A Linc crowd of 65,000 raised its devil horns to Metallica on the first of its two nights in South Philly

The title of 72 Seasons, the 2023 album that set off Metallica on the M72 World Tour, refers to the formative years on the path to adulthood. The tour arrived at Lincoln Financial Field in South Philadelphia on Friday.

“72 seasons is basically the first 18 years of your life,” Metallica frontman James Hetfield has explained. “How do you evolve and grow and mature and develop your own ideas and identity of self after those first 72 seasons?”

And as a group whose three longest-standing members ― Hetfield, drummer Lars Ulrich, and guitarist Kirk Hammett ― recorded their debut album, Kill ‘Em All, in May 1983, how do you continue to evolve and mature after 168 seasons together, during which time you’ve grown into the biggest metal band the world has ever seen?

Those questions were answered to the ultimate satisfaction of the 65,000 or so multigenerational members of what Hetfield referred to as “the Metallica family” who packed the sold-out Linc during the first of two shows of what was billed as a Metallica Philly Takeover.

Friday’s show was the first night of a No Repeat Weekend, in which the band ― whose bassist, Robert Trujillo, has been a fourth member since 2003 ― gives fans good reason to go both nights, because no song is played twice.

Variety is also the spice of Metallica life when it comes to opening acts.

On Friday, the music started at 6 p.m. sharp with trumpet-playing Boston metal band Ice Nine Kills (whose name is inspired by Kurt Vonnegut’s 1963 novel Cat’s Cradle) followed by Fred Durst-fronted still-kicking rap-rockers Limp Bizkit.

The Sunday openers will be entirely different and, in all likelihood, far superior. Lucky metalheads will get to see Los Angeles thrash band Suicidal Tendencies, whose lineup includes Trujillo’s son Tye on bass and E Street Band drummer Max Weinberg’s son Jay on drums. Plus, formidable veteran Texas metal band Pantera.

After Limp Bizkit’s rain-soaked set culminated with a cover of George Michael’s “Faith” and the band’s trademark knuckleheaded hit “Break Stuff,” the heavens cleared, and it was Metallica time.

It was a dramatic entrance, to say the least. First, the fist-pumping began with a tribute to one of the band’s chief influences with a recording of AC/DC’s “It’s a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock ‘n’ Roll)” firing up the crowd.

That gave way to Ennio Morricone’s magisterial film score music “The Ecstasy of Gold” from Sergio Leone’s The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, with actor Eli Wallach shown running around looking for a cemetery made of gold on the four-sided video screen mounted on eight giant lampposts rising high above the Eagles’ football field floor.

And then ― boom! ― Metallica arrived, the members (of course) dressed in black as they blasted out the biblical thrash-metal riff monster “Creeping Death,” a song about the plagues of Egypt inspired by Cecil B. DeMille’s The Ten Commandments, from the 1984 album Ride The Lightning.

Thus began the not-lighthearted evening, with a 16-song, two-hour show filled with dour song titles that do not espouse an optimistic world view: “Harvester of Sorrow,” from 1988’s … And Justice For All; “The Day That Never Comes,” from 2008’s Death Magnetic; “If Darkness Had a Son,” one of three songs from 72 Seasons.

But while the vision may be bleak on paper ― and Hetfield’s lyrics tend to be devoid of humor or romance ― the Metallica concert experience is a collective devil-horns-in-the-air expression of communal bonding over songs that celebrate battling though torment.

It’s heavy, all right. But for members of the massive Metallica fan base, like the woman sitting in front of me who had flown in from San Antonio, Texas, to finally get to see her favorite band on her 50th birthday, it’s also cathartic.

It helps that the band upholds the highest standard of professionalism. The audience is mainly on hand to hear the old stuff, the run of five classic albums that began with Kill ‘Em All and progressed though the no-longer-thrashy majestic mainstream breakthrough Metallica (known as The Black Album) in 1991.

The band gives the people what they want, but on Friday it also wove in enough songs ― like “King Nothing,” from 1996’s Load, which is being reissued in an expanded version next month, and the less captivating “Cyanide” from Death Magnetic ― to keep it from playing like a backward-looking greatest hits show.

Still, the crowd-pleasers were the band’s benchmark songs from The Black Album: “Holier Than Thou,” “Nothing Else Matters,” and “Sad but True.” (“Enter Sandman” is being saved for Sunday.)

And the two burners that had fans losing their minds were the lightning-fast closers in “Seek and Destroy” from Kill ‘Em All and the title track to 1986’s Master of Puppets.

The staging was superb, with the musicians sounding super-tight and locked in, as they should be given they’ve been on tour for over two years.

Hammett’s shredding solos dazzled and never dithered. The four musicians gathered in close formation on two different stages, and also roamed freely over a vast space on the stadium, surrounded by general admission headbanging crowds.

Hetfield, who changed into many different black shirts over the course of the evening, handled all the vocals, with occasional assistance from Trujillo.

He remains an impressive frontman, an imposing figure still in powerful voice who’s also an agreeably unpretentious host. “The song is called ‘If Darkness Had A Son.’ Do you know what that’s about?” he asked. “No, neither do I.”

Hetfield congratulated Philly fans on winning the Super Bowl and got booed when he asked jokingly, “What’s the team called, the Beagles?” and admitted he’s a Raiders fan.

But he also came off as sincere in acknowledging Metallica’s long history in Philly, including the “Million Decibel March” held in a parking lot in 1997. Images of ticket stubs for an Electric Factory show the next year were shown on the video screen.

“We are so glad you showed up,” he told the assembled Metallica family members. “Music saves my life every day. I hope you feel the same.”

Metallica set list, M72 World Tour, Lincoln Financial Field, May 23, 2025

“Creeping Death”

“Harvester of Sorrow”

“Holier Than Thou”

“King Nothing”

“72 Seasons”

“If Darkness Had A Son”

“Kirk and Rob Doodle”

“The Day That Never Comes”

“Cyanide”

“Orion”

“Nothing Else Matters”

“Sad but True”

“Fight Fire with Fire”

“Fuel”

“Seek and Destroy”

“Master of Puppets”