Metallica made their debut at the Sphere in Las Vegas on the evening of Thursday 1 October 2026, opening their long residency at the most technologically advanced concert venue on the planet. The run of shows is titled «Life Burns Faster» and will continue until 13 March 2027.
The venue’s giant screen wrapped the audience in images throughout the evening, while flags from many countries passed over the stage as a tribute to the band’s fans in every corner of the world. Before Metallica came out, AC/DC’s «It’s a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock ‘n’ Roll)» played through the Sphere’s 1,600 speakers and then, as has happened for more than 40 years, Ennio Morricone’s «The Ecstasy of Gold».
The set included 16 songs. The opening was «Battery», which had not been used as an opener since 11 July 2014. Other songs that had been absent for a long time returned to the setlist: «Now That We’re Dead» for the first time since 2021 and «…And Justice for All» for the first time since 2014. «The Shortest Straw», «The Day That Never Comes» and «The Call of Ktulu» also stood out, the latter dedicated to the late bassist Cliff Burton. «Nothing Else Matters» had an extended intro solo from Kirk Hammett, while «The Memory Remains» closed with a longer outro.
The «No Repeat Weekend» concept they continue from the M72 tour plays an important role: anyone who goes to both shows of the same two-day stint sees two completely different setlists. Drummer Lars Ulrich had the idea back in 2023, when he watched U2’s opening at the Sphere and thought Metallica should do it too.
See also: Metallica: A blood donation centre in Las Vegas for the entire Sphere residency and James Hetfield appeared in Las Vegas with a new haircut before the Metallica shows.