Metallica announce 40th anniversary concerts

Metallica are celebrating their 40th anniversary with two very special homecoming concerts in San Francisco in the run-up to Christmas.

The heavy metal titans will play the San Francisco Chase Center on Friday 17th and Saturday 18th December 2021 and tickets will only be available to members of Metallica’s official Fifth Member fanclub.

Metallica will be delving deep into their distinguished back catalogue and they’ll be performing different live sets each night.

The 40th anniversary concerts come just over two years after Metallica’s pair of S&M2 shows at the grand opening of The Chase Center in September 2019. Marking the 20th anniversary of the S&M concert and live album, the gigs were later immortalised with the August 2020 live album ‘S&M2.’

Announcing their 40th anniversary concerts today, Metallica wrote: “As hard as it is to believe, the band will be turning the big 4 – 0 this October. It’s a wild thing to wrap our heads around… it feels like just yesterday that we were hitting the stage playing our first show at Radio City in Anaheim, CA, in the spring of 1982!

“Okay, fair enough maybe that wasn’t just yesterday; so many things have happened since Lars and James got together in the fall of ’81… almost 2,000 live shows across seven continents, mind-blowing successes and crazy off-road adventures. It’s been a nutty ride and even though most of the time it feels like we’re just getting started, we’re excited to celebrate the past four decades with you.

“What better way to mark this milestone than to invite the worldwide Metallica Family to join us in our hometown of San Francisco, CA, where we will be performing two different live sets at Chase Center on December 17 and 19 for Fifth Members only!!”

They added: “We were so in awe of the love, support, and dedication that came our way during the S&M2 concerts when fans from over 60 countries around the globe traveled to the City by the Bay for the weekend in September of 2019. You guys completely took over San Francisco and the unbelievably good vibes and sense of family inspired us to invite all of you to come back!

“In addition to our two shows at Chase Center, we will be curating other live music and comedy events, Blackened Whiskey tastings, and so much more all around the city during the long four-day weekend of celebrations starting on Thursday, December 16. Details and ticketing information for these various events will be announced as they are confirmed.”

On Friday 10th September, Metallica are marking the 30th anniversary of The Black Album by reissuing the remastered album on a variety of formats.

On the same day, they’re releasing the 53 track charity album ‘The Metallica Blacklist’, which features covers of the 12 songs on ‘The Black Album’ by 53 eclectic artists.

Metallica play a series of summer 2022 shows at festival across Europe, however, there are currently no UK shows in the itinerary.

Metallica rock London and Manchester in 2019:

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• Metallica