Metallica triumph on the Thursday night at Download Festival 2023 – setlist and photos

Metallica brought the first ever Thursday at Download Festival to a triumphant close with a career-spanning set.

The band’s ninth performance at Donington Park, factoring in their previous appearances at Monsters of Rock, kicked off with a pulsating rendition of their 1984 classic ‘Creeping Death.”

Metallica brought their lavish M72 Tour production to Download Festival, and the performance was projected onto six cylindrical screens with Metallica moving between the main stage and a circular walkway.

Continuing to roll out the classics, Metallica dispatched a fiery ‘Harvester of Sorrow’, ‘Master of Puppets’ opus ‘Leper Messiah’ and standout ‘Load’ track ‘King Nothing’ before taking things up-to-date with a furious performance of ‘Lux Æterna.’

Having told Planet Rock in May that headlining Download is still a “big deal” for Metallica, Papa Het was in jubilant form, showering the crowd with superlatives and dishing out the “Yeahs!” with casual abandon.

Other zeniths throughout the set included ‘Fade to Black’, ‘Nothing Else Matters’ and a powerful ‘Sad But True.’

‘Fuel’ aptly featured gargantuan, eye-brow-singing bursts of pyrotechnics before a muscular and anthemic ‘Seek & Destroy’ had the Donington faithful singing in unison.

Somewhat fittingly given Download Festival’s Stranger Things ‘The Upside Download’ fancy dress theme, Metallica ended their set with an almighty performance of ‘Master of Puppets.’

You can see photos of Metallica’s set below plus all the action from Day One at Download Festival 2023 below featuring Alter Bridge, Halestorm, Skindred and many more.

Metallica headline Download Festival again on Saturday night (10th June) where they will perform a completely different setlist.

Metallica’s Thursday setlist at Download Festival 2023:

Creeping Death

Harvester of Sorrow

Leper Messiah

King Nothing

Lux Æterna

Screaming Suicide

Fade to Black

Sleepwalk My Life Away

Orion

Nothing Else Matters

Sad but True

The Day That Never Comes

Blackened

Fuel

Seek & Destroy

Master of Puppets

Thursday at Download Festival 2023 in photos:

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• Metallica
• Download Festival