Metallica + Pantera Aviva Stadium June 2026

[open face surgery]

Also, metal had become a laughing stock until Metallica came along? So we're talking about the early 80s? 😄 🤣

[Emphyrio]

Aye, it was a great buzz and no point being cynical if people are grabbing a bit of joy out of an experience. And there were far fewer fairweather folk than the time I saw AC/DC a while back. And ya, remember hearing Bells live for the first time... Class.

[The Heretic]

The problem is Metallica are "everyone's" band now and many of the people who enjoy them now weren't there at the start when they were up and coming. Some because they were too young some because it's cool now to like Metallica. It's a problem when your band becomes everyone's band and we revert back to death to false metal/leave the hall mode, which I'm prone to doing myself, so I just stay at home and fire on the old albums and be a miserable cunt.     

[Emphyrio]

I'm usually perfectly happy being a miserable cunt but it was cool to see the range of people enjoying the gigs. I can be a miserable cunt for the rest of the year. And I likely will.

[NINE-T]

Just for the record, I wasn't having a pop at you ducky, Im just a bit of a lurker around here, read your posts a good few times, made me laugh and nod my head with approval and at other times disagree. Point is tis great to be able forget life's woes and go to a metal party and act like a feckless teenager all over again.🤘🏽

[Born of Fire]

For the record, I would throw money at a Load/Reload heavy tour/setlist after having seen Metallica over a dozen times. Fuck it, play The House That Jack Built two times, I say!

This is the first gig(s) where I looked around and really noticed so many late teens / early 20s guys and girls having the time of their lives (which indicates I have began the crossing over the river styx). No setlist academia, debating the merits of playing X song before Y song, etc. Just some lads hearing "For Whom the Bell Tolls" for the first time and thinking "that's a bit class". You need that positivity in the world!!

Yeah I'd be cool with a Load/ReLoad tour. There's a savage album between the two of them and it's the last time they really seemed to put their heart into their music.

[Goosebumples]

Also, metal had become a laughing stock until Metallica came along? So we're talking about the early 80s? 😄 🤣

Metallica have been working tirelessly for 40 years and Im still a total laughing stock 

[Pentagrimes]

I'm not talking about anyone here. I'm talking about the sort of dribbling fanboys who cannot find a difference in quality between Master of Puppets and St. Anger because having "Metallica" printed on the label automatically makes it the greatest thing ever recorded.

I'm talking about the sort of fanboys who have to be asked not to wear their crusty "birth, school, Metallica, death" t-shirt to every family occasion and are borderline upset about it.

I'm talking about the sort of fanboys who are insulted when you ask them what other bands are you into because how very dare anyone listen to a band who aren't Metallica.

I'm talking about the fanboys who hear the "Metallica Family" nonsense and believe it's about them.

I'm talking about grown men in their 50s who have made Metallica their entire personality since their teens.

But as inferred by my original statement (congrats on getting your knickers in a twist and not engaging your brains for a second, by the way), if ye want to pay good money for a St. Anger gig, then fill your boots.

You're describing a lot of metal fandom in fairness, or fandom of any other subgenre. I could substitute Metallica for Bathory or Sodom amongst people I know, or the Melvins, or Swans. I'm probably guilty of some of this with Voivod or Mr. Bungle or Cardiacs or whoever. it is what it is.And what it is, yes, is boring. But people get really into things, I wouldn't say it's just Metallica here. The same phenomenon just happened with Oasis, for example.

For what it's worth, I'm confident saying a lot of the current "Metallica family" of my age are people who gave me shit in 6th class or first year for liking Metallica prior to Enter Sandman (or, let's be fucking honest, Nothing Else Matters) came along and made them acceptable. id rather be shot in the face than be around them. Do I begrudge them going to see Metallica or think they aren't entitled to like "my" band?Not at all, i hope they had a good time. I stopped caring after Justice, and moved onto other things, the band they became after that felt drastically different to the band I'd liked. That bothered me at 13, but I'm 49 now and I couldn't care less.

I think reading these posts it's fantastic to see they're still drawing all ages. I've no interest in seeing them but I'd imagine this was a "first gig" for a lot of young kids, and wether I care about nowadays Metaillca or not, I think that's really cool.

[Neuromancer]

For what it's worth, I'm confident saying a lot of the current "Metallica family" of my age are people who gave me shit in 6th class or first year for liking Metallica prior to Enter Sandman (or, let's be fucking honest, Nothing Else Matters) came along and made them acceptable. id rather be shot in the face than be around them.

I think thats the crux of it for me and I wouldn't even go back to the success of the black album - it's the social media "blow ins" of a similar age to myself - not a notion of being music fans, never mind metal fans until all it took was owning a smart phone, a social media account and Spotify - next thing they're a massive Metallica fan. People who i knew in the 1990s and 2000s - just normies then - no interest, now "true believers" - or worse, the ones who berated you, called you a "hippy bastard" or whatever - not they're at Deftones, Metallica, Maiden - all the big, entry level gigs - and then they're asking, "Were you not at X" - Nah mate, saw them when they WERE X back in the 1990s. Maybe it's elitist, but I don't care - where were they during Metal's darkest days? Slagging from sidelines or being boring shit heads.

It's just such low effort to be a music fan these days, it's very easy to have distain for them. With the younger ones, it's cool to see - but it's the Jonny come lately's that only cottoned on when it was socially acceptable & accessible I have umbridge with.

Glad people had fun etc. at Metallica, I've certainly heard mixed reports, not least some dissatisfaction with "the Snakepit" and the "in the round" set-up - and i can totally see it. With "in the round" the on stage energy is totally diffused for most of the gig - it's worthless... and don't get me started on the "snakepit" - fundamentally just normalising elitist pricing structures in Metal.

I've seen them loads of times since the Point in 1996 (1999 Point was the best for me) and after seeing them at Back To The Beginning last year, I'm happy enough with that being my final Metallica live show.

[The Butcher]

You're describing a lot of metal fandom in fairness, or fandom of any other subgenre. I could substitute Metallica for Bathory or Sodom amongst people I know, or the Melvins, or Swans. I'm probably guilty of some of this with Voivod or Mr. Bungle or Cardiacs or whoever. it is what it is.And what it is, yes, is boring. But people get really into things, I wouldn't say it's just Metallica here. The same phenomenon just happened with Oasis, for example.

For what it's worth, I'm confident saying a lot of the current "Metallica family" of my age are people who gave me shit in 6th class or first year for liking Metallica prior to Enter Sandman (or, let's be fucking honest, Nothing Else Matters) came along and made them acceptable. id rather be shot in the face than be around them. Do I begrudge them going to see Metallica or think they aren't entitled to like "my" band?Not at all, i hope they had a good time. I stopped caring after Justice, and moved onto other things, the band they became after that felt drastically different to the band I'd liked. That bothered me at 13, but I'm 49 now and I couldn't care less.

I think reading these posts it's fantastic to see they're still drawing all ages. I've no interest in seeing them but I'd imagine this was a "first gig" for a lot of young kids, and wether I care about nowadays Metaillca or not, I think that's really cool.

100%.

it's the social media "blow ins" of a similar age to myself - all it took was owning a smart phone, a social media account and Spotify - next thing they're a massive Metallica fan. People who i knew in the 1990s and 2000s - just normies then - no interest, now "true believers" - or worse, the ones who berated you, called you a "hippy bastard" or whatever - not they're at Deftones, Metallica, Maiden - all the big, entry level gigs - and then they're asking, "Were you not at X" - Nah mate, saw them when they WERE X back in the 1990s.

The slagging because you were into metal as a young teen etc was part n parcel of going against the grain so to speak, just became an easy target for people who were deeply insecure to deflect onto you instead and/or were easily swayed by groupthink. I always find it fascinating the draw towards any popular person/thing etc.

Re: opinions on a gig - it shouldn't irk people one way or the other, it's going to happen regardless, part of being on a forum lol. If people want to criticise or praise they are fully entitled, same with disagreeing/countering.

There was a chap singing Frantic word for word all the way out of the arena on Sunday seemingly devastated there was nothing from St.Anger  - was it irritating...yes, yes it was    but fair play for the enthusiasm! He was from Cork...obviously

The load/reload + hits tour idea was simply a thought based on Metallica extending their longevity, they would still sell out no doubt about it, look at GNR, one excellent album and you can squeeze the life out of that for decades!

And as for Fuel going down well with the crowd ->

[NINE-T]

He was from Cork😂😂😂😂 shur down here tis St LAnger and went straight to number 1 at the time.

[Pentagrimes]

It's also very easy to forget as an ould lad that people have different, later points of entry for different bands. I can't understand, famously, why people would favour Slaughter of the Soul or Heartwork to ATG or Carcass first albums, but then I got into at the time of those releases, whereas the MTV videos off those albums were the introduction for people who didnt

[BobbyAxelrod]

if ye want to pay good money for a St. Anger gig, then fill your boots.

I would love to go to a Metallica gig where they played the whole of St. Banger.