Metallica Gets Heavy At Lincoln, NE’s Pinnacle Bank Arena With Record-Setting Production

Michael Campanella / Redferns / Getty Images – Metallica
Metallica brings the “WorldWired Tour” to Ericsson Globe in Stockholm May 7.

Metallica’s concert last Thursday night (Sept. 6) at Lincoln, NE’s Pinnacle Bank Arena before 15,000, set a record as the heaviest ever, with a “dynamic weight” of up to 240,000 pounds, according to a story in the Journal Star.

The five-year-old venue’s roof held up under the weight which hung from the arena’s rigging grid and steel beams attached to the major trusses.

That was even more impressive because the stage was placed in the center of the arena, with all the production gear, sound and lighting, hung in a circle in the middle of the building.

Metallica’s production features cubes with built-in lights and video screens that move up and down. The dropping of the cubes creates the dynamic weight that pulls down on the rigging.

That setup required 158 rigging points, with the entire set-up taking less than five hours compared to the nearly 10 hours it took to set up at Minneapolis’ Target Center just a few days before. with 20 trucks hauling in the necessary equipment.

“The structural design was developed for doing concerts,” Pinnacle Bank Arena manager Tom Lorenz told the Journal Star. “That was a desire we had during the design phase, about having the structural capacity to hang the biggest shows and to have the building really fitted for concerts. The architects, engineers and builders gave us that.

“That gives us a leg up. This is unique. Not every building will be able to put up all of Metallkica’s show. We were able to do it well and do it fast.”

The show, which ended just after 11 p.m., was taken down and loaded out in 2 hours, 25 minutes, which marked a record for the Metallica tour, which has been out for more than a year.

According to Pollstar Boxoffice, Metallica’s average gross over the past 36 months $3.2 million with an average of 32,313 tickets sold per show. The group is managed by Q Prime and its agency of record in North America is Artist Group International, with K2 Agency representing the band internationally.