Metallica to play first show of 2020 for 'Encore Drive-In Nights' series

Metallica have announced that they’ll play their first show of 2020 as part of the ‘Encore Drive-In Nights’ series.

The band will shoot a special show at a secret location near their northern California headquarters, which will subsequently be shown on August 29 at hundreds of drive-in and outdoor theatres across the United States and Canada.

The venture will mark their first show since the ‘S&M2’ concerts that opened at Chase Center in San Francisco in September 2019. They were set to head out on a tour of Australia and New Zealand late last year, but cancelled the shows after frontman James Hetfield was admitted to rehab.

Pre-sale tickets for the drive-in show will be available exclusively to Metallica’s Fifth Member fan club and available here from August 12.

Every ticket purchase – which admits one carload of up to six people – will also include four digital downloads of Metallica’s ‘S&M2’, the album which documents the two historic concerts that reunited the band and San Francisco Symphony for the first time in 20 years.

The show announcement comes after the band shared footage of one of their first rehearsal sessions since the coronavirus pandemic began.

The band have collaborated on new music over the past few months, but were unable to get together in person because of lockdown restrictions.







Posting on their Instagram story last week, Metallica gave fans a glimpse into their return to the rehearsal studio. In the short clips, the band ran through ‘Creeping Death’, which appeared on their 1984 album ‘Ride The Lightning’.

Drummer Lars Ulrich, guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Rob Trujillo could all be seen wearing face masks in the footage, while frontman James Hetfield sported a cowboy hat.

They also confirmed earlier this year that they had been working on new material since the pandemic began. Ulrich initially said there was “a very good chance” the group would utilise their extra downtime to produce a “quarantine record” while Trujillo gave fans an update on the status of new music last month.

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