Metallica Metallica is an American heavy metal band. It was formed in Los Angeles in 1981 by vocalist and guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...

is an American heavy metal band, founded in 1981 by drummer

Lars Ulrich Lars Ulrich (; ; born 26 December 1963) is a Danish musician who is the drummer and a founding member of American heavy metal band Metallica. Along with James Hetfield, Ulrich has songwriting credits on almost all of the band's songs, and the ...

and rhythm guitarist

James Hetfield James Alan Hetfield (born August 3, 1963) is an American musician. He is the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, co-founder, and a primary songwriter of heavy metal band Metallica. He is mainly known for his raspy voice and intricate rhythm playi ...

. Aside from Ulrich, the original lineup for some of the 1982 concerts included

(

rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a guitar technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse (music), pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., d ...

and lead vocals),

Dave Mustaine David Scott Mustaine (born September 13, 1961) is an American musician. He is best known as the co-founder, frontman, primary songwriter and sole consistent member of the thrash metal band Megadeth and for his time as the lead guitarist of Met ...

(lead guitar and backing vocals) and

Ron McGovney Ronald J. McGovney (born November 2, 1963) is an American semi-retired musician, best known as the original bass guitarist in the thrash metal band Metallica from October 1981 to December 1982. Having previously played with guitarist James Hetf ...

(bass guitar).

Cliff Burton Clifford Lee Burton (February 10, 1962 – September 27, 1986) was an American musician who served as the bassist for the thrash metal band Metallica from 1982 until his death in 1986. He is renowned for his musicianship and influence. Burton ...

replaced McGovney in 1982 and played with the band until his death in 1986. After his death, bassists

Jason Newsted Jason Curtis Newsted (born March 4, 1963) is an American musician, best known as the bassist of heavy metal band Metallica from 1986 to 2001. He performed with thrash metal band Flotsam and Jetsam for the first five years of his career before ...

(1986–2001), and

Robert Trujillo Roberto Agustín Miguel Santiago Samuel Trujillo Veracruz (; born October 23, 1964) is an American musician who has been the bassist for heavy metal band Metallica since 2003. He first rose to prominence as the bassist of crossover thrash band ...

(since 2003) were recruited in the band. The lead guitarist role was taken by

Kirk Hammett Kirk Lee Hammett (born November 18, 1962) is an American musician who has been the lead guitarist of heavy metal band Metallica since 1983. Prior to joining Metallica, he co-formed the thrash metal band Exodus in 1979. In 2023, Hammett, along ...

(since 1983) after

was fired from the band, who would then go on to form the band

Megadeth Megadeth is an American thrash metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1983 by vocalist and guitarist Dave Mustaine. Known for their technically complex guitar work and musicianship, Megadeth is one of the "big four" of American thrash metal—alo ...

. During the first years Metallica played in small festivals and as supporting acts on tours for bands such as

Venom Venom or zootoxin is a type of toxin produced by an animal that is actively delivered through a wound by means of a bite, sting, or similar action. The toxin is delivered through a specially evolved ''venom apparatus'', such as fangs or a sti ...

. Since their first live gig at Radio City, Anaheim on March 14, 1982, Metallica has performed on all seven continents numbering live events every year (with the exception of 2001) in a total of over 1,600 shows. The majority of these were played in the United States, but numerous concerts were also played in Canada, the United Kingdom, and Germany, among other countries. The band also went on nine worldwide tours: Damage, Inc. Tour (1986–1987),

Damaged Justice Damaged Justice was the fourth concert tour by the American heavy metal band Metallica. It began on September 11, 1988, and ended on October 8, 1989. The name is believed to be inspired either by the cover of its fourth studio album '' ...And J ...

(1988–1989),

Wherever We May Roam Tour Wherever We May Roam (mentioned by band members in interviews as Wherever I May Roam) was a concert tour by the American heavy metal band Metallica in support of their eponymous fifth studio album (commonly known as ''The Black Album''). It beg ...

(1991–1992), Nowhere Else to Roam (1993),

Madly in Anger with the World Tour The Madly in Anger with the World Tour was a concert tour by American heavy metal band Metallica. It supported the band's eighth studio album, '' St. Anger''. The tour lasted over 12 months, beginning in the fall of 2003, performing over 100 show ...

(2003–2004), Escape from the Studio '06,

World Magnetic Tour The World Magnetic Tour was a 2008–2010 concert tour by American heavy metal band Metallica in support of the band's ninth studio album, ''Death Magnetic'', which was released on September 12, 2008. The tour officially kicked off in October 2 ...

(2008–2010),

WorldWired Tour The WorldWired Tour was a concert tour by American heavy metal band Metallica in support of their tenth studio album '' Hardwired... to Self-Destruct'', which was released on November 18, 2016. It is also their first worldwide tour after the Wo ...

(2016–2019), and

M72 World Tour The M72 World Tour is an ongoing concert tour by American heavy metal band Metallica in support of the band's eleventh studio album ''72 Seasons'', which was released on April 14, 2023. The tour was announced on November 28, 2022, following the ...

(2023–2025). During these tours, South Africa as well as several countries in Central and South America, Asia, and Oceania were visited. Metallica has played many shows at major

rock festival A rock festival is an open-air rock concert featuring many different performers, typically spread over two or three days and having a campsite and other amenities and forms of entertainment provided at the venue. Some festivals are singular eve ...

s such as

Woodstock '94 Woodstock '94 was an American music festival held in 1994 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the original Woodstock festival of 1969. It was promoted as "2 More Days of Peace and Music". The poster used to promote the first concert was r ...

Ozzfest Ozzfest was an annual music festival tour of the United States and sometimes Europe and later Japan, featuring performances by many heavy metal music, heavy metal and hard rock musical groups. It was founded by Sharon Osbourne and her husband O ...

Monsters of Rock Monsters of Rock was a hard rock and heavy metal music festival. It was originally held annually in Castle Donington, England, from 1980 to 1996, taking place every year except 1989 and 1993. It later branched into other locations such as th ...

Lollapalooza Lollapalooza () is an annual American four-day music festival held in Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park in Chicago. It originally started as a touring event in 1991, with Chicago becoming its permanent location beginning in 2005. Music genres i ...

Download Festival Download Festival is a rock festival created by Andy Copping, held annually at the Donington Park motorsport circuit in Leicestershire, England (since 2003); in Paris, France (since 2016); at Parramatta Park, Sydney (since 2019); Flemington ...

Reading Festival The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading, Berkshire, Reading and Leeds in England. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend ...

, and

Days on the Green Day on the Green was a recurring concert in Oakland, California, presented by promoter Bill Graham and his company Bill Graham Presents. Held at the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum, these events began in 1973 and continued into the early 1990 ...

. They also held numerous concerts in stadiums, some of which featured crowds of over 100,000 people. One of the highest-attendance music concerts in history was held by AC/DC on September 28, 1991, at Tushino Airfield in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, where unofficially 1.6 million people attended. Some of these performances were later released as videos for special

box set A boxed set or (its US name) box set is a set of items (for example, a compilation of books, musical recordings, films or television programs) traditionally packaged in a box, hence 'boxed', and offered for sale as a single unit. Music Artists ...

or DVD releases. Some performances have been held in theaters, including two April 1999 shows alongside the

San Francisco Symphony The San Francisco Symphony, founded in 1911, is an American orchestra based in San Francisco, California. Since 1980 the orchestra has been resident at the Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall in the city's Hayes Valley, San Francisco, Hayes Valley ne ...

that were released as the album '' S&M''. Metallica's first official tour was Kill 'Em All for One, which started in 1983 to promote their debut album. Their longest so far have been the Wherever We May Roam and World Magnetic Tours, which lasted 14 months and 20 months, respectively, with each having over 170 concerts. The band is among the most lucrative live bands, selling out half of their first 187 concerts held during the 2000s, and gaining an attendance of over 3.5 million people and a gross of over

US$ The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...

1980s tours

1990s tours

2000s tours

2010s tours

2020s tours

First and other performance

Notes

References

External links