I’ve just returned from an excursion to London, England, where Metallica closed out a three-year-long tour to support their latest album, 2023’s 72 Seasons. Like most of the dates, which included stops around the world since beginning in the spring of that year, the pair of shows at London Stadium earlier this month were of the “no repeat” variety, meaning no song was played more than once.
Night one, July 3, saw French metal outfit Gojira and Kentucky punkers Knocked Loose as support. London had just begun a weeklong heatwave, so the sold-out audience was already well warmed up when Metallica hit the stage with opener “Creeping Death” from their 1984 sophomore release, “Ride the Lightning.”
Led by frontman and rhythm guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, ripped through a 16-song set that touched on nine of their 11 studio albums. It was most heavy on their 1991 self-titled breakthrough, from which they drew four tracks, including the deep cuts “Holier Than Thou” and “Of Wolf and Man.”
Midway through the concert, Hetfield addressed the crowd during the hit ballad “Fade to Black.”
“Hey London, do you feel it? Do you feel what I feel?” he asked to rapturous applause. “That’s right. You are not alone. Music has saved my life.”
Just before that, while Hetfield and Ulrich took their nightly break, guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Rob Trujillo did their hit-and-miss “doodle” segment, where the two pay homage to an artist – or artists – local to the region, with a very loose cover. The first evening was a rough one as they stumbled through Ian Dury’s “Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll” and The Clash’s “Guns of Brixton.”
The fumble hardly put a damper on the proceedings, which wound down with “Master of Puppets,” a song that’s exploded into the mainstream since being featured on the Netflix series “Stranger Things” in 2022.
As they’ve been doing with most of the no-repeat stops on the M72 tour, Metallica took the next day off, returning July 5 to London Stadium, home of the West Ham United Football Club for the bulk of the year. Since it was a Sunday, the curfew was earlier, meaning the band had to take the stage a half hour sooner than Friday. Opening duties went to Swedish metal band Avatar and Texas groove maestros Pantera.
Fans at the second show had a pretty good idea of some of the material they’d be hearing from the headliner. “For Whom the Bell Tolls,” “One,” “The Unforgiven,” and “The Call of Ktulu” – one of two instrumentals rotating in and out of the sets – weren’t heard the first night and were shoo-ins for the second night. Another 16-song set, this time culled from eight of the band’s LPs, with the surprises being “Blackened” and the cover song “Whiskey in the Jar.”
The night also marked a bittersweet anniversary. It had been exactly one year since the Back to the Beginning concert in nearby Birmingham, which served as a farewell celebration for Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath. Metallica had performed at that show, and just over two weeks later, Osbourne passed away.
To pay homage to the Prince of Darkness, Hammett and Trujillo jammed on Sabbath’s “Electric Funeral,” as well as the Sex Pistols’ “Holidays in the Sun.” The tribute took on extra weight as Osbourne’s wife Sharon and daughter Kelly were in attendance.
As the sun set over the stadium in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, and the final notes to tour closer “Enter Sandman” rang out, a weary but jubilant-looking Metallica bid the crowd goodbye. It’ll be a short break for the Bay Area titans of thrash, however. This October, they’re slated to begin a 24-date residency at Sphere in Las Vegas, which is one of the most anticipated since U2 opened the venue in 2023. All the shows are currently sold out, though it’s rumored there will be more dates added at some point in the future.
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London still a hotbed for music lovers and more
London isn’t exactly hurting for tourist attractions, but if you’re a music fan, the city is a different draw altogether. Everywhere you turn, there’s another story, another landmark, another street where somebody in your record collection made history. You could spend a week there and still leave with a list of places you missed, which is exactly what I did.
Let’s get the obvious one out of the way first: Abbey Road. Yes, you should go. Yes, you should take the crosswalk photo. Just don’t expect to walk inside the studio. Abbey Road Studios is still a working recording facility, so unless you’ve got a session booked, you’re staying outside the gates, but that’s okay. There’s still a super cool gift shop with enough Beatle wares to keep the memories intact.
And just standing in the presence of where The Beatles created so much of their catalog is enough, with the wall surrounding the studio now a running scrapbook of messages from fans who have made the pilgrimage. The pro tip is to go on a weekday, in the middle of the afternoon. Traffic isn’t that bad, nor is the tourist count. Just be aware that the locals have to get where they’re going and don’t suffer fools who can’t follow the walk/don’t walk indicators.
A short ride on the Underground, aka “The Tube,” the easiest and best way to get around, you’re standing on Heddon Street, where David Bowie became Ziggy Stardust. There’s a circular plaque marking the spot where the album cover for The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars was shot. It’s not some sprawling tourist attraction, just an alley dotted with upscale dining and bars. It’s really just a normal London street until you realize what happened there.
The same goes for Berwick Street in Soho, which is less than a 10-minute walk away. Oasis fans standing in front of the record store Sister Ray will recognize it immediately as the location of the (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? cover. If you’ve ever worn that Britpop masterpiece out, it’s worth stopping for a few minutes to see how ordinary the place really is.
Once you’ve had your fill of music history stops, which should include a pop in at HMV in Oxford Circus, there are a few attractions that deserve the hype.
Start with the tour led by Brigit’s Bakery, which somehow figured out that sightseeing is better with dessert. You climb aboard a vintage double-decker bus and spend the next hour and a half rolling through London while working your way through tea, finger sandwiches, pastries, cakes, and enough sweets to make dinner feel completely unnecessary.
Along the way, upbeat hits from ABBA to the Spice Girls play from the speakers. Not only is it ridiculous in the best possible way, but the tour will give you a bird’s-eye view of what to hit later on foot. Consider it a reconnaissance mission with really good food.
The London Eye falls into the category of “Is it really worth it?” Normally, skepticism reigns when it comes to anything that winds up on every tourist checklist, but this one earns its spot. The ride is slow enough that you actually get to take everything in instead of scrambling for pictures before it’s over.
A single spin takes 30 minutes, which is more than enough to take in a view of the city that’s hard to beat – especially if the weather cooperates. Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace, St. Paul’s Cathedral, and Trafalgar Square are all visible.
A tour of Shakespeare’s Globe, a faithful reconstruction of the Globe Theatre, which burned down some 750 feet away, was a surprise, too. Even if Shakespeare isn’t your thing, hearing how the open-air, thatched-roof theater operated and what audiences experienced hundreds of years ago at the original location is fascinating. It feels less like a museum and more like stepping into another era, one where time is standing still.
Tower Bridge is another one that’s easy to underestimate. Most people snap a photo from the riverbank and keep walking. The tour lets you climb inside the bridge, walk across the glass floor high above the Thames, and see the original machinery that lifted the roadway. It’s one of those attractions that’s far more interesting than it sounds.
That’s probably what’s to like most about London. One minute you’re standing outside Abbey Road imagining what it must have been like when The Beatles were walking through those doors every day; the next you’re staring out across the skyline from the Eye with a full stomach and sore feet.
If music is the reason you’re booking the flight, though, you’ll find more than enough to justify the trip. It was almost like being Punk’d, as every night there was a gig somewhere in town. And this isn’t local bands jamming at the corner bar. This is mega popular acts – some who happen to be local – playing the city.
During Rock Music Menu’s stay, the choices were almost overwhelming. On any given night, multiple arena-caliber shows were happening across the city. Harry Styles was wrapping up a record-setting 12-night stand at Wembley Stadium. Snow Patrol headlined Crystal Palace Park. Kasabian took over Finsbury Park. Duran Duran played Hyde Park. Paul Weller returned to Bedford Park. My Chemical Romance had Wembley locked down for three nights, while Alabama Shakes filled Alexandra Palace.
You quickly realize London isn’t a city where you ask, “Who’s playing tonight?” It’s a city where you ask, “Which show am I willing to miss?”
That decision became pretty easy on July 2. The destination was the O2 Arena, home to Def Leppard. For a band that came out of Sheffield and went on to conquer radio and MTV with Pyromania, Hysteria, and Adrenalize, playing London still feels like a homecoming.
But first, a word has to be said about the gigantic mixed-use district surrounding the O2. It’s so large that there’s a multiplex that makes up just a small part of real estate, which includes some 30 bars and restaurants, outlet stores, immersive theater experiences, and even indoor skydiving. Let that sink in for a moment.
The O2 Arena opened in 2007, and its inaugural concert featured Led Zeppelin’s first full-length performance in nearly three decades. It instantly became a landmark. Now, almost 20 years since that momentous occasion, a band with a Zep-inspired moniker tore through a catalog pull of anthems like “Photograph,” “Love Bites,” “Rock of Ages,” “Bringin’ on the Heartbreak,” and of course, “Pour Some Sugar on Me.”
Watching Joe Elliot climb up the nosebleeds and sing the David Essex cover “Rock On,” the dual guitar attack of Phil Collen and Vivian Campbell raising chills with the instrumental “Switch 625,” and the one-armed Rick Allen making it look effortless as he out-drums many a peer with both limbs intact was a true marvel. And then there’s bassist Rick Savage, who looks, moves, and kills it like it’s still the late ‘80s. Def Leppard was the perfect way to kick things off. The days that followed were spent chasing music history across the city, from Abbey Road and Heddon Street to Berwick Street in Soho, with a few iconic London landmarks mixed in for good measure. Before long, it became obvious that no matter where you turned, another chapter of history – rock and otherwise – was waiting around the corner.
A version of this article appears in this week’s print and online editions of my syndicated Rock Music Menu column under the title “Metallica closes out M72 tour, preps for Sphere residency.”
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