Metallica, Five Finger Death Punch, Ice Nine Kills
Olympic Stadium, Montreal QC
August 13th, 2023
Canadian Beats Passport
Metallica was in town for a once-in-a-lifetime weekend at Montreal’s Olympic Stadium! We caught the second night of the M72 World Tour, after a first show at the Big O on Friday with totally different openers and setlists.
The evening started with Boston’s Ice Nine Kills. Led by the charismatic Spencer Charmes, the band brought their hyper-visual and cinematic set. Did it translate as well on the massive centre stage as it did back in Laval with the Trinity of Terror? Maybe not, but it was still a treat to take a trip down back to Horrorwood!
Up next, Five Finger Death Punch brought a heavy and hard-hitting set, in somewhat intimate lighting (as intimate as it can get for a 70000-seat venue). Highlights included the Bad Company cover, and of course the explosive Burn MF!
Finally, a bit before 9pm, AC/DC’s It’s a long way to the top blared through the stadium, followed by Ennio Morricone’s The Ecstasy of Gold as Metallica appeared on stage to a thunder of applause. James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett, Lars Ulrich and Robert Trujillo commanded the stage as they walked around the circle non-stop, making sure fans beyond the centre Snake Pit got their money’s worth! Based on the Friday night setlist, fans knew not to expect Fade to Black, Nothing Else Matters and Master of Puppets, but they still got treated to Dirty Window‘s tour debut, Lux Æterna, and an explosive finale with One and Enter Sandman!
Metallica hadn’t played in Montreal since Parc Jean Drapeau in 2017, and 31 years (almost to the day) at the Stadium, since the infamous 1992 show where James got burned by pyro, and the show turned into a riot after Guns and Roses cut their set shorts. Needless to say, this weekend’s shows had much happier endings, and an epic way to welcome back shows at the Olympic Stadium!
Metallica
Five Finger Death Punch
Ice Nine Kills
