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Iron Maiden, a song in the setlist that they hadn’t played for 38 years

ByJohn

Looking forward to seeing them debut on the stage of the San Siro Stadium in Milan on June 17thIron Maiden kicked off their 2026 tour by surprising the audience at the Olympic Stadium in Athens by including a song they hadn’t played for 38 years in their setlist.

For the first date of “Run for your live world tour 2026“, the band proposed a show practically similar to those of the previous part of the tour, but dusting off the piece “Infinite Dreams“, That it hadn’t been played live since 1988. The setlist remained identical to the previous leg, including opening with “Murders in the Rue Morgue” and beloved classics like “Killers” and “The Number of the Beast.” However, after five songs, frontman Bruce Dickinson stopped to address the audience and declared: “We couldn’t think of a better place in Europe to start this tour” He continued:

“We know some of you have already seen this show. We thought we’d do something a little different, at least for the next song. Because it’s a song we haven’t played in many, many years. No, it’s not ‘Alexander the Great’”, specified Dickinson, referring to the Maiden song dedicated to the famous Greek sovereign: “But when you go to sleep tonight it will be your ‘Infinite Dreams’”.

At that point the band started “Infinite Dreams”beloved song from their seventh studio album, “Seventh Son of a Seventh Son”. It was the first live performance of the piece since 1988, when the group toured in support of the album. A live version of the song was later released in 1989 as a single from the Maiden England live video. More recently, Iron Maiden published the photo book “Iron Maiden: Infinite Dreams” dedicated to the entire career of the band and, in hindsight, it was a clear indication of the song’s return to the setlist.

The fan-shot video of the recent performance of “Infinite Dreams” is available below, along with the full setlist from the Athens concert.

1. “Murders in the Rue Morgue”
2. “Wrathchild”
3. “Killers”
4. “Phantom of the Opera”
5. “The Number of the Beast”
6. “Infinite Dreams” (first time since 1988)
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”
15. “Aces High”
16. “Fear of the Dark”
17. “Wasted Years”

John
John

With an untamed passion and deep, eclectic knowledge of music, John is the soul of RadioWise UK. Having worked in the music industry for over two decades, his vision was to create a platform that embodies the love and respect for music. John is known for his great attention to detail and insatiable thirst for discovering new talents and music genres.