Iron Maiden are heading out on their massive Run For Your Lives tour next week — and they’ve got a polite but firm request for you: stop filming everything and just live in the moment.
In a statement posted to the band’s social media pages, longtime manager Rod Smallwood asked fans to “severely limit the use of their phone cameras” during the upcoming shows. Why? Because Bruce and the boys are sick of staring out into a sea of tiny screens. Fair.
“The phone obsession has now got so out of hand that it has become unnecessarily distracting,” Smallwood wrote, adding that the constant filming doesn’t just mess with the band’s focus — it also ruins the vibe for everyone around you who actually came to watch the gig, not record it for TikTok.
This tour is a big deal — it marks Maiden’s 50th year in the game, and the setlist is digging deep into the vault with cuts exclusively from their first nine albums. Bruce Dickinson has already teased that they’ll be playing tracks they’ve never done live before. So yeah, it’s meant to be one for the history books — not your Instagram story.
It’s also the live debut of drummer Simon Dawson, stepping in after Nicko McBrain officially retired from touring due to health issues. The band’s clearly going all in to celebrate this milestone properly, and they want fans to meet them in that same spirit.
“We want fans to enjoy the shows first-hand, rather than on their small screens,” said Smallwood. “This is about capturing the moment — not capturing content.”
If that wasn’t enough Maiden nostalgia for you, there’s also a new documentary on the way this year featuring Paul Di’Anno’s final interview, appearances from Lars Ulrich, Gene Simmons, and even Javier Bardem (because why not), plus rare footage and fresh animated madness from Eddie.
Bottom line: ditch the phone, throw the horns, and remember what a live gig is actually supposed to feel like. Maiden deserve that much. So do you.
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