A walkthrough of the “Black Box” lounge at METALLICA‘s concerts in Madrid, Spain, which were held on Friday, July 12 and Sunday, July 14 at Estadio Cívitas Metropolitano, can be seen below (courtesy of The Squirrel).
The “Black Box” pre-show lounge is the site of the official pre-show METALLICA party, exclusive to select Enhanced Experience customers only. Access to the lounge includes complimentary drinks as well as appetizers and bar snacks.
In support of METALLICA‘s latest album, “72 Seasons”, the band has been playing two-night, no-repeat shows in each city— first in Europe , then in North America and now back in Europe — as part of the “M72” tour. Each concert sees METALLICA performing on a massive ring-shaped stage, with the Snake Pit in the center, and four drum sets which are equally spaced out around the circular stage so drummer Lars Ulrich can get closer to the audience at various points in the show.
According to Billboard, METALLICA‘s production travels in 87 trucks — 45 for the band and its setup, plus two groups of 21 each for the steel stage and towers. There are 130 people in the band’s crew, plus 40 steelworkers, local hires and truck drivers.
METALLICA‘s manager Cliff Burnstein told Billboard that between 80% and 90% of fans at each concert attend both shows.
In a recent interview with The New York Times, METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich spoke in more detail about the “M72” stage production, saying: “This is the first time we’ve done a 360-degree stage in a stadium setup. We tried to crack the code on that for years. Everything that we had done always had a center point. We were going down this rabbit hole a year ago, and all of a sudden it was, like, ‘Well, hang on, why does the band have to be in the center?’ And then it was, like, ‘What’s the opposite of the band being in the center?’ And that would be the fans being in the center. And that’s when we came up with the doughnut concept, where you play on the doughnut itself and then the fans are in the doughnut hole. And then, well, where do the drums go? Then the concept of the four drum kits — one drum kit in each of the four different directions — came up, and then it sort of went from there.”
He added: “You know, all this [expletive] makes a lot of sense when it’s in an e-mail or it looks really good on a napkin. Nine months later you’re in the first venue trying to figure out what the [expletive] you’re doing.”
The “M72” tour launched in late April 2023 in Amsterdam.
Opening acts include FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH, ICE NINE KILLS, MAMMOTH WVH, PANTERA, ARCHITECTS, GRETA VAN FLEET and VOLBEAT.
A portion of proceeds from the shows go to METALLICA‘s All Within My Hands foundation, which seeks to assist and enrich the lives of members of the communities who have supported the band and combat food insecurity; provides disaster relief; and bestows scholarships.