Dark,” and “Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” but they’re sharing the night with a few deeper cuts.
The stage production matched the size of the songs. Everything about a modern Maiden show feels enormous, from the lighting and backdrops to Eddie and the theatrics surrounding the band. But underneath all of that production are songs that are now more than four decades old.
Iron Maiden, photo by Kevin RC Wilson
By the time “Wasted Years” closed the night, Maiden had spent roughly two hours looking backward without making the show feel stuck in the past.
And walking out of the stadium, I kept thinking about the scene at the barricade hours earlier. The Maiden flags mixed with flags from around the world. The fan from Bulgaria who couldn’t contain her excitement after traveling thousands of miles to be there. Fans who had grown up with these records standing beside people hearing some of these songs live for the first time.
Maybe that’s the real measure of 50 years. It’s not how many records you’ve sold or how many times you’ve played these songs. It’s whether they still mean enough to someone that they’ll travel halfway around the world just to hear them.
On Saturday night in New Jersey, the answer was standing right there at the barricade.
Iron Maiden’s “Run for Your Lives Tour” continues through a September 29th show in San Antonio, with tickets available here. See our photo gallery, Iron Maiden’s setlist, and the remaining tour dates, below.
Iron Maiden Setlist:
Murders in the Rue Morgue
Wrathchild
Killers
Phantom of the Opera
The Number of the Beast
Infinite Dreams
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:
Churchill’s Speech
Aces High
Fear of the Dark
Wasted Years
Iron Maiden Remaining 2026 North American Tour Dates:
09/09 – Boston, MA @ TD Garden ^ [Buy Tickets]
09/11 – Bristow, VA @ Jiffy Lube Live ^ [Buy Tickets]
09/12 – Charlotte, NC @ PNC Music Pavilion ^ [Buy Tickets]
09/15 – Hershey, PA @ Hersheypark Stadium ^ [Buy Tickets]
09/17 – Louisville, KY @ Louder Than Life Festival
09/19 – Shakopee, MN @ Mystic Lake Amphitheater ^ [Buy Tickets]
09/22 – Chicago, IL @ Credit Union 1 Amphitheatre ^ [Buy Tickets]
09/25 – Los Angeles, CA @ BMO Stadium * [Buy Tickets]
09/26 – Los Angeles, CA @ BMO Stadium * [Buy Tickets]
09/29 – San Antonio, TX @ Alamodome * [Buy Tickets]
* = w/ Megadeth and Anthrax
^ = w/ Megadeth
