{"id":509465,"date":"2026-06-20T10:53:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T10:53:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/509465\/"},"modified":"2026-06-20T10:53:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-20T10:53:09","slug":"metallica-at-the-aviva-review-no-encore-no-one-no-enter-sandman-not-tonight-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/509465\/","title":{"rendered":"Metallica at the Aviva review: no encore, no One, no Enter Sandman. Not tonight \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

MetallicaAviva Stadium, Dublin\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2606\u2606 <\/p>\n

Forty-five years into their career, Metallica<\/a> have been there, done that and bought the T-shirt. They\u2019ve sold a few of them, too, if tonight\u2019s crowd are anything to go by \u2013 but the thrash metal progenitors have not endured for almost half a century for no reason. The Los Angeles band\u2019s willingness to innovate has clearly paid dividends: their current M72 tour (a reference to their most recent album 72 Seasons), which has been running since 2023 and is now in its final weeks, has become one of the highest-grossing tours of all time.<\/p>\n

There have been a few missteps over the years, of course \u2013 let\u2019s not mention Lulu, their grotesque collaboration with Lou Reed in 2011, or 2003\u2019s St Anger, the painful soundtrack of a band in crisis \u2013 but James Hetfield and his bandmates are still standing, now older, greyer but no less enthusiastic. Rock\u2019s great survivors? Perhaps. And as undeniably influential as the band has been across the decades, they are also canny businessmen: tonight is the first of two gigs on their \u201cNo Repeat Weekend\u201d, which promises two completely separate set lists and ergo encourages diehard punters to buy tickets for both nights. It is, you have to admit, a genius marketing strategy.<\/p>\n

Still, there is much to enjoy. The set-up is both impressive and inventive, an enormous stage in the round placed on the stadium\u2019s pitch, with four mammoth speakers and screen rigs offering those in nosebleed seats glimpses of the band. In the centre is the \u201csnakepit\u201d, hosting a mixture of competition winners and fans who were willing to pay eye-watering prices for a close-up experience with their heroes. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Drugs, divorce and incessant drum takes: Metallica on making metal\u2019s biggest ever albumOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Taking the stage to Ennio Morricone\u2019s The Ecstasy of Gold, Hetfield and his bandmates Lars Ulrich, Robert Trujillo and Kirk Hammett brave the blustery showers and freely rove the rain-sodden stage throughout their two-hour set. Ferocious opener Creeping Death, from 1984\u2019s Ride the Lightning album, sets the tone, and the stealthy chug of Harvester of Sorrow still holds a weighty sense of menace. Leper Messiah is one of a smattering of deep cuts that delights ardent fans, but leaves Hetfield asking the crowd: \u201cAre you still out there?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheThe crowd at Metallica. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw\/The Irish Times <\/p>\n

The illustrated poster artwork featuring Phil Lynott that flashes on screen proves a tantalising bluff: there will be no Whiskey in the Jar cover tonight. Instead, a jam between bassist Trujillo and lead guitarist Hammett on Thin Lizzy<\/a>\u2019s Black Rose is delivered earnestly but cumbersomely. There are mosh pits a-plenty too, but the infectious energy does not spread to the stands until much later in the set list. The Day That Never Comes is a lugubrious beauty, the 62-year-old Hetfield\u2019s voice still holding firepower; the excellent Orion rouses the crowd and leads into a mass singalong of the magnificent Nothing Else Matters. <\/p>\n

\"KirkKirk Hammett and Lars Ulrich perform at the Aviva. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw <\/p>\n

There are a few halfhearted puffs of pyrotechnics during Fuel, while a number of giant beachballs are unleashed during Seek and Destroy, providing a strangely incongruous alternative to moshing. Master of Puppets, an undeniable crowd-pleaser, closes the set; there will be no encore, no One, no Enter Sandman. Not tonight. <\/p>\n

As the band spend the final moments of the gig throwing guitar picks and drumsticks to the audience, it\u2019s not \u201cGoodnight and thank you\u201d that they sign off with, but \u201cSee you on Sunday\u201d for round two. It\u2019s precisely what fans signed up for, but the \u2018No Repeat\u2019 aspect of this gig is what ultimately proves its downfall: stripping the set list of some of their biggest crowd-pleasing hits feels like a missed opportunity for a truly great show.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MetallicaAviva Stadium, Dublin\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2606\u2606 Forty-five years into their career, Metallica have been there, done that and bought the T-shirt.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":509466,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[1399,93,61,60,669],"class_list":["post-509465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-aviva-stadium","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-metallica"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=509465"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509465\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/509466"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=509465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=509465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=509465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}