Set List, Photos + Review

Iron Maiden completed the U.S. leg of their Run for Your Lives world tour on Tuesday, rocking San Antonio’s Alamodome to its core with a thundering, age-defying set that wiped any thoughts of retirement from the minds of the 40,000-plus fans in attendance.

You can see the set list and exclusive photos from the concert below.

The night started early with a brisk five-song set from Anthrax, who received a last-minute assist from Raven and ex-Fear Factory drummer Mike Heller as drummer Charlie Benante was busy “puking his guts out,” according to guitarist Scott Ian. The thrash legends played fast and loose, with Ian and Heller locking eyes during crucial song cues and Joey Belladonna leading the audience in Texas-sized singalongs. The energy stayed high as Megadeth followed Anthrax with a nine-song set full of hits and fan favorites, with “The Conjuring” and “Tornado of Souls” earning rabid responses from the audience.

Iron Maiden and San Antonio: A Match Made in Heaven

By the time UFO’s “Doctor Doctor” began blaring from the loudspeakers to signal Iron Maiden’s arrival, the energy in the Alamodome had reached a fever pitch. Anybody who’s seen a metal show in San Antonio knows it’s nearly impossible to match the feral enthusiasm of an Alamo City audience. That held true on Tuesday, as Maiden feasted on fans’ fervor while plowing through genre-defining hits and beloved deep cuts off their first nine albums, from 1980’s Iron Maiden through 1992’s Fear of the Dark.

The band opened with a trio of Killers cuts — “Murders in the Rue Morgue,” “Wrathchild” and the title track — honoring their streetwise roots and monumental contributions of late frontman Paul Di’Anno. Singer Bruce Dickinson dressed the part, bounding across the stage in skintight jeans and a leather jacket while unleashing his mighty, operatic howl. At 68 years old, Dickinson continues to school singers half his age, flexing his spectacular vibrato and breath control with soaring screams and dizzyingly long notes.

The rest of the band followed suit, with bassist and bandleader Steve Harris providing the relentless rhythmic thrust as guitarists Dave Murray, Adrian Smith and Janick Gers traded solos that were equal parts buttery smooth and blisteringly fast. Drummer Simon Dawson, who replaced the stalwart Nicko McBrain following the latter’s retirement from touring in 2024, capably filled his predecessor’s shoes, hitting McBrain’s signature fills and mammoth, swinging grooves. High-speed rippers such as “Run to the Hills” and “The Trooper” sound slower these days than they did in the band’s ’80s heyday, but if the only evidence of Maiden’s collective senior-citizen status is a few lost beats per minute, it’s a small price to pay.

Deep Cuts and New Stage Visuals Enhanced the Show

When the Run for Your Lives tour launched in May 2025, some fans took umbrage at the digital screens that replaced Iron Maiden’s longtime physical stage props and backdrops. But at the very least, they assuaged this writer’s doubts on Tuesday, as the visuals reached the traditionally high bar the band has always set.

The haunted nautical imagery during “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” enhanced the spellbinding epic, drawing fans further into Maiden’s multisensory “theater of the mind,” as Dickinson has coined it. And purists still got their fill of analog accessories, as monster-sized versions of Maiden’s trusty mascot Eddie showed up twice during the show and tried to hack the band members to bits.

Unsurprisingly, deep cuts and long-form epics ruled the show. Fans cheered just as rapturously (perhaps more so) for seldom-played opuses such as “Infinite Dreams” and “Seventh Son of a Seventh Son” as they did for well-worn crowd-pleasers such as “The Number of the Beast” and “Aces High.”

Such is the joy of an Iron Maiden show. It’s hard to attract a fairweather “just the hits” audience when you never had any hits to begin with. (For all their staggering success, they’ve never had a song reach the Billboard Hot 100.) Every song in the set is bound to be somebody’s favorite on any given night, and the crowd’s infectious enthusiasm bolstered the band as they dominated the biggest San Antonio concert of their half-century career.

Iron Maiden Promises San Antonio: ‘We Will Be Back’

It’s a cheap cliche to say Iron Maiden ages like fine wine; a more apt comparison would be a venerable stage actor who constantly reinterprets a classic role. Enriched by age and experience, Iron Maiden brings a newfound gravity to their performances; each tour becomes an exciting new chapter in their epic saga.

Frankly, nobody does it like them — nobody ever has — and as soon as Dickinson assured the Alamodome, “We will be back,” fans began counting the minutes until the band makes good on that promise.

Watch Iron Maiden Play ‘Powerslave’ in San Antonio, 9/29/26

Watch Iron Maiden Play ‘Aces High’ in San Antonio, 9/29/26

Watch Iron Maiden Play ‘Wasted Years’ in San Antonio, 9/29/26

Iron Maiden – Sept. 29, 2026, San Antonio Set List

1. “Murders in the Rue Morgue”
2. “Wrathchild”
3. “Killers”
4. “Phantom of the Opera”
5. “The Number of the Beast”
6. “Infinite Dreams”
7. “Powerslave”
8. “2 Minutes to Midnight”
9. “Rime of the Ancient Mariner”
10. “Run to the Hills”
11. “Seventh Son of a Seventh Son”
12. “The Trooper”
13. “Hallowed Be Thy Name”
14. “Iron Maiden”
Encore
15. “Aces High”
16. “Fear of the Dark”
17. “Wasted Years”

Megadeth – Sept. 29, 2026, San Antonio Set List

1. “Devil’s Island”
2. “The Conjuring”
3. “Take No Prisoners”
4. “Sweating Bullets”
5. “Tipping Point”
6. “Tornado of Souls”
7. “Symphony of Destruction”
8. “Peace Sells”
9. “Holy Wars… The Punishment Due”