Metallica at MetLife Stadium
photo by Dana Distortion

Metallica played their first of 2 NYC-area shows at MetLife Stadium (pics, setlist)

Metallica began their 2017 North American tour last week and played their first of two NYC-area shows at East Rutherford, NJ’s MetLife Stadium last night (5/14). The tour is in support of last year’s Hardwired… To Self-Destruct, and the MetLife Stadium crowd got five songs off that album. Otherwise, the setlist stuck entirely to their Kill ’em All through Black Album era, save for ’90s hit “Fuel” (off Reload). Here’s an excerpt of NJ.com’s review:

…no gaffes would preclude Metallica this night as the iconic metal four-piece detonated a clean, two-hour-plus performance and reveled in its exclusivity as:

1. A guitar-focused band who still fills American football stadiums.

2. A guitar band who, while commanding American stadiums, plays new music its immense crowd actually wants to hear.

Think about it: how many traditional rock bands are left playing live music on this scale, where fans don’t run to the beer stand as soon as the new stuff kicks in?

Metallica opened its WorldWired tour date Sunday with two new tracks off the band’s first record in eight years, the critically embraced November LP “Hardwired … To Self-Destruct.” The breakneck tunes “Hardwired” and “Atlas, Rise!” erupted from the East Rutherford speakers with no less mania than the band’s most incendiary hits, and the audience — loaded with middle-aged metal-heads, 20-somethings and multi-generational rocker families — chanted the new choruses with fervor equal to many Metallica classics.

Pictures from the MetLife Stadium show are in the gallery above. Setlist below.

Before that show, Metallica had a pop-up shop at 96 Spring St in NYC, open from Friday (5/12) through Sunday (5/14). Did you go? Tonight (5/15), they’ll be on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Their second of two concerts in this area is on Wednesday (5/17) at Nassau Coliseum (tickets).

Metallica @ MetLife Stadium – 5/14/17 Setlist (via)
Hardwired
Atlas, Rise!
For Whom the Bell Tolls
Fuel
The Unforgiven
Now That We’re Dead
Moth Into Flame
Wherever I May Roam
Halo on Fire
Whiplash
Sad but True
One
Master of Puppets
Fade to Black
Seek & Destroy

Encore:
Fight Fire With Fire
Nothing Else Matters
Enter Sandman

photos by Dana Distortion