Iron Maiden have shared photographs of Steve Harris and Adrian Smith backstage with Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson in Montreal, taken when the two bands found themselves in the same city on consecutive nights.
The band posted the pictures with a short caption: “Thank you to our friends in @rush for having us in Montréal. What a brilliant show!” The photographs are credited to Richard Sibbald.
A second image in the set shows Maiden drummer Simon Dawson with Anika Nilles, his opposite number in Rush, the two players who have taken over from Nicko McBrain and Neil Peart. Dawson was announced as Maiden‘s touring drummer in December 2024, after McBrain stepped away from the road following 42 years in the band, though he was hardly a new face: he has been Harris‘ rhythm section partner in British Lion since 2012. Nilles, a German drummer who toured with Jeff Beck in 2022, was named for the Rush run in October 2025.
Montreal had an unusual run of scheduling in the first week of September. Rush played the Bell Centre on Wednesday, September 2. Iron Maiden headlined Parc Jean-Drapeau the following evening, September 3, with Megadeth and Anthrax opening. Rush then returned to the Bell Centre on Friday, September 4.
Harris and Smith went to the Wednesday show, the night before their own. Anthrax, in town for the Maiden bill, were also spotted in the crowd.
The “Fifty Something” tour is Rush‘s first road work in more than ten years, and their first without Peart. He played his last show with the band on August 1, 2015 at the Forum in Los Angeles, and died in January 2020 at 67 after three years with glioblastoma.
Lee and Lifeson opened the current run at that same venue on June 7 with a four-night stand.
The touring lineup also includes keyboard player Loren Gold, previously with touring bands for The Who and Chicago, which makes this the first time Rush have worked as a four-piece rather than a trio. Demand pushed the itinerary from an initial 22 dates to 58 shows across 24 cities, with more than half a million tickets sold. Europe and South America follow in early 2027, including the band’s first European shows since 2013.
Iron Maiden are working through “Run For Your Lives“, the tour marking fifty years since the band formed. The lineup is Bruce Dickinson, Harris, Dave Murray, Smith, Janick Gers and Dawson.
