Well…fuc#+ng amazing!
I shamefully admit that I’ve never seen Metallica before…except for Woodstock’99. But I was so far away from the stage that to me, it doesn’t count.
Metallica has been around for a long time and they know what they’re doing. For this tour, they roll into towns, set up shop at a stadium for multiple nights, and have different opening bands each night. This way, if you want to go to both local shows, you get 2 different concert experiences. You can buy one night tickets or a weekend package. For this show, I only had a Sunday (8/6/23) ticket and they had Ice Nine Kills and Five Finger Death Punch as their openers.
Five Finger Death Punch
Unfortunately, we missed Ice Nine Kills who opened the show. Traffic was crazy and we had the world’s slowest Uber driver. We did get to see all of Five Finger Death Punch though. And while I saw them last year, and didn’t like them at the time, they were much better this time around. Do I know which songs they played? Nope! But that’s ok! I still enjoyed them. They definitely played their cover of Bad Company and their original Wrong Side of Hell…but beyond that, I couldn’t tell you. But they were a good time. I think was just pissed off last time I saw them since Megadeth OPENED for them…and that just isn’t right.
Metallica at MetLife Stadium
Now, Metallica. Holy shit. While I never saw them in their heyday, I did get to see them tonight as a bunch of old metal dudes. They did not disappoint. They opened with Whiplash which was pretty sweet. They then moved on to For Whom the Bell Tolls which was awesome!!! They moved into Ride the Lightning and Memory Remains from there. They have such a huge catalog that they really could have played anything.
There wasn’t much interaction with the crowd which was kind of a bummer. Not much talking, no banter, just music. I personally enjoy the banter so the lack of it was a bit disappointing. Talk to us, dammit!!!
They played Lux Æterna, Sanitarium, The Call of Ktulu, One, and Unforgiven as the night went on. Other favorites they played included Blackened, Wherever I May Roam, and Whiskey in the Jar.
They closed with Enter Sandman, but did no encore. This seems to be something more common these days. I feel like I’ve seen quite a few shows the last couple years without an encore. Did bands realize it’s silly? Who knows. Maybe they are just at a point in their lives where they don’t want to have to walk all way backstage just to walk back. They are all in their 60s now or close to it after all…but they rocked. Even Lars sounded good and he’s a total tool.
It was cool to see people in the crowd ranging from 8 to 68 (maybe older – what the hell do I know). Everyone was just there to rock out. And rock out we did! It was awesome. I’ll admit I disliked Metallica for a long time for all the Napster BS back in the day…but looking back, streaming definitely destroyed the music industry…even the legal streaming today. Remember when CDs were $15 and a concert ticket was $25? Now a “CD” is free on a million different platforms, and a concert ticket is $250 for shitty seats. Maybe Metallica was wise to what would happen.
Anyway…I really enjoyed the show. A year from now, they’ll be in MA and maybe I’ll see them again. Check them out if you have a chance!
With that…stream this live version of One for free!
Metallica Setlist – MetLife Stadium – August 6, 2023
- Whiplash
- For Whom the Bell Tolls
- Ride the Lightning
- The Memory Remains
- Lux Æterna
- Too Far Gone? (first live performance)
- Kirk and Rob Doodle (“Murf Da Surf”)
- Welcome Home (Sanitarium)
- You Must Burn!
- The Call of Ktulu
- The Unforgiven
- Wherever I May Roam
- Moth Into Flame
- Blackened
- Whiskey in the Jar
- One
- Enter Sandman
Metallica Comes to New England in 2026
Metallica returns to New England for two special shows at Mohegan Sun Arena on November 19 and November 21, 2026, celebrating the arena’s 25th anniversary with a No Repeat Weekend featuring completely different setlists each night.
Leave a Reply