Walking into the grounds of Accor Stadium on Saturday night, there was an electricity in the air that is only really felt before something truly extraordinary is about to happen.
Now, it could have just been because we all narrowly avoided the wild thunderstorm that had been threatening to ruin our night just a few hours earlier.
But I like to think it was something more magical than that.
In a sea of deep black T-shirts and shiny leather jackets, the excitement was truly palpable as more than 70,000 metal fans got closer and closer to rocking out to a band Australia hadn’t seen for over a decade.
After 12 years of waiting, Metallica were finally back. What a reunion.
It all started on Friday as hundreds of eager fans lined up for hours at a pop-up store in Paddington to get their hands on exclusive Metallica merch before the big event.
The insane queue stretched for almost half a kilometre, with limited edition screen prints, posters and shirts up for grabs ahead of their highly-anticipated concert.
Launching out of Los Angeles back in 1981, Metallica went on to achieve major commercial success with their third album Master Of Puppets (1986). The record is often cited as one of the best metal albums of all time.
But it wasn’t until 1991 with the release of their self-titled album Metallica, also known as The Black Album, that they found mainstream popularity and swiftly became a household name (even if that included a few angry mothers with pounding headaches telling their kids to turn off that ‘metal stuff’ on MTV).
The record debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in the United States and nine other countries, selling over 22 million copies worldwide.
Their single Enter Sandman exploded in Australia upon its release, reaching number 10 on the Aria Singles Chart back in 1991.
It has been a long love affair we’ve had with Metallica. Although it has spanned decades, there was absolutely no sign from the crowd last night that this is a band that first formed over 40 years ago.
Both men and women, young and old, across every generation, were decked out in their best Metallica T-shirts with a heavy metal sparkle in their eyes.
(While I say men and women, I couldn’t help but notice and love the fact that this was one of the few concerts I’d been to where the line for the female bathroom was significantly shorter than the male. A true win in my book!)
But before we could dive into the deliciously metal main course, we were treated to not one, but two opening acts that were perfectly curated to get the crowd super pumped up and ready to rock.
California Thrash Metal band Suicidal Tendencies came out first at 6pm and despite it still being super early (we’re talking Deal or No Deal time) the crowd was getting more amped up than Grant Denyer just before they open the final briefcase.
As more fans poured into the stadium, iconic alternative metal group Evanescence took the stage, booming out their nostalgic setlist of songs including Going Under and My Immortal as enchanting frontwoman Amy Lee captivated the stadium with her spine-tingling vocals that sounded just as beautiful as they did over twenty years ago.
“We want to thank our heroes, Metallica,” she beamed, before thanking the crowd for “calling us back to Australia” before ending with every 2003 goth girl’s anthem, Bring Me To Life.
Then at 830pm the lights slowly went dark, and we were treated to the familiar starting riff of It’s a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock ‘n’ Roll) as Metallica honoured Australian Rock Royalty AC/DC before coming on stage.
The banger, which was played as nostalgic snaps of Aussie Metallica concerts of years gone by rolled onto the screen, definitely quenched the thirst of AC/DC fans in the crowd, as it was revealed earlier this week it was the one song they were no longer playing on their tour.
“Sydney, Metallica is here!” frontman James Hetfield, 62, declared with a radiant smile.
“We’re finally together again. It’s been a long time and we are very grateful to be here right now and to see all of our friends.
“Look at the love we get here in Sydney. I’ve got the best job in the world, I really do.”
Metallica was forced to cancel the Australia and New Zealand leg of their tour back in 2019 due to Hetfield going back to rehab, with a statement from the band at the time explaining that the singer and guitarist needed to work on his recovery from addiction.
It was nothing but love from the crowd though, who warmly welcomed the band back with open arms and a sea of “rock” hands (otherwise known as sign of the horns).
The boys then launched into other bangers like Cyanide (2008), The Unforgiven (1991), Nothing Else Matters (1991), Seek and Destroy (1983) and Master of Puppets (1986).
As my first ever Metallica concert, there were two things that truly struck me.
The first being the power the band had on the audience. As my ticket was up in the seats, I had envisioned a bunch of tired Sydneysiders barely moving their heads and sitting down the entire show, as I had experienced many times over.
But to my absolute delight, the bum-to-seat vs standing-and-rocking-out ratio was like nothing I’d ever experienced before.
In other concerts, I had witnessed first hand the absolute vicious reaction from some seat-sitters when anyone dared to stand up at any given moment, even for the final song.
But last night, the crowd were on their feet for 95 per cent of the night, which warmed my heart. We were at a metal concert, after all!
The other thing that I adored was the band’s incredible engagement with the audience and the constant conversation – both to us, and to each other – between songs.
You could really feel just how truly excited and incredibly happy they were to be there. The pure joy radiating from each of the Metallica bandmates could be felt at every corner of the stadium.
The love they have for each other was palpable and that is not always something the audience gets to experience (as every Oasis fan who ever attended a gig in 2009 before the big Gallagher break up can likely attest to).
“This is amazing, so good to be here, Sydney,” bassist Robert Trujillo, 61, smiled. “It doesn’t get better.”
As the night came to a close, the group ended with their hit Enter Sandman (1991) and the entire area was electrified with the soul of true metal.
“You filled our hearts tonight, take care of yourselves,” Hetfield smiled, before guitarist Kirk Hammet, 62, shared his love for the audience.
“You guys are so great. We love you,” he smiled.
“You’re the greatest, greatest crowd. We love your country so much.”
“We’ll see you more often than every 12 f**king years,” drummer Lars Ulrich, 61, screamed into the microphone to a roaring crowd.
“We love you Sydney, we love you Australia.”
As each member of the band lovingly gave out guitar picks and drumsticks before getting together for a heartfelt final bow, there was something spellbinding in the air.
Hetfield talked a lot about the“Metallica Family” and by the end of the stellar sold out show, it was very clear by the standing ovation that the band had just added another 70,000 Aussie members to their tribe.
Metallica’s Australian tour has now wrapped up, with the band heading to New Zealand for their Auckland show on the 19th November.
jasmine.kazlauskas@news.com.au
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