Who Is Opening for Iron Maiden on the 2027 Tour?

Bullet For My Valentine and The Raven Age open for Iron Maiden on the 2027 North American tour, and both play every one of the 14 arena and amphitheater shows. There is no rotating cast on this one: whether you buy for Tacoma in April or Belmont Park in May, you get the same three bands. The only two exceptions are the last two dates, Sonic Temple in Columbus on May 14 and Boardwalk Rock in Ocean City on May 16, which are festivals with dozens of acts and their own schedules.

That makes this an easy tour to plan around. Most big tours now hand you a different opener depending on your city, so the honest answer is usually "it depends". Here it does not. Three British bands, 14 nights, same lineup every time.

Iron Maiden announced the run on Friday, October 16, 2026 and named both openers the same day. Tickets went on sale Friday, October 23 at 10 a.m. local time, so these shows have been selling for about two weeks already.

The surprise is that the tour exists at all. Iron Maiden had planned to stop playing live in 2027. Steve Harris said the band "were planning on taking a break from live performances in 2027" and changed their minds after enjoying the 2026 North American shows. The announcement is blunt about what these dates are: the last shows of the tour, "the last of the already legendary RUN FOR YOUR LIVES TOUR." That tour started in Budapest in May 2025 to mark 50 years of the band, so these 16 nights close out a run that will have lasted two years.

The Two Opening Acts

Bullet For My Valentine are the bigger of the two and the name most fans will know besides Maiden. The Welsh band have been headlining their own arena shows for years, so this is a stronger pairing than you usually get from an opening act. The timing is the interesting part: their new album Social Apocalypse comes out on March 19, 2027, three and a half weeks before the first show in Tacoma on April 14. It is their first record in four years. So these will be some of the first North American shows where they have new songs to play, sitting next to "Tears Don't Fall" and "Waking the Demon". They also play their own UK shows in February 2027 before any of this starts.

The Raven Age have a family connection to the headliner. The London band formed in 2009 around guitarist George Harris, son of Iron Maiden bassist Steve Harris, and Dan Wright. They have opened Iron Maiden shows on and off for about a decade, so this is familiar ground for them.

One honest note on that, because it is the thing fans ask: George Harris announced in November 2025 that he was stepping back from touring with the band because of an ongoing health condition, and The Raven Age have played with a touring guitarist since. Nobody has confirmed who is in the lineup for these 2027 dates. So if the Steve Harris father-and-son angle is the reason you are buying, treat it as unconfirmed rather than a sure thing.

Iron Maiden have not published set times or said which of the two plays second. With three bands playing, doors usually open about two hours before the headliner, and the two openers normally get somewhere between 30 and 45 minutes each. Your venue's own page is where start times get posted first, so check it closer to the date.

Every 2027 Date and Opener

Sixteen shows from April 14 to May 16, 2027. Fourteen are the band's own, and the last two are festival appearances.

Date	City	Venue	Openers
Wed, Apr 14	Tacoma, WA	Tacoma Dome	Bullet For My Valentine, The Raven Age
Fri, Apr 16	Vancouver, BC	Rogers Arena	Bullet For My Valentine, The Raven Age
Sun, Apr 18	Portland, OR	Moda Center	Bullet For My Valentine, The Raven Age
Tue, Apr 20	Wheatland, CA	Toyota Amphitheatre	Bullet For My Valentine, The Raven Age
Thu, Apr 22	Chula Vista, CA	North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre	Bullet For My Valentine, The Raven Age
Sat, Apr 24	San Bernardino, CA	Glen Helen Amphitheater	Bullet For My Valentine, The Raven Age
Mon, Apr 26	Phoenix, AZ	Talking Stick Resort Amphitheatre	Bullet For My Valentine, The Raven Age
Wed, Apr 28	Dallas, TX	Dos Equis Pavilion	Bullet For My Valentine, The Raven Age
Sat, May 1	Tampa, FL	Benchmark International Arena	Bullet For My Valentine, The Raven Age
Sun, May 2	West Palm Beach, FL	iTHINK Financial Amphitheatre	Bullet For My Valentine, The Raven Age
Wed, May 5	Atlanta, GA	Lakewood Amphitheatre	Bullet For My Valentine, The Raven Age
Fri, May 7	Raleigh, NC	Coastal Credit Union Music Park at Walnut Creek	Bullet For My Valentine, The Raven Age
Sun, May 9	Hartford, CT	The Meadows Music Theatre	Bullet For My Valentine, The Raven Age
Tue, May 11	Belmont Park, NY	UBS Arena	Bullet For My Valentine, The Raven Age
Fri, May 14	Columbus, OH	Sonic Temple	Festival lineup, see below
Sun, May 16	Ocean City, MD	Boardwalk Rock	Festival lineup, see below

Two things stand out. Seven of the 14 are outdoor amphitheater shows rather than arenas, including three in California in five days, so bring a jacket for an April night in Wheatland. And the New York area date is at UBS Arena out on Long Island rather than in the city, so if you are coming from Manhattan, budget the travel time.

The Two Festival Dates

The last two shows are not regular tour stops, so none of the above applies to them.

Sonic Temple runs May 13 to 16, 2027 at Historic Crew Stadium in Columbus, Ohio, and Iron Maiden headline the Friday, May 14. It is a four-day festival with around 150 bands across several stages, and the other headliners announced include Blink-182, Korn and Falling In Reverse, with A Perfect Circle and Alice In Chains also playing. Which day the smaller names play has been reported differently by different outlets, so check the festival's own schedule before buying a single-day ticket.

Boardwalk Rock runs May 14 to 16, 2027 in Ocean City, Maryland, and Iron Maiden headline the Sunday, May 16. Korn and Bad Omens headline the other two days. The festival skipped 2026 after two headliners dropped out, so 2027 is a return rather than a regular edition. Other announced acts include Breaking Benjamin, Judas Priest, Alice In Chains and Motionless In White.

Tickets for both go through the festivals themselves, not through the tour on-sale.

Tickets

Tickets for the 14 tour dates have been on sale since Friday, October 23, 2026. The Iron Maiden Fan Club presale ran on Monday, October 19 and other presales ran through that week, so those windows are closed.

Current dates and prices are on Ticketmaster's Iron Maiden artist page and on SeatGeek. VIP packages for this tour are sold through VIP Nation rather than the regular on-sale.

If you want to see what else is out next spring, our metal tour dates and rock tour dates pages are kept current. For the 2026 North American shows that have already happened, with Megadeth and Anthrax instead, see our earlier Iron Maiden openers guide.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is opening for Iron Maiden in 2027?

Bullet For My Valentine and The Raven Age, on all 14 of the band's own shows from April 14 in Tacoma to May 11 at UBS Arena. Both acts play every one of those dates.

Do the openers change from city to city?

No. This is one of the few big tours right now where they do not. The same two bands play all 14 shows. The only dates without them are the two festival appearances on May 14 and May 16, which have their own lineups.

Who are The Raven Age?

A London melodic metal band started in 2009 by guitarist George Harris, the son of Iron Maiden bassist Steve Harris, and Dan Wright. They have opened Iron Maiden shows several times over the years. George Harris said in November 2025 that he was stepping back from touring for health reasons, and no one has confirmed the lineup for these 2027 dates.

Will Bullet For My Valentine play songs from the new album?

Almost certainly. Social Apocalypse comes out March 19, 2027, about three and a half weeks before the first show, and it is their first album in four years. Bands touring that close to a release usually play two or three new songs.

Are the Sonic Temple and Boardwalk Rock shows part of the tour?

They are on the same list of dates, but they are festival sets. Iron Maiden headline one day at each, alongside dozens of other bands, and Bullet For My Valentine and The Raven Age are not listed as their openers at either. Tickets come from the festivals, not the tour on-sale.

When did Iron Maiden 2027 tickets go on sale?

They already did. The general on-sale was Friday, October 23, 2026 at 10 a.m. local time, after a fan club presale on October 19 and other presales that week.

Is this really the end of the Run For Your Lives tour?

That is what the band say. The official announcement states these will definitely be the last shows of the tour, which began in Budapest in May 2025. Iron Maiden had originally planned to take 2027 off from playing live.

How long will the opening acts play?

No set times have been announced yet. With two openers, each one usually gets 30 to 45 minutes, and Iron Maiden come on about two hours after doors. Your venue's event page is the first place accurate times appear.