Video: Metallica Play Surprise Small Club Show in Chicago
Metallica played a surprise “pop-up” show at The Metro in Chicago last night, September 20, the second such intimate club performance they’ve sprung on fans same day in the past week (following one in San Francisco’s 500-capacity The Independent last Thursday).
Tickets went on sale at 1:30pm for $19.83, a nod to the band’s last appearance at The Metro. They sold out in less than an hour. The venue’s capacity is 1,100, and proof of vaccination was required for entry.
A show in the band’s hometown is one thing, but two dots make a line, as the axiom goes: we gotta wonder, are more of these planned? New York City would be the obvious best guess for next show if so — not only is it the biggest metro market in the U.S., but it would make sense geographically following the band’s trek east — but don’t count out other major markets like Atlanta, Miami, Dallas, Phoenix, etc. If you live in one of those places, maybe keep an extra close eye on social media over the next couple of weeks!
You can watch fan-filmed footage of the Chicago show below.
While the setlist spanned Metallica’s full career, these shows are in celebration of the super-duper-extra-special-deluxe thirtieth anniversary reissue of the Black Album, which arrived on September 10. Metallica are also promoting The Metallica Blacklist, a new release which features 50+ covers of songs from Metallica’s Black Album, including contributions from Corey Taylor, Ghost, Miley Cyrus, Volbeat, Weezer, Biffy Clyro, Chris Stapleton, Royal Blood, the Hu, Elton John, Yo-Yo Ma, Chad Smith, Phoebe Bridgers, and more. That comes out on October 1.
Metallica have been deep in “some pretty serious writing” for their next album since last November with the most recent update, indicating ten songs were partially written, coming this past May via frontman James Hetfield.
Upcoming Metallica live dates:
9/24/21 – Louisville, KY – Louder Than Life at Highland Festival Grounds at KY Expo Center [tickets]
9/26/21 – Louisville, KY – Louder Than Life at Highland Festival Grounds at KY Expo Center [tickets]
10/8/21 – Sacramento, CA – Aftershock at Discovery Park [tickets]
10/10/21 – Sacramento, CA – Aftershock at Discovery Park [tickets]
11/4/21 – Hollywood, FL — Hard Rock Live at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino [tickets]
11/12/21 – Daytona Beach, FL – Welcome to Rockville at the Daytona International Speedway [tickets]
11/14/21 – Daytona Beach, FL – Welcome to Rockville at the Daytona International Speedway [tickets]
12/17/21 — San Francisco, CA — Chase Center [fan club only]
12/19/21 — San Francisco, CA — Chase Center [fan club only]
6/15/22 – Copenhell – Copenhagen, Denmark [tickets]
6/17/22 – Firenze Rocks – Florence, Italy [tickets]
6/19/22 – Prague Rocks – Prague, Czech Republic [tickets]
6/22/22 – Rock Werchter – Werchter, Belgium [tickets]
7/1/22 – Mad Cool – Madrid, Spain [tickets]
7/6/22 – NOS Alive – Lisbon, Portugal [tickets]
