Watch: METALLICA play the band's longest song to date, “Inamorata”, live for the first time

METALLICA played the second show of the 2024 leg of his “M72” Tour on Sunday evening (May 26) at the Olympic Stadium in Munich, Germany.

In favor of METALLICAthe latest album, “72 Seasons”The band played two-day, non-repeat shows in each city – first in Europe, then in North America, and now back in Europe – as part of the “M72” Tour. Every concert sees METALLICA Performance on a huge ring-shaped stage, with the Snake Pit in the middle and four drum kits evenly distributed around the circular stage, so that drummers Lars Ulrich can get closer to the audience at various points during the show.

At the second Munich concert METALLICA opened the show with “Creeping Death” and continued with “Harvester of grief” And “Switch on the light”The band also played classics like “Fight fire with fire”, “One” And “The Sandman is coming”and three songs from “72 Seasons”: the title song, “If darkness had a son” And “Lovers”The latter has never been played live before.

The setlist was as follows:

01. Creeping death
02. Harvester of suffering
03. Switch on the light
04. Ride the lightning
05. 72 seasons
06. If darkness had a son
07. Welcome home (Sanatorium)
08. In love (Live debut)
09. The Call of Cthulhu
10. No leaf of clover
11. Wherever I wander
12. Moth in flame
13. Fight fire with fire
14. Bread fan (Budgie cover)
15. One
16. Appearance of the Sandman

“Lovers”that the “72 Seasons” Album, has the distinction of being the longest METALLICA Song with a running time of 11 minutes and 10 seconds.

METALLICA Frontman James Hetfieldwhich the text to “Lovers”commented on the inspiration for the cut in “72 Seasons” Video with a breakdown of each title: ““The Lover”a love affair with misery. A long, classic song that just screamed to end the album. Really, really cool riffs in there, really great groove. I love the way it rounds it all off.”

In an interview with METALLICA'S So what! Fan club magazine, James said about the text for “Lovers”: “The whole song, you know, misery as my lover, and I'm trying to hide her. I enjoy her at certain times, but I don't want the world to know about her. I don't want to introduce her to the world because that's not OK. So misery as my lover serves a purpose in my life, but I don't want it to be my life, and I'm tired of it dictating my life.”

METALLICA Bassist Robert Trujillo told So what! about the bass breakdown in “Lovers”: “I believe James had the vision to create this kind of SABBATH-y, 'Old-like' moment where the bass is kind of bare, here's this beautiful but dark statement coming from the bass guitar. It feels raw but at the same time has this dark beauty. And I tried to just close my eyes and channel every note. I tell people that this song reminds me of… It's a mix of driving down the Pacific Coast Highway in the sun in your convertible, a beautiful warm summer day, with the ocean to your right or left depending on which way you're going. It has this swagger to it, it's just very cool. Nothing is rushed. It's just a beautiful drive down the Pacific Coast Highway and the California coast. And when it comes to the breakdown, it's very strong and powerful, this raw, beautiful moment. So maybe it's the ocean speaking; that's what I see. I see waves, I see the power of the ocean, the sun, the coast. And when it comes to that breakdown, it's just this raw, beautiful moment, and I closed my eyes and channeled every note. I tried to be a little melodic, but then I tried to create enough space for James to sneak in and for us to collaborate and communicate. It's one of my favorite moments in METALLICA.”

He added: “You know, I think of the incredible statements that [late METALLICA bassist] Cliff Burton was able to achieve something with the songs he was involved in. I feel that [we] had obviously hit a Grand Slam with “The Lover”. It's a cross between a beautiful old movie and a really cool painting or something… it reminds me of 'California.' There's something beautiful about it. It has a certain flavor and a certain feel to it for me.”

Hetfield spoke about his attitude ahead of the 2024 stage “M72”tell “The Metallica Report”: “What I'm getting myself into is unknown. I know how big the stage is. I know that we'll have breaks here and there. I know what we're getting into. When we started with the 'M72' Stage, walking around the stadium, between the pylons that have been set up, walking around and thinking: “Oh, the stage is going to be so big.” “Oh, that’s cool.” “That’s going to be great.” “That’s too narrow” and this and that. And then, between that point and the actual construction, when it’s kind of too late, “Oh shit, that thing is so big.” The fear level was at the beginning of the 'M72' Tour. How are we going to cover that stage? And of course my ego says, “Well, the other guys don't have to sing. They don't have to run there. They don't have to do all that. And nobody knows my worries and all my concerns.” But as soon as I share it with the other guys, they say, “Yeah, but I've got this and I've got that.” It's like, “Oh, okay. Okay. I want mine back. That's okay.” So it's known. We know what's coming and we know what shape we need to be in. And it's just fun. Now it's just fun. We stepped on that stage. It's trodden out well and worked fantastically. And so we can just go back in and do what we do best.”

When asked whether there had been any changes to the “M72” Stage at all since the 2023 shows, Hetfield said: “A few things have changed here and there – extra microphones, whatever monitors we need. And that's typical on any stage. The lighting tends to show things you don't see before: 'Yeah, we need to drape that' or whatever, just things to make it better. Like everything we do, you want to improve it. So that was the first few months of the first tour with the 'M72' Stage.”

About his preparations for a METALLICA Tour, especially when it comes to playing around 32 songs at each stop of the current tour “M72” hike, Hetfield said: “Obviously, before we go on tour, we sit there and try to remember the countless great songs we have and then just trust that when we get together, we'll be like, 'Oh, yeah.' It's muscle memory. But yeah, in the last month, the normal thing that happens is that I start to doubt myself. I start to feel insecure, 'Wow, we're old. We can't do this' and blah, blah, blah, all that bullshit that everyone tells themselves before they do something that they care about and that they hold dear. So I have nightmares like, 'I'm the only one who cares about what we're doing here. Where is everyone?' I show up at the gig. Everyone's fooling around or there's 200 people backstage. And where's my stuff? Where's the setlist? What songs are we playing? And then typical things like the guitar neck is rubber and only has two strings. And where's my roadie? And the guitar cable won't let me get to the microphone. You know, stupid stuff like that happens, and I don't freak out about it. You just practice, and it comes back pretty quickly.”

To Munich, METALLICA will continue his European tour during the first half of the summer, with stops in Italy, Spain, Denmark, Norway, France and Poland, among others. Another round of North American dates begins on August 2 in Foxborough, Massachusetts, with stops in Chicago, Minneapolis, Seattle and Edmonton. METALLICA will conclude the 2024 touring season at the end of September with four shows in Mexico City.

Accordingly Billboard, METALLICAThe production of is transported in 87 trucks – 45 for the band and their setup, plus two groups of 21 each for the steel stage and towers. The band's crew consists of 130 people, plus 40 steelworkers, local employees and truck drivers.

METALLICAManager Cliff Burnstein told Billboard that between 80% and 90% of fans attend both shows at each concert.

The “M72” Tour starts at the end of April 2023 in Amsterdam.

The supporting acts include FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH, ICE NINE KILLINGS, MAMMOTH WVH, PANTERA, ARCHITECTS, GRETA VAN FLEET And VOLBEAT.

A portion of the proceeds from the shows goes to METALLICA'S Everything is in my hands The foundation aims to help and enrich the lives of members of the communities that supported the band and to combat food insecurity by providing disaster relief and scholarships.