With fans guessing over the weekend that Knebworth House was to be the location for the mystery Iron Maiden show on 11 July 2026, hotels were snapped up, and the rumours have now proved to be correct. Following in the footsteps of Lynyrd Skynyrd, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, and Queen, Iron Maiden will join the historic roster that have played what Knebworth House custodian Henry Lytton Cobbold describes as The Greatest Rock Venue In The World.
“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,” Iron Maiden manager Rod Smallwood said. “But we wanted to do something a bit different, especially as it would be hard to top the show at London Stadium.”
Iron Maiden at Knebworth House
The huge Knebworth House show is the final date of the Iron Maiden summer trek, and the weekend will see Steve Harris and co joined by The Darkness, Mongolian rock sensations The Hu, Airbourne, and Glasgow’s The Almighty at this unique venue.
“The thing about stadiums and arenas is that they’re a bit faceless to me,” Henry Lytton Cobbold told MetalTalk. “I mean, OK, Wembley’s a little bit special because it’s a national arena. But generally, stadiums and theatres are faceless. What’s really interesting about venues like Glastonbury and Knebworth is that they have a family attached to them.
“We not only have a family attached to Knebworth, but we actually have an archivist who comes in every week to keep all of our bits and pieces together and to continue to keep our stories alive. That builds up the legends and creates a continuity that makes venues like Knebworth special.”
With Henry, we previously covered the Lynyrd Skynyrd 1976 Knebworth show and the Deep Purple ’85 wet reunion gig. The ’80s saw artists from the softer end of the music spectrum, too.
“Well, we think that Knebworth is the solution,” Rod Smallwood said. “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!
Knebworth House is certainly one of the best places to stage such a massive show. “At the end of the day, our USP is our size and ability to do the massive one-day event,” Henry Lytton Cobbold told MetalTalk. “If you’re only after 60,000 people and doing a festival, there are plenty of other venues in the country which are just as good as Knebworth. Because of that, festivals have found other homes.
“But if you want to play to 125,000 people on a single stage, then you’ve got to come to Knebworth. The four Sonisphere festivals I absolutely loved. I feel they were perfect because I feel that Knebworth is the house for that sort of event. They worked as festivals. It made sense to do Sonisphere at Knebworth House because it’s a gothic stately home.”
Eddie’s Dive Bars
“Our Eddie’s Dive Bars have proved immensely popular on this current tour,” Smallwood said. “So our intention is to create our biggest one yet, which will also be open on Friday for the campers from the separate communal camping and glamping areas.
“For those lucky Friday night campers, there will be a full programme of Maiden-themed entertainment there that night, which we expect to include some live music, DJs, the aforementioned dive bar, along with other attractions and entertainment we are currently working on to make it the best warm-up for the big day.
“So we hope you will join us next year as we continue to celebrate five decades of Iron Maiden. It’s going to be one for the history books in a really historic venue.”
Tickets, including strictly limited camping tickets, are available from 10 am on Saturday, 27th September 2025.
