IRON MAIDEN reveals full details of 'Eddfest' weekend at Knebworth for band's 50th anniversary
18-02-2026
Last September when British heavy metal legends IRON MAIDEN announced their only U.K. show of 2026, on July 11 at Knebworth Park, they said they would be “turning it into as much of a ‘MAIDEN world’ as we can for all our fans to enjoy!” And true to form, they are now able to announce the full details, revealing exactly what that means.
Get ready for Eddfest — a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to experience what constitutes IRON MAIDEN‘s idea of a fun-filled 48 hours of entertainment, themed areas and bars, experiences, live music and more. Inside Eddfest fans will be able to explore the Infinite Dreams Museum Experience, a walk-through display of stage props and relics, inspired by Sunday Times bestseller book “Infinite Dreams”. This is an unprecedented and completely unique opportunity to view MAIDEN relics up close and personal.
Fans will also encounter Maidenville, where you will find the greatest Eddie’s Dive Bar yet, a second stage for music and entertainment, the Unfair Funfair featuring rides and Eddie-themed Funfair Games, plus Eddie’s Emporium and much more to explore throughout the site.
Friday night campers will be able to gain early access to the site and experiences, including first access to the Infinite Dreams Museum Experience. There will also be a whole evening of entertainment planned on the Maidenville stage featuring a mix of special acts with a connection to MAIDEN. This is all topped off with the previously announced main stage on the Saturday, featuring an exceptional supporting lineup, ahead of IRON MAIDEN‘s show-stopping “Run For Your Lives” performance.
MAIDEN manager Rod Smallwood explains: “After the monumental shows in the U.K. last year, we knew that if we were going to play the U.K. in 2026, it had to be very different. So we chose Knebworth Park as it gives us the space required — which is just not available in stadiums — to put together something groundbreaking for our fans by creating a ‘MAIDEN world’ for them. We are excited to now reveal the details of this one-off event to celebrate the band’s 50-year career, which we are now calling Eddfest, because, as everyone knows, Eddie is the true star of the show! We also know MAIDEN fans are basically a huge gang and we want to give them a weekend to remember at Knebworth.
“For the last couple of tours we have been arranging the Eddie Dive Bars for our fans, both pre- and post-show. Some of these took over the entire centres of towns with thousands of fans gathered there enjoying the fun, the music and each other’s company. So Eddfest is going to expand on that concept in a huge variety of ways, to create a truly unmissable ‘MAIDEN world’ over the whole weekend!
“There will be a whole host of great music, great beer (of course!), lots of exciting and varied fun things to do, great souvenirs and merch, some unique and fantastic photo opportunities to create unbeatable MAIDEN memories, and of course, the true camaraderie that comes from being a MAIDEN fan.”
Kilimanjaro promoters Stuart Galbraith and Alan Day, the creators of Sonisphere, add: “MAIDEN have a different view on how they want to do things for their fans than most bands. We previously worked with them at Sonisphere and when they explained what they wanted to do for this show we were hooked. It will be a unique event. A celebration of the Eddie-verse, if you will: a curated Friday afternoon, night and all day Saturday, finishing with the last U.K. show MAIDEN will play until at least 2028!
“Creating something like that, which will include a once-in-a-lifetime Infinite Dreams museum experience, featuring a wide range of rarely-seen memorabilia from throughout their history, a MAIDEN-themed fun fair, the biggest Eddie’s Dive Bar ever with some extra special additions and surprises, plus the ability to camp, glamp or park a motorhome on site for the Friday and Saturday night show in a specially created ‘village’ space with MAIDEN alumni, friends and our perfect partners Planet Rock — well, it was a chance not to be missed!”
The Eddfest festival starts from 2 p.m. on Friday with camping included for both nights. Various parts of the Maidenville site will be open to weekend campers throughout Friday afternoon and into the early hours of Saturday morning, including the Infinite Dreams Museum Experience.
Friday Night at Eddfest is all about fun before the big day. The campsite comes alive with direct access to the heart of Maidenville and the entertainment is a blend of bands and artists with connections to MAIDEN — some obscure, some as clear as daylight but they all have something in common and deserve to be a part of the opening night celebration.
Friday night on the Maidenville second stage will feature full sets from STRAY, MAIDEN UNITED, AIRFORCE and TONY MOORE’S AWAKE, plus HAIR METAL GLAMAGEDDON. Saturday sees the opening of the Main Arena, which includes Eddie’s Extended Emporium, the Trooper VIP area and a range of interactive experiences. These will act as hors d’oeuvres for the curated Main Stage festival live bill, starting with back, better than ever British rockers THE ALMIGHTY. Australia’s festival-ready AIRBOURNE follow, before the thrilling Mongolian metal of THE HU rings out across Knebworth’s hallowed park. As we move into the evening THE DARKNESS will take to the stage for a barnstorming set before IRON MAIDEN deliver an historic performance — the ultimate communal experience between the band and their fans set in the heart of this one-off “MAIDEN world”.
Eddfest is going to be a truly exceptional weekend for each and every MAIDEN fan in attendance — an unforgettable chance to be part of a fully themed Festival experience, celebrating IRON MAIDEN‘s spectacular fifty year career — and the last chance to see them in the U.K. until at least 2028.
Tickets available via ironmaiden.knebworth.com, myticket.co.uk, ticketmaster.co.uk and, of course, ironmaiden.com
Camping tickets are separate to the event tickets and available to purchase in parallel
For further details, to purchase tickets and to stay updated on all things to do with IRON MAIDEN at Knebworth, including FAQs and timings, make sure you check out the dedicated site: ironmaiden.knebworth.com
In a December 2025 interview with Neil Jones of TotalRock, IRON MAIDEN bassist Steve Harris spoke about the book “Iron Maiden: Infinite Dreams – The Official Visual History” which was released on October 7 via Thames & Hudson. “Iron Maiden: Infinite Dreams – The Official Visual History” is described in a press release as “a magnificent visual celebration of the first 50 years of IRON MAIDEN, chronicl(ing) the evolution of heavy metal’s most prestigious band, with unparalleled input from band members and management.”
Asked if it was “weird” for him to have to “look backward” while putting together the book after previously stating that he always looks forward and rarely gets nostalgic, Harris said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “Well, it wasn’t weird, but it was difficult because I was the only one who could really do it because I was the one that had all the archive stuff and could comment about it and stuff like that, really. I suppose David (Murray, IRON MAIDEN guitarist) could comment on a few things, but I suppose back in the day I was the only sensible one at the time, because I had to be, ’cause I pulled the bull by the horns and did a lot of the driving, so I didn’t get sort of too drunk back in them days. And some people working (with us back in) them days can’t remember a lot because they were sort of inebriated a lot of the time — people like Dave Murray or (our old) drum road or whatever. So, yeah, it was down to me to sort of pull it all together, I suppose. And obviously I had a lot of help from Ben Smallwood, (MAIDEN‘s longtime manager) Rod‘s (Smallwood) son, and so that was great. But, yeah, it’s all good stuff, really. But it’s nice to get it out there, really. It’s almost a relief in a way to get it out there because it’s stuff that’s been lying around for a long time. It needed to be sorted out and then put into some sort of perspective and some sort of formulated form so that people can just hopefully enjoy it.”
Asked if he always was “a bit of a scrapbook keeper” who deliberately hung on to stuff, Steve said: “Well, I’ve always been sort of a bit of a hoarder, I suppose, with stuff like that, but it’s come in handy in later life, I think. There’s so much stuff that I’ve kept. And, yeah, it’s just an archive of this historical stuff. And in fact I suppose these days I wish I’d kept more, even more stuff. I wish I’d kept a diary for longer as well, because I only kept a diary in the first place just because to log, really, how much we were getting paid or how much we weren’t getting paid in (some) cases. And then I used to make a few notes on what the gig was like and stuff like that. But I wish I’d carried it on, really.”
IRON MAIDEN‘s last album “Senjutsu” came out in September 2021 on Warner records. It marked MAIDEN‘s second consecutive double album behind 2015’s “The Book Of Souls” which is the longest MAIDEN album, with a running time of 92 minutes.
The full track listing is:
01. Senjutsu (8:20) (Smith/Harris)
02. Stratego (4:59) (Gers/Harris)
03. The Writing On The Wall (6:13) (Smith/Dickinson)
04. Lost In A Lost World (9:31) (Harris)
05. Days Of Future Past (4:03) (Smith/Dickinson)
06. The Time Machine (7:09) (Gers/Harris)
07. Darkest Hour (7:20) (Smith/Dickinson)
08. Death Of The Celts (10:20) (Harris)
09. The Parchment (12:39) (Harris)
10. Hell On Earth (11:19) (Harris)
“Senjutsu” was released on the following formats and available to order/save at www.ironmaiden.com:
* Standard 2CD Digipak
* Deluxe 2CD Book Format
* Deluxe heavyweight 180G Triple Black Vinyl
* Special Edition Triple Silver And Black Marble Vinyl (Details to follow)
* Special Edition Triple Red and Black Marble Vinyl (Details to follow)
* Super Deluxe Boxset featuring CD, Blu Ray and Exclusive Memorabilia
* Digital album [streaming and download]
IRON MAIDEN hadn’t released any fresh music since 2015’s “The Book Of Souls” LP, which was recorded in late 2014 in Paris, France with Shirley.
“The Book Of Souls” was the longest MAIDEN album, clocking in at 92 minutes, with lyrics heavily based in the themes of death, reincarnation, the soul and mortality.
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