Vacations Blog

Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett and James Hetfield have watched heavy metal grow and spread out of the underground and morph from St. Anger to become part of the mainstream. 29 years from inception, Metallica remains one of the only two bands in history with five successive albums debuting at No.1 on the Billboard 200.

Metallica - James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich & Kirk Hammett

There’s no denying the longevity and magnetism of Metallica, and they’re proving it yet again by packing in the crowds for a marathon 2-year Magnetic World Tour.

On this tour, which started in 2008 and continues well into 2010, Metallica is promoting their ninth album Death Magnetic. Their December schedule includes sold out shows in Vegas and Anaheim, along with shows in Boise, Idaho and Sacramento and San Jose in California. As of now, Metallica tickets are available for these shows, on a limited basis.

If it isn’t possible for you to be on hand at see Lars Ulrich punish his Tama signature snare drums and watch Hetfield shred his larynx, Metallica has a backup plan for fans who miss out on the live shows.

In fact, the tour – which started off as an effort to promote Death Magnetic, has now taken on a life of its own.

Metallica has taken to having a film crew tagging along for the tour, and creating DVD and CD sets for all the important shows along the way.  

They just released the DVD of their show in France, called Francais Pour Une Nuit. On Nov 30, Metallica is releasing another DVD set of the three shows earlier this year at the Foro Sol Stadium in Mexico City.

Metallica - Mexico tour DVD set

The set, titled Orgullo, Pasion y Gloria: Tres Noches En La Ciudad de Mexico, captures all the frenzy and mayhem generated during a heady weekend in June by the 155,000 fans who couldn’t get enough of Metallica hits like Enter Sandman and Creeping Death.

In case you missed out on the Mexico shows, you have the chance to make up for it in March 2010, when Metallica performs at Guadalajara and Monterrey.

In addition to Mexico, Metallica’s 2010 schedule includes shows all over South America including Brazil, Chile, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Panama, Columbia and Puerto Rico. The South America tour is followed by shows in Norway, Latvia, Lithuania and then Moscow.

If you can’t travel to any of these concerts to see Metallica live, you can still follow along by visiting Metontour.com.

Lars Ulrich & James Hetfield photos by Kreepin Deth; Kirk Hammett photo by Flowkey