List of Iron Maiden Concert Tours - 1980s Tours

The band's first professional concert tour, supporting the Metal for Muthas compilation album, which included several other artists linked with the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, such as Raven, Tygers of Pan Tang and Praying Mantis. Having only played in small clubs and pubs, this was the first time Iron Maiden would perform in larger venues. Although originally scheduled to play the full 30 dates of the tour, the band dropped out after just 11 performances to record their debut album. According to the band's booking agent, John Jackson, cancelling the dates "actually worked out better for them that way... when Maiden had to leave the tour to finish the album, we decided to make up for it by rescheduling all the dates they had cancelled for the summer. But by then the album had been a big hit and the demand for tickets was suddenly so great that we kept having to add dates on."

Their first supporting tour with Judas Priest took place between the release of the band's first single, "Running Free", on 8 February and their debut album on 14 April. As these shows would be their first following the Metal for Muthas tour, these dates saw Iron Maiden playing major concert halls for the first time, including the Hammersmith Odeon in London.

Their first headline tour of the UK began immediately following their shows supporting Judas Priest on the British Steel Tour, during which they took breaks to play festivals in Belgium and Finland in April and July respectively, their first ever performances in mainland Europe. After completing their first UK leg in August, the band returned to the mainland to support Kiss on their Unmasked Tour, which saw the group's debut performances in major arenas and stadiums. Following these dates, guitarist Dennis Stratton was replaced by Adrian Smith. After deciding that it would be best to play some shows with Smith before recording their next album, 1981's Killers, the band set out on another UK tour, during which their final concert at Rainbow Theatre in London was filmed for their first ever live video, entitled Live at the Rainbow.

In support of their second studio album, Killers, the band embarked on their first world tour, including their debut shows in Japan, which were released on audio as Maiden Japan, and North America, where they supported Judas Priest (on their World Wide Blitz Tour) and UFO for select dates in the U.S. Their first ever U.S. performance took place with Judas Priest at The Aladdin Casino, Las Vegas on 3 June. Before this, the band played their first headline shows in Europe and moved into larger venues in the UK, including the Hammersmith Odeon. Iron Maiden's last show with vocalist Paul Di'Anno took place in Copenhagen, after which they undertook a short tour of Italy with his replacement, Bruce Dickinson, before returning to the UK.

Their second world tour would be their last with Clive Burr on drums. The tour debuted in the UK, during which they recorded their show at the Hammersmith Odeon, which was eventually released on audio as Beast over Hammersmith in 2002 while its video footage was included on The Early Days DVD (2004). Following these dates the band returned to North America, where they supported Scorpions on their Blackout Tour (which took them into North American stadiums for the first time), Rainbow on their Straight Between the Eyes U.S. Tour, 38 Special on their Special Forces Tour and Judas Priest on their World Vengeance Tour, in the middle of which they returned to the UK to headline Reading Festival, and afterwards undertook their first tour of Australia.

In support of 1983's Piece of Mind, the band undertook their first complete headlining tour (not supporting any other bands), with new drummer Nicko McBrain. While the band were touring in Texas, footage was recorded for a TV documentary, entitled Ello Texas, which was later included in the Live After Death 2008 DVD release. The tour concluded with two concerts at Westfalenhallen in Dortmund, where the band headlined a show which included sets from Ozzy Osbourne, Judas Priest, Scorpions, Def Leppard and Quiet Riot. The band's concert was recorded for German TV and the footage was later included in The Early Days DVD.

The band's longest and most arduous tour to date, this was reportedly the first time a western artist had taken a full stage production into the Eastern Bloc, and was documented in the Behind the Iron Curtain video. Taking its Egyptian theme from the Powerslave album cover, the stage production was one of the band's most elaborate, which included a large amount of props and other theatrical elements, such as sarcophagi, pyro and a 30-foot mummified Eddie, the band's mascot. In addition to the Eastern Bloc, the band performed their first show in South America, co-headlining the Rock in Rio festival with Queen, with an attendance of 300,000 (thus making it the largest concert the band have ever played). Iron Maiden also undertook their most extensive North American tour ever, including 7 consecutive sell out shows at Radio City Music Hall, although the band were forced to cancel the last two nights as Dickinson was ill, while their four performances from Long Beach, California were released in audio and video formats as Live After Death in 1985. Recordings from the Hammersmith Odeon concerts were also included in the Live After Death audio release.

Following the gruelling World Slavery Tour, the band took more time off before departing on their next successful, although less rigorous, world tour. No footage from the tour was released, except for a small clip used in the 12 Wasted Years documentary.

The band set out on another world tour in support of Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, during which they made their debut at Donington Park's Monsters of Rock festival, where they headlined before an audience of 107,000, the largest crowd in the venue's history. The following winter, the band performed in arenas in the UK for the first time, during which the Birmingham NEC shows were recorded and released the following year as Maiden England. As he would leave during No Prayer for the Dying's pre-production stages, this would be the last tour with Adrian Smith on guitar before his return in 1999.