Iron Maiden celebrated their 50th anniversary in 2025, and founding bassist/songwriter Steve Harris reflects on the milestone in a statement to Kerrang!

“It’s pretty incredible when you think about it, but we don’t think about it too much,” Harris says. “The band don’t really say, ‘Wow, this is 50 years!’ It’s brought to us by other people like management or whoever is making a bigger fuss about it. We just do what we do.”

“But it is a long, long time,” Harris continues. “It’s an achievement. We won’t harp on about it ourselves, but we’re aware of that. And long may it continue.”

Maiden has certainly accomplished a lot in the last half-century, though there are still one or two things they’d like to check off their bucket list.

“There are a couple of countries here and there we’d still like to get to,” Harris says. “Like, we were once supposed to play Bangkok, but three weeks before there was a military coup and we had to cancel. Maybe one day we’ll drag the Iron Maiden plane out again to go and do them, because that makes those shows a lot easier!”

As for how many years past 50 Maiden will continue, Harris says, “I’m not thinking about retirement, but we all know that it’s coming at some point when you’ll be forced into it by one thing or another.” 

“I still stay fit, playing football and tennis and things, but you never know what’s coming round the corner,” Harris says. “That’s why you’ve got to make the most of this while you can, going out enjoy every gig for the sake of it. I’ve been saying that for the last 10 years, but it’s truer now than ever.”

Maiden will launch a North American tour in August.

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