Proving that they’re one of the greatest metal acts around, Metallica continuously reinvents the wheel they spin upon. This year’s go-around is their M72 Tour, which stopped in Chicago this past weekend for two explosive shows highlighting their momentous career.
Breaking away from a traditional rectangular stage with an optional cat walk, Metallica played their set “in the round,” which was a large circular stage in the middle of the floor, allowing fans to stand in the hollow center and around the sides of the stage, and was complete with eight pillars topped with giant screens so anyone sitting at the back had as good of a view as someone on the floor; a difficult feat to accomplish at Chicago’s Soldier Field as it seats over 60,000 people at any given time.
The M72 Tour boasts that each of their two nights in every city will be distinct, complete with different opening bands and a no-repeat setlist each night. They also schedule a day off between their two shows, but offer a slew of various Metallica adjacent events that can be attended in the interim, called “M72 Takeover Events,” like a film fest, bowling, and various other activities.
Friday night’s show was a masterclass on how to stay on everyone’s mind for many years to come. Ripping through a nearly two hour, 15 song set, Metallica gave everyone a little taste from almost all of their albums; they played at least one song from every album created during the ’80s and ’90s, but skipped straight to their most recent release when including tracks from the 2000s to now.
Utilizing the wide spread their stage had through the crowd, each member of the band displayed their ability to absolutely shred to every angle of the stadium, converging around drummer Lars Ulrich during instrumental breaks. Bassist Robert Trujillo and guitarist Kirk Hammett truly shined throughout the night, even performing an instrumental they composed earlier that day specifically for Chicago called “Chi-Town Gangster” that beautifully showed their range beyond metal, including funky and bluesy elements that got the crowd grooving. The pyro on display for “Fuel” was also a sight to behold, creating a spectacle better than what the city offered for the Fourth of July.
But the best part of the show didn’t happen on stage. Looking around the stands and seeing random strangers become fast friends, grabbing each other’s shoulders and banging their heads—this was the best part of the show. Singer James Hetfield even commented on the unity that happens with their fans during a pause in “Fade To Black,” saying that if you’re a Metallica fan “you are not alone. You are in the Metallica family.” Because that’s exactly what happens at a Metallica concert; you may not know everyone around you, but once that first chord is strummed, you’ve become one with the 60,000+ other fans witnessing the same great show as you.
