The biggest metal band on the planet has taken over Denver, as Metallica officially landed at the fifty-yard-line of Empower Field on June 27 for the first set of its No Repeat Weekend.
More than 75,000 fervent fans, which marked an official sellout, bore witness to the epic show that showcased just why the four horsemen of thrash remain at the top of the heap. Friday’s sixteen-song setlist explored more of Metallica’s 1990s and 2000s catalog, though guitarist-vocalist James Hetfield, drummer Lars Ulrich, guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo dipped into that deep 1980s well of stone-cold classics, opening with “Creeping Death,” then “Harvester of Sorrow.”
Of course, there are all-time songs sprinkled throughout the entire discography. “King Nothing” and “Fuel” from Load and Reload, “Cyanide” and “The Day That Never Comes” from Death Magnetic. Then there’s the latest album, 72 Seasons, which kicked off the current M72 globetrotting run in April 2023, featuring the popular title track and “If Darkness Had a Son.” And there were the mega-hit Metallica songs that make up the very bedrock of thrash and modern rock. The Bay Area behemoth conjured up a trio of Black Album bangers — “Nothing Else Matters,” “Holier Than Thou,” and “Sad but True.” The band also dedicated the epic instrumental “Orion” to the late Cliff Burton, Metallica’s original god-tier bassist, who died tragically during a bus accident in 1986…