Metallica – Sphere – Las Vegas, Nevada – 15th October 2026

When the biggest band in the world announced they would be playing a residency at the most advanced venue in the world, we knew it would be something special and despatched our resident Metallica superfan, Andy Pountney, to investigate. 

LIFE BURNS FASTER

Not content with spending the last three years touring the world in support of their most recent album 72 Seasons with the M72 tour, Metallica announced a residency at Las Vegas’ Sphere, a unique venue with its with its domed structure, fully immersive wrap around screens and advanced sound system.

Dubbed ‘Life Burns Faster’, the residency continues with the “No Repeat Weekend” format from the M72 tour, meaning that the two shows each week would have completely different set lists, allowing the band to explore deeper cuts as well as delivering “the hits”. The band also promised to continue with their city takeovers, offering far more than just the concerts to keep fans entertained during their stay, not that this was really necessary in the entertainment capital of the world! The prospect of catching this once in a lifetime opportunity was irresistible and saw fans travel from around for the world.

THE BUILD UP

During the week leading up to the shows we were attending, Las Vegas was recovering from the aftermath of Storm Rachel, but that didn’t stop the Metallifamily who were arriving in ever growing numbers and the atmosphere was building nicely as endless variation of Metallica shirts were evident up and down the strip, with nods and fist bumps becoming the norm.

The pop up shop, hosted in the luxurious Venetian Hotel, opened its doors on Wednesday, offering the biggest selection of merch I’ve ever seen at a pop up shop, much of it specific for the Sphere shows including gig specific posters and shirts, causing fans to queue well before the doors opened. The shop even drew in intrigued business folk who were attending a large conference also being hosted in the hotel!

BLACK BOXES AND MORE

On the day of the shows, the “Black Box Experience” was open to those who had purchased “Enhanced Experience” packages, as well as being available to others on the Friday between shows. This experience was hosted at The Palazzo Hotel, part of the The Venetian resort and equally luxurious. During the residency, the area was taken over and “Metallified” with booths being covered with posters and “graffiti”, pinball, foosball, air hockey and pool all being available, a theatre style seated area, a merch area with exclusive items and of course the museum with hundreds of items of unique memorabilia and a few complimentary drinks. Metallica videos were screened while a soundtrack mixing metal classics with Metallica providing the perfect pre show warm up. 

FOLLOW THE YELLOW BRICK ROAD

On the approach to the Sphere it was entertaining to watch the venue’s external shell light up with LED screens showing videos including a promo video for the Life Burns Faster tour, interspersed with videos of The Wizard of Oz (also showing at the Sphere), including snippets of Follow The Yellow Brick Road. Once inside, the venue was very impressive and not what most metal fans will be used to! It was sleek and modern, almost futuristic in appearance and, as might be expected for a bespoke venue, has excellent logistics, although more men’s toilets would be useful as there were long queues for these throughout both shows.

Entering the actual auditorium is breathtaking – The huge cavernous sphere has tiers of seats on one side facing a huge wall of wrap around screens making this a fully immersive experience. Before the band came on stage, the screens displayed fan banners and artwork that the band have collected over the years with a huge number of countries represented demonstrating the wide appeal and reach of the band, as well as the dedication of their fanbase. 

THE APPOINTED HOUR

There was an air of expectation as the arena filled and this was clearly going to be something special. At the allotted hour the PA upped its volume and blasted out AC/DC’s It’s A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock n’ Roll)’ which has been used to herald the start of the concert since 2003, if I recall correctly. During this, the screen changed and showed images of fans at shows and with the band over the years, as the roar from the crowd got louder until the lights dimmed and Ennio Morricone’s The Ecstasy Of Gold took over, with the screens taking us on a 3D journey through the familiar The Good, The Bad And The Ugly graveyard, as the chairs in the venue shook, adding to the impact.

Images of crosses from the Master Of Puppets album artwork took over the screen before the PA crackled and cut out, only to kick back in with the band delivering a ferocious version of Battery leading straight into Creeping Death with images of floods and storms filling the arena. Now That We’re Dead brought us from the 80s to 2016 with images of stained glass windows containing videos of the band members on the screen.

A ROLLERCOASTER

A groove laden Sad But True rumbled around the arena much to the approval of the increasingly loud crowd with images of a hammer swinging down among projected images of the band, while a magnificent rendition of The Shortest Straw (complete with images of a deconstructing slot machine) was less well recognised by many in the crowd. In contrast Wherever I May Roam was greeted with a huge cheer and saw the wrap round screens used to project images of a train journey around the world, culminating that the sphere, but this had the effect of a 3D rollercoaster and had some feeling nauseated or unsteady on their feet!

THE STRONGEST SECTION

This led into the strongest section of the show for me with a crushing version of Welcome Home (Sanitarium), complete with visions of a psychiatric hospital from the viewpoint of the patient and …And Justice For All with images of court houses and Doris, the Metallica version of the Lady Justice statue which of course collapsed during the track, as it did all those years ago on the Damaged Justice tour. 

There was then some brief respite as Kirk and Rob did their traditional “doodle” section covering Devil’s Lettuce. To be honest, most of the crowd didn’t recognise this and the show lost some momentum here. However, as soon as the opening chords of Nothing Else Matters were played, the entire place roared their approval prompting one of the biggest sing alongs of the night.

FALLEN BROTHER

Keeping the emotive energy, The Call Of Ktulu was an unexpected highlight with a powerful rendition in front of images of Ktulu rising from the ocean before terrorising Las Vegas, despite the efforts of fighter jets to stop it! At the end of the track, James dedicated the track to Cliff Burton with an image of their “fallen brother” projected onto the screen, hovering above the stage and most of the audience as though looking down from above.

INEVITABLE…BUT FORMIDABLE

The first and only offering from the most recent album 72 Seasons was a blistering version of the stunning Lux Æterna complete with yellow streaks of light projecting from the top of arena down over images of band members like a bright yellow Aurora Borealis. We were then into the closing portion of the show as things built to a climax with Ride The Lightning and The Memory Remains, with the obligatory extended crowd singalong section.

The only offering from Kill ‘em All for the two nights was Seek & Destroy mixing pictures of old rehearsal spaces and venues then switching to futuristic images before the show was closed with the inevitable, but no less formidable Master Of Puppets This began with a sea of crosses on the screen before we were floating between the crosses across the field. The image then inverted so that there was a field of crosses upside down across roof of sphere, which then started falling as the track built to its climax, bringing night one to a glorious close, leaving the content crowd heading out into the warm Las Vegas evening, already anticipating night two. 

All photography by Andy Pountney (Event Photography Awards Winner 2024 and 2025). You can check out more of his work on shot_in_the_dark_photography2 on Instagram.

All photos taken from the crowd with a point and shoot camera.

Images with “effects” are photos of the big screen, whereas photos of band members are direct photos. 

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