Live review: Metallica, London Stadium

After starting this tour way back in April 2023, Metallica’s mammoth M72 World Tour finally reaches the finish line tonight, having conquered stadiums in all corners of the planet.

You might forgive the Four Horsemen for looking a little road weary, but instead they arrive in London sounding like they’ve managed to turn the clock back four decades. If this really is the end of M72, they’ve saved the biggest bang ’til last.

Before all that, though, there’s other business to attend to.

“Yes, indeed, the circus has come to town, and for the next 40 minutes, your asses are mine!” bellows Avatar frontman Johannes Eckerström. It’s less an introduction and more a declaration of intent. The Swedes make Metallica’s enormous circular stage feel like their own personal playground, with Johannes prowling around it like a twisted ringmaster conducting thousands of early arrivals. The Eagle Has Landed, Smells Like A Freakshow and Hail The Apocalypse are delivered with theatrical swagger and towering confidence. Forty minutes fly by in a blur of grooves and glorious synchronised hair swinging.

“Every song we play... it's for Dimebag and Vinnie,” says Phil Anselmo halfway through Pantera’s set. They barely need to do anything else as this catalogue speaks for itself. Zakk Wylde is sensational, every solo somehow louder and filthier than the last, while the closing one-two punch of Walk and Cowboys From Hell rattles around the London Stadium with the force of a demolition crew. It’s clear why Pantera remain one of heavy music's defining names.

Then the lights disappear, and the iconic Ecstasy of Gold intro echoes around the vast east London stadium with the entire crowd out screaming along.

Only Metallica could open with Whiplash, immediately follow it with For Whom The Bell Tolls, then casually throw Ride The Lightning into the mix as if they’re just clearing their throats. The sheer depth of quality is a flex most bands could only dream of. And they never let up.

James Hetfield stalks the in-the-round stage with the swagger of someone still trying to prove himself, yet obviously not needing to, while Lars Ulrich attacks every fill like it's 1986 again. Rob Trujillo barely stops moving and Kirk Hammett's solos remain gloriously untamed. For the final night of a three-year tour, there remarkably isn't the slightest hint of fatigue. If anything, Metallica sound fiercer than ever, playing with the same youthful hunger that first launched them onto the world stage all those years ago.

“Let's test your volume!” Papa Het grins before The Memory Remains turns into one enormous choir, tens of thousands of voices carrying Marianne Faithfull's haunting melody long after the band stop playing.

Moments later he jokes, “Lars and I are going to change our diapers,” leaving Rob and Kirk centre stage for a heartfelt rendition of Black Sabbath's Electric Funeral, with Rob taking vocal duties in tribute to Ozzy Osbourne on the one-year anniversary of Back To The Beginning.

Even deeper cuts land like classics. The Day That Never Comes feels every inch a greatest hits staple nowadays, sitting comfortably alongside Blackened, Moth Into Flame and the devastating One.

“London, it feels so good to end this tour here before we go home for some rest,” beams James, but that rest can wait.

Enter Sandman sees the signature giant inflatable balls bounce across the stadium, as a real party atmosphere enraptures the deafening singalong. It’s a fitting finale for what feels like the biggest heavy metal blowout of the year.

The M72 Tour may finally be over, but Metallica leave London with a loud, firm reminder: more than 40 years into their career, they're not simply preserving a legacy, they're still setting the standard.

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