Iron Maiden return home, putting on their own festival; Eddfest. Taking place at Knebworth, the British legends are still on a rampage.

EDDFEST

Iron Maiden are without doubt one of the biggest metal bands ever, and are a household name around the world, even to non metal fans. The fact that they are now celebrating their 50th anniversary, playing to crowds as big and fervent as ever speaks volumes about their longevity, resilience, appeal and, most importantly, the strength of their music. To celebrate their 50th anniversary, the band created their own mini festival, Eddfest, which was to be held at Knebworth as part of the Run For Your Lives tour.

THE MUSEUM

As well as a small but stellar line up of carefully selected bands, the festival had a museum area (The Infinite Dreams Museum Experience) with old stage props, instruments and other pieces of memorabilia from the band’s illustrious history, including a tank! There was also a funfair (The Unfair Funfair), a themed bar serving specially brewed ales (Eddie’s Dive Bar) and a large market place (Eddie’s Emporium).

This area of the site also had container units covered with artwork from Maiden’s discography, and one cut out continuer unit stood on its end containing a huge ‘Somewhere in Time’ Eddie. These were great to see, and it was a dream come true for many Maiden fans to be so close to these famous, important items from the band’s history and to have a chance to look at them up close. 

The festival took place on the grounds of Knebworth House, in the shadow of the imposing Tudor Gothic building and began on the Friday with a few bands playing a smaller second stage including a headline set by Blaze Bayley, performing a 1990s era Iron Maiden set (with one Blaze song thrown in for good measure) which warmed up the early arrivals nicely before the main event on Saturday.

Getting into the festival on the Saturday was something of a challenge with a three hour journey taking over eight hours including over almost four hours queuing on the A1(M) to get into the car park, and once on site it was very busy, especially around the museum area, but this was to be expected and was worth it for another chance to see the mighty Iron Maiden. 

THE SUPPORTING BILL

The Almighty opened the main stage at Eddfest in blistering heat with temperatures well over 30 degrees and delivered a set of rollicking hard rock, the perfect way to celebrate frontman Ricky Warwick’s 60th birthday. There was no let up in heat or intensity for Airbourne who delivered a short set of high temp rock to a massive crowd culminating in Runnin’ Wild. There was a change in style with throat singing taking centre stage for Mongolian folk metal band The Hu. On paper this shouldn’t be anywhere near as popular as it is, but many sold out decent sized venues and the massive, fully engaged crowd on this Saturday afternoon prove otherwise. The set culminated with This Is Mongol as The Hu took another step towards world domination. 

It fell to Lowestoft’s The Darkness to bring the party to Knebworth, and they did exactly that with their upbeat tempos and banter with the crowd. Walking Through Fire had the crowd marching on the spot with their arms in the air facing one way, and then all turning round on Justin’s command (looked way cooler than it sounds!). We were teased with a snippet of Christmas Time (Don’t Let the Bells End) with advice to go and buy tickets for their arena tour later this year to hear it in full.

There is also a snippet of Led Zeppelin’s Immigrant Song which leads into I Believe in a Thing Called Love. It has the entire site singing along, before the show closes with Love on the Rocks With No Ice. Justin Hawkins is a consummate frontman and I’m sure they will have persuaded many to attend their December tour with their short set. 

IRON MAIDEN

As much as the museum, funfair and so on had been fun, and the support bands had been fantastic, the weekend was all about Iron Maiden, and before long the huge crowd amassed in front of the stage which was in silhouette in front of the setting sun. UFO’s ‘Doctor Doctor’ rang out over the PA, heralding the start of the show.

Opening trio of old classics Murders in the Rue Morgue, Wrathchild and Killers sounded immense and set the bar high for the rest of the set. Bruce bantered with the crowd, including about the England v Norway World Cup quarter final which was due to kick off while the band were on stage. They then launched into another old favourite, the epic Phantom Of the Opera which led into The Number of the Beast with the crowd getting louder with each track. The huge video screens at the back of the stage show effects and videos for each track. There is also plenty of pyros adding to the impact. 

INFINITE DREAMS

A powerful Infinite Dreams heads into Powerslave. and then a galloping 2 Minutes to Midnight, before the majestic Rime of the Ancient Mariner. Bruce opens with the famous Live After Death quip; “This is what not to do if a bird shits on you!” A potent Run to the Hills causes mass karaoke that I’m sure was audible in Stevenage with cries of “Scream for me Knebworth” giving encouragement. Seventh Son of a Seventh Son took us forward a few years before leading into a rampant rendition of The Trooper complete with Bruce charging around the stage, enthusiastically waving the Union Jack and later St George’s flag.

The band were in good spirits with the guitarists playfully engaging with each other (and Eddie when he appeared!) while Steve Harris bounded around the stage taking up his classic pose with one foot on the monitor while pointing his bass at the front rows. Hallowed be Thy Name and Iron Maiden close the main portion of the set before Churchill’s Speech tees up a furious ‘Aces High’. A triumphant Fear of the Dark and spectacular Wasted Years bring the curtain down on Eddfest in stunning fashion. It was then off to do battle in the car parks to get off the site, with everyone in high spirits.

ALWAYS LOOK ON THE BRIGHT SIDE OF LIFE…

Some may decry the fact that the setlist had been exactly the same as the UK tour a year ago (except Infinite Dreams replacing The Clairvoyant. Some voiced that there should have been something “special” for Eddfest, but when the setlist, and stage effects, are as good as this, it’s hard to get too upset.

Iron Maiden could play bona fide classic after bona fide classic for several hours and still not play some peoples’ favourite, such is the strength and volume of their back catalogue and tonight we had a set list focusing on their early and mid era material and it all sounded amazing.

The band have announced that they will be taking 2027 off from touring, but hopefully there will be a new album and then more live dates in 2028 – Fingers crossed! In the meantime, we are safe in the knowledge that Iron Maiden remain as potent as ever, as relevant as ever and essential for the modern heavy music scene. Up the Irons – Long may their reign continue. 

All photography by Andy Pountney (Event Photography Awards Winner 2024 and 2025). You can check out more of his work on Instagram.

All photos taken from the crowd with a point and shoot camera.

Take a watch of some of the things that were on show at Eddfest, below.

Iron Maiden: Website

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