Metallica To Celebrate 40th Anniversary With Two Shows At San Francisco’s Chase Center

Tim Mosenfelder / Getty Images – Chase The Lightning
Metallica’s James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich perform at the opening of San Francisco’s Chase Center, where the band will play two 40th anniversary gigs this December.

Metal titans Metallica will celebrate their 40th anniversary this December with two shows at San Francisco’s Chase Center.

Booked for Dec. 17 and 19, the gigs will feature two different setlists. Tickets will be available only to registered members of Metallica’s Fifth Member fan club, who will be invited to enter to win reservation codes that will guarantee them the opportunity to purchase tickets.

In addition to the Chase Center concerts, Metallica will curate live music and comedy events, tastings of their Blackened Whiskey, and other programming in San Francisco over a celebratory four-day weekend beginning Dec. 16.

Metallica’s December shows at Chase Center represent the band’s return to the new San Francisco arena, which it opened with two shows in September 2019. Those sold-out performances, billed as S&M 2 and performed with the San Francisco Symphony, moved 32,708 tickets and grossed $4.13 million.

In 2019, Metallica ranked No. 4 on Pollstar‘s worldwide touring chart, with a global gross of $179 million, capping a tremendous decade where the band grossed $661.9 million, landing it at No. 12 on Pollstar‘s Top Touring Artists of the Decade list.

Before hitting Chase Center, Metallica has headlining plays on the books for three Danny Wimmer Presents festivals: Louisville, Ky.’s Louder Than Life in September; Sacramento, Calif.’s Aftershock in October; and Daytona Beach, Fla.’s Welcome To Rockville in November. At each festival, Metallica will play two different nights with two different setlists.

The band also has a stadium gig planned for Nov. 6 at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz stadium.

“I keep thinking and forcing myslef to think all our best years are still ahead of us,” drummer Lars Ulrich told Pollstar for a September 2019 cover story that made the case for Metallica as the world’s biggest touring act. “We may even turn professional and do this full time one day.”