The mighty metal lords Metallica defied any prediction of the death of rock with an incendiary proof-of-life performance at Sydney’s Accor Stadium on Saturday.
The American hard-rock heroes closed out the Australian leg of their M72 World tour with a concert that could not have been more at the opposite end of the guitar rock spectrum to Oasis, who played the same stadium a week ago.
There was the nod to the fact they were actually in Australia, with AC/DC’s It’s A Long Way To The Top playing as their intro song, as a montage of photos of band members with local fans flashed on the giant screens.
As the pyros were unleashed during Fuel, you could actually feel the blast of heat; no Hollywood stunt flames from this lot.
More than 70,000 fans poured into the stadium, dads with sons and daughters, mates who have stayed the course for decades, and so many witnessing this rock beast for the first time seeing it has been 12 years since Metallica last played in Australia. The band had to cancel their scheduled 2019 tour when frontman James Hetfield entered rehab.
The avuncular screamer and bandmates, drummer Lars Ulrich, guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Rob Trujillo felt tighter and ferocious as ever even as they embraced the spaghetti western fringes of their sound in this production, both in sound and on screen.
“Oh, I’m so ready tonight, I’m so ready to kick some ass,” Hetfield said.
“It has been a long time … we’re very grateful to be here, to see our friends.
“Look at the love we get here in Sydney.”
The audience responded in kind, showing their affection with synchronised arm throwing in the direction of the rockers as they proved a blistering guitar solo still has its place in 2025.
In an era where pop songs are creeping under two minutes long, Metallica stretched each of their 16 tracks into epic metal musical statements proving that sometimes more is better.
For one of the setlist favourites, the Kirk and Rob Doodle, which features the pair paying tribute to a local rock act, they played Rose Tattoo’s Nice Boys Don’t Play Rock’n’ Roll.
There were regular loud ripples of excitement through the crowd, accompanied by a sea of phone lights, as the band launched into their monster hits such as Sad But True, Nothing Else Matters and the finale Enter Sandman.
The American band’s local homecoming heroes AC/DC take over the same stadium for two concerts on November 21 and 25.
