When Metallica took the stage for the opening night of their Life Burns Faster residency at the Las Vegas Sphere on Thursday, October 1, the immediate question was how an established thrash metal outfit would handle the venue's massive screen architecture. Instead of treating the gig like another stop on their M72 tour schedule, James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett, and Robert Trujillo used the curved surfaces and sheer physical scale of the dome to reshape their setlist, pulling out several songs that had spent years away from live rotation.
The group signaled that shift right from the opening moments. Metallica began the concert with Battery, marking the first occasion since July 2014 that the Master of Puppets opener has functioned as the show starter. The band kept the early momentum moving directly into Creeping Death before shifting to Now That We're Dead. That particular cut from 2016's Hardwired... to Self-Destruct had not made an appearance in a Metallica setlist since September 2021, providing an early indication that the residency would not lean exclusively on recent tour routines.
The most notable development of the evening came later in the performance with the return of ...And Justice for All. The title track from their 1988 studio album had not been performed on stage since August 9, 2014, ending a twelve year absence from the group's live repertoire. Metallica built anticipation for the return by stitching together a heavy sequence of catalog material ahead of it, moving from Sad but True into The Shortest Straw, Wherever I May Roam, and The Day That Never Comes before launching into the sprawling track itself.
Visuals inside the high resolution performance space played a substantial role in framing the heavier material. During the show, audiences watched a massive Cthulhu appear on the overhead screens, looming directly over the venue. The band matched that imagery on the floor with their instrumental piece The Call of Ktulu, which was offered with a spoken dedication to the memory of late bassist Cliff Burton. Other mainstays remained in the program as the evening unfolded, with the group working through Seek & Destroy, Ride the Lightning, The Memory Remains, and Master of Puppets.
As is customary during their full concerts, Hammett and Trujillo took over the floor for an instrumental duo segment between full band arrangements. This time, the guitarist and bassist built their improvisation around a rearranged version of Sleepwalk My Life Away, a song from 72 Seasons, the release that has formed the core of their ongoing global tours. Hetfield and Ulrich then rejoined their bandmates on stage to close out the remaining stretches of the performance, delivering Nothing Else Matters alongside Lux Æterna.
Ulrich previously explained that the concept for the Las Vegas run began during the venue's very first opening concerts in 2023. The drummer noted that he spent all of twelve seconds watching U2 perform at the Sphere before concluding that the venue represented uncharted territory for live performance, convincing him that Metallica needed to construct a production specifically for it. For Ulrich, committing to the residency provided an opportunity to rethink how the band interacts with spectators in an arena environment, exploring different ways to stage their catalog.
The residency schedule at the Sphere will remain active over the next few months and into the coming years. Following the October 1 launch, the run picked up again on October 3 and continues across the rest of the month. Metallica will return for an additional pair of shows on November 5 and November 7, before taking a break until early 2027. That winter stretch will include dates on January 28 and January 30, several concerts across February, and further performances extending into the middle of March.
Looking beyond the Nevada venue, the group already has other live and studio commitments on the calendar. Metallica have announced plans for a 2027 tour run alongside Limp Bizkit. In addition, the band revealed that they have assembled 767 new riffs for their next record, with signs pointing toward material influenced by their work from the nineties.
