The O2 London Sets Attendance Record With Metallica

Metallica’s Oct. 24 show at The O2 London welcomed 22,211 guests, which marks an attendance record for the arena.  

Ross Halfin – Metallica O2
L-R: Robert Trujillo, Lars Ulrich, Live Nation’ Andy Copping, The O2’s Christian D’Acuna, Kirk Hammett, K2 Agency’s John Jackson, James Hetfield

The previous record was set by Muse, which attracted 21,000 fans to The O2 on April 15, 2016, as part of their Drones tour. Like Muse’s stage in 2016, Metallica’s stage on the current Worldwired tour is also located in the round.

The seating configuration had been tweaked compared to when Muse played last year, including the addition of the new Amazon Lounges and The Deck. 

“Coupled with staging configuration and suites at full capacity gave the figure it did,” an arena spokesperson told Pollstar.

The Oct. 24 show marked the second of two concerts Metallica played at the iconic venue, which has been leading Pollstar’s year-end arena ticket sales charts for nine consecutive years. The first show took place Oct. 22.

On the first night, the large number of people in combination with tight security caused major queues at the gates, and many people were still taking their seats after the band had started playing some 15 minutes later than scheduled, indicating that despite The O2’s constant communication about the safety measures in place, punters are still adapting to the new security environment, i.e. still not arriving early enough.

Pollstar wasn’t present on the second night, but was told by concertgoers that the band started playing with a 45 minute delay.