It’s been a while since Iron Maiden announced dates for the 2013 Maiden England tour. Let’s have a look at what’s in and what might get added!

With the 2013 tour ending in Rio on September 22, according to Nicko McBrain in this interview, and the very likely addition of more South American dates prior to that, according to the same Nicko in this interview, the schedule is slowly filling up.

South American fans can probably expect announcements of concerts in countries like Argentina and Chile, according to several local radio reports over the past few weeks. Whether there might be Mexico shows or even a stop somewhere in North America, as has been the case on the past couple of tours, remains to be seen. The window is open in September.

As for Japan and Australia or other countries in the East that have had Ed Force One visits on the recent tours, nothing seems to be rumored. This would also have to take place in late August, into September. It might be unlikely that the band play that hemisphere at all unless they do it with Ed Force One.

Which leaves Europe left to ponder. It seems definite that the tour will start in Portugal and Spain in late May, which means that there are just a few windows still to be filled in the schedule.

June seems to be pretty much full, with a total of 15 concerts. Well, a show between Barcelona on June 1 and Paris on June 5 is still possible, somewhere in central or eastern Europe, but a three-day break between shows is not unheard of with Maiden.

On the other hand, there is an unusual gap in the July schedule, between Helsinki on July 20 and Prague on July 29th. One or two shows are likely to be added there, which might give Scandinavians a small hope of more concerts. And then there’s the question of when the European leg will end. It’s possible that shows will be added a couple of weeks into August, before band and crew head to South America.

What countries are likely to be added? Nothing is certain right now, but countries that didn’t show impressive ticket sales on the last tour are probably out of the running. Our own Norway looks unlikely to get a Maiden England show, as does Denmark. It’s also more than likely that Donington is Maiden’s only UK appearance on this tour.

The rest of you can keep your fingers crossed in the weeks to come, as there are more announcements to be made about the 2013 Maiden England World Tour!