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Metal Hammer
Metal Hammer
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Metal Hammer

Ride the lightning! Watch Metallica get upstaged by a lightning strike during Master Of Puppets at the opening show on their latest tour

Metallica’s James Hetfield and lightning striking the band’s stage set.

There are few things that can upstage Metallica in full flight, but Mother Nature is one of them.

The opening night of the latest leg of the metal icons’ M72 tour was lit up – literally – by a series of perfectly timed lightning strikes which occurred during Master Of Puppets.

The band were playing Munich’s open-air Olympiastadion on Friday, March 24 when a storm erupted overhead. Band and audience were forced to weather torrential rain during the show, visibly soaking James Hetfield and co to the bone.

But the storm saved the best to last, as lightning bolts lit up the sky just as the band kicked into set closer Master Of Puppets (sadly, not the title track of their second album, Ride The Lightning). Luckily, several audience members captured this natural pyro display on their phones.

The band’s second show at the stadium two nights later was less meteorologically eventful, but it did mark the live debut of Inamorata, the epic, 11-minute closing track from last year’s 72 Seasons album.

James Hetfield recently revealed that he had been “writing lots of music” while Metallica have been off the road. The singer told The Metallica Report podcast: “[I’ve been] playing guitar pretty much every day. I have to. It’s like breathing.”

He adds: “Whether it’s an escape from life or whatever it is, I love my little music room basement. I’ve got a computer, a few guitars and a little rig set up. It is my soul-nourishing place, to go in there and just play and write. Not so much practicing, it’s just writing.”

Metallica’s M72 tour continues throughout Europe this summer, before returning to North America in August. See the full list of dates below.

Metallica – M72 tour dates 2024

May 24: Munich Olympiastadion, Germany
May 26: Munich Olympiastadion, Germany
May 29: Milan I-Days Festival, Italy
Jun 01: Vienna Racino Rocks Festival, Austria
Jun 07: Helsinki Olympic Stadium, Finland
Jun 09: Helsinki Olympic Stadium, Finland
Jun 14: Copenhagen Parken Stadium, Denmark
Jun 16: Copenhagen Parken Stadium, Denmark
Jun 26: Oslo Tons Of Rock Festival, Norway
Jun 29: Clisson Hellfest, France
Jul 05: Warsaw PGE Narodowy, Poland
Jul 07: Warsaw PGE Narodowy, Poland
Jul 12: Madrid Estadio Cívitas Metropolitano, Spain
Jul 14: Madrid Estadio Cívitas Metropolitano, Spain

Aug 02: Foxborough Gillette Stadium, MA, USA
Aug 04: Foxborough Gillette Stadium, MA, USA
Aug 09: Chicago Soldier Field, IL, USA
Aug 11: Chicago Soldier Field, IL, USA
Aug 16: Minneapolis US Bank Stadium, MN, USA
Aug 18: Minneapolis US Bank Stadium, MN, USA
Aug 23: Edmonton Commonwealth Stadium, Canada
Aug 25: Edmonton Commonwealth Stadium, Canada
Aug 30: Seattle Lumen Field, WA, USA
Sep 01: Seattle Lumen Field, WA, USA
Sep 20: Mexico City Foro Sol, Mexico
Sep 22: Mexico City Foro Sol, Mexico
Sep 27: Mexico City Foro Sol, Mexico
Sep 29: Mexico City Foro Sol, Mexico

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