LAS VEGAS – James Hetfield surveyed the rafters-reaching crowd and addressed them with a sincere message: “This is a dream come true and beyond … you took the time to come here and see us and enjoy this beautiful moment. After 45 years, there is still much fun to be had.”
The frontman singer/guitarist and the rest of Metallica – drummer Lars Ulrich, guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo – lived that sentiment at the Oct. 1 bow of their Las Vegas Sphere residency.
For more than two hours and through a career-hopscotching, 16-song setlist, the veteran hard rockers roared with rawness and technical purity, exchanging smiles like kids playing their first gig.
The band’s residency is set for 24 shows spanning 12 paired “No Repeat Weekends.”
The concerts, which Metallica plays on Thursdays and Saturdays on dates through March, promise non-repeating setlists each weekend.
What songs are Metallica performing at Sphere residency?
For opening night, the band dipped into their catalog ranging from 1984’s “Ride the Lightning” to 2023’s “72 Seasons.” They surprised the sold-out crowd with “Now That We’re Dead” – played for the first time in five years – and the spitting “…And Justice for All” for its first live appearance since 2014.
Given Metallica’s road warrior ethos – they’ve already announced a 12-date North American leg of their M72 World Tour for 2027 – the band is never idle long enough to generate rust.
Theirs is a show that unabashedly flexes musical muscularity. Whether it was Hetfield’s neck-vein-bulging fervency while singing, Hammett’s fretboard slashing or Trujillo’s athletic funk-metal bass coatings, these songs are made for fist-thrusting.
Performing across a triangular stage with fans packing the innards of the general admission Snake Pit, Metallica ripped into “Battery” and “Creeping Death,” the latter powered by Ulrich’s double bass drum assault.
The master drummer uses three different kits throughout the show, with each one rising into view at different locations on the stage, allowing fans on all sides face time with their heroes.
Metallica's Sphere show visuals will take you on a rollercoaster ride
As with any Sphere show, the graphics are as meaningful as the music, and Metallica delivered exactly the type of foreboding, apocalyptic backdrops that might be expected, with a few whimsical touches.
A skull with piercing red eyes served as the visual overload for “The Shortest Straw,” which found the band performing inside a customized slot machine that spewed guitar picks as a jackpot.
And while video that simulates the feeling of movement is frequently commissioned by artists playing the Sphere, Metallica’s creation to accompany “Wherever I May Roam” was both exhausting and exhilarating.
The black and white film zipped through city landmarks around the world – the Statue of Liberty, the Eiffel Tower, Yankee Stadium – with rollercoaster plunges while Hammett attacked his whammy bar for the song’s blistering solo.
A show highlight came with “The Call of Ktulu,” the searing instrumental from 1984 that the band has resurrected in recent years. As Metallica thundered through the music, a monster erupted from the dark waters beamed in the background, its form covered in black slime with serrated wings and tentacles.
Hetfield dedicated the song to Cliff Burton, Metallica’s bassist who died in 1986 in a band bus accident. “We love you, Cliff,” Hetfield said as a photo of the musician loomed over the stage.
Metallica's quietest moment was one of their best
For all of the relentless riffing, guttural vocalizing and cymbal smashing that accompanied songs including "Lux Æterna” and the slow-burning “The Day That Never Comes,” the most affecting offering came with quiet.
The first notes of Hammett’s clean guitar lines signaled the evocative intro to “Nothing Else Matters.” Hetfield stepped to the mic, his voice the sound of nightmares as he pulled faces as he leaned into the song as the band uncorked the haunting lullaby.
The history books will laud Metallica for their heavy rock infused with rhythmic shifts, but the band deserves equal recognition for tempering their volcanic songs with introspection and melancholy.
All of Metallica’s members are in their early 60s, but their stamina is undiminished. They might not be leaping off amplifiers or running laps around the stage, but their commitment to their fans is evident in the band’s taut musicianship and this visually arresting Sphere show.
After all, as Hetfield reminded, there is still fun to be had.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Metallica says there is 'much fun to be had' at Sphere debut
