Metallica
Metallica at ACL 2018 (photo by Andy Sawyer)

Metallica played the hits at ACL Fest (videos, setlist)

Saturday may have been Metallica’s ACL debut, but it’s no stranger to city limits. As old concert footage flashed on-screen, the band reminded locals that apparently on Feb. 21, 1985, Metallica played in town. And in 1983. Heck when the band showed up at Stubb’s in 2008 to promote its “Guitar Hero” video game, it was a mob scene of star-crossed fans who couldn’t get in and filled up the then-neighboring parking garage.

Some generations point to “Stairway to Heaven” as their rock epic; millennials have “Pyramids” by Frank Ocean. The Reagan-era “One,” with its thrash breakdowns and boiling chants, endures as a somber reminder that the human experience is suffering. In the meantime, fans gave a middle finger to cameramen and yelled along to feel better.

“Metallica is with you, City Limits — it’s about time,” Hetfield said as he oversaw a two-hour, 16-songs-plus set.

[…] Predictably for a festival, the set was heavy on hits. “Are you still out there?” Hetfield asked as fireworks signaled “Enter Sandman.” That one just doesn’t age. On “For Whom the Bell Tolls,” riff machine Kirk Hammett stole the stage with a mammoth, song-ending solo that was liberal with the whammy-bar wailing. [Austin 360]

After kicking off on Friday with headliner Paul McCartney, Austin’s ACL Festival continued on Saturday (10/6) with another superstar headliner, Metallica. They played four songs of 2016’s Hardwired… To Self-Destruct and their Reload hit “Fuel,” but other than that, every song they played was from 1990 or earlier. They loaded the setlist with classics like “Seek & Destroy,” “Creeping Death,” “Welcome Home (Sanitarium),” “For Whom the Bell Tolls,” “Fade to Black,” “One,” “Master of Puppets,” “Battery,” and more. Check out the full setlist and videos below.

Day two of ACL Fest also included Justice, Deftones, St. Vincent, Blood Orange, The Breeders, Sharon Van Etten, and more. We’ll have pictures of the whole day coming soon. ACL weekend one wraps up today (10/7) with Travis Scott, Arctic Monkeys, Phoenix, Janelle Monae, and more. If you’re not there, you can stream it live.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNyzVG5XJ68

Metallica at ACL Fest 2018 Setlist (via)
Hardwired
Atlas, Rise!
Seek & Destroy
Creeping Death
Welcome Home (Sanitarium)
Now That We’re Dead
For Whom the Bell Tolls
Fade to Black (followed by Kirk & Rob’s solos incl. ‘Telephone Song’ & ‘(Anesthesia) Pulling Teeth’)
Fuel
Moth Into Flame
Sad but True
One
Master of Puppets

Encore:
Battery
Nothing Else Matters
Enter Sandman (with ‘The Frayed Ends of Sanity’ outro)