Metallica

When: 25th June 2026
Location: Hampden

Metallica are the pioneering LA quartet who took thrash metal into the mainstream. Coming to Glasgow’s Hampden National Park on 25th June 2026.

With ferocious tempos, precision riffing and lightning-fast aggression. Metallica have spent more than forty years leading the charge as thrash metal’s most iconic and influential force.

When it comes to heavy music legends, there are few names that command as much reverence as Metallica. Born within the fertile chaos of the early 1980s underground LA scene. Their emergence not only defined a genre, but entirely shifted the mainstream. Testing the limits of heaviness with a sound faster, louder, smarter and more fearless than anything that had come before it. A collective of long-haired riled-up riff-lovers forged the path for what metal has become.

The Titans of Metal

Standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Slayer, Megadeth, and Anthrax as the ‘Big Four’ of thrash metal. Their mission was set in motion at relentless speed with the one-two punch of 1983’s Kill ‘Em All and 1984’s Ride The Lightning. Evolving from feral, no-frills thrash to the boundless vision of timeless classics like Fade To Black and For Whom The Bell Tolls. Their ambition swiftly propelled them to the forefront of popular culture. Proving that heavy music had the potential to be cleverer than many assumed. The technical prowess of genre-defining album Master Of Puppets and the biting social commentary of 1988’s raging …And Justice for All placed Metallica in a bold league of their own.

Unflinchingly tight in their labyrinthine song structures. Balancing crushing heaviness with stadium-filling hooks, the throughline of Metallica’s epic four-decade-long journey has remained their refusal to stand still. From 1991’s world-conquering self-titled full-length (commonly known as The Black Album) to the bluesy swagger of Load (1996) and Reload (1997) and the blisteringly raw catharsis of 2008’s thrashy return-to-roots Death Magnetic, there’s been no end to their creative detours. Expanding their sonic identity at every turn, the barked commands of frontman James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett’s soaring solos, Lars Ulrich’s razor-focused percussive style, and the thunderous low end – helmed by Robert Trujillo since 2003 – have become cornerstones of metal’s DNA.

Their Legacy

With their legacy never set in stone. A new chapter unfolded on the band’s towering eleventh album 72 Seasons. Their most introspective effort to date, grappling with themes of identity and rebirth, standout tracks Lux Æterna and If Darkness Had a Son channel the fury of their early years whilst embracing the reflection of growing older.

A purposeful proclamation of Metallica’s past, present and future, their blazing creative fire was reaffirmed during a history-making double headline performance during Download Festival’s 20th anniversary weekend in 2023. One of few bands able to successfully deliver successive two-hour-long sets with no song repeated, their live show has become a rite of passage for fans of heavy music and beyond. Equal parts boisterous and theatrical, from the transcendence of a 50,000-strong singalong to One to the neck-snapping circle pits that break out during Master Of Puppets, they’ve come to hold the standard by which heavy metal shows are judged.

In 2025, Metallica announced the Metallica: M72 World Tour, including UK dates in June and July 2026.