Metallica Refuse To Slow Down As M72 Tour Roars Into 2027 — New Stadium Dates Announced After 99 Shows Across 26 Countries
Metallica’s enormous M72 era still isn’t finished.
After playing 99 M72 shows across 26 countries since launching the tour in April 2023, the metal legends have confirmed another run of stadium concerts for 2027, extending one of the biggest touring chapters of their career yet again.
The newly announced leg begins May 8 in Vancouver, British Columbia, before moving across the United States and concluding in Salt Lake City on June 19.
And Metallica aren’t abandoning the production that has helped make M72 such a spectacle.
The band says the shows will once again be performed “in the round at the 50 yard line,” placing the stage at the center of massive venues and surrounding Metallica with fans on every side.
Limp Bizkit and Avatar will serve as opening acts during the run.
Metallica’s M72 Tour Is Heading Into 2027
Metallica announced the latest extension on their website, reflecting on just how far M72 has traveled since the first concerts in 2023.
“Since we got started in April of 2023, we’ve played 99 M72 shows in 26 countries,” the band said.
The 2027 dates will take a slightly different approach to some previous M72 legs.
“This time around, we’ll be playing single shows, visiting a mix of NFL/CFL stadiums, colleges, and the homes of both men’s and women’s soccer teams,” Metallica explained.
That means the next chapter will take the band into a varied collection of enormous venues rather than limiting the tour to traditional football stadiums.
The scale, however, remains unmistakably Metallica.
The Stage Will Once Again Sit In The Middle Of The Stadium
One of the defining elements of the M72 production has been its unusual stage configuration.
Rather than performing from one end of a stadium with the audience facing in a single direction, Metallica places itself in the middle of the venue.
For the new dates, that means once again setting up “in the round at the 50 yard line.”
The configuration surrounds James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett and Robert Trujillo with thousands of fans and gives the musicians an enormous space to move through during the performance.
It has become part of the visual identity of the M72 era — and Metallica clearly isn’t ready to leave it behind.
Limp Bizkit And Avatar Are Joining The Run
Metallica won’t be arriving alone.
The band has confirmed that Limp Bizkit and Avatar will join the newly announced shows as support.
It creates a heavyweight bill for a run already designed around stadium-sized crowds.
The first concert is scheduled for Vancouver on May 8, with Metallica then heading across the United States before the newly announced dates conclude in Salt Lake City on June 19.
Presales for tickets begin Sept. 21, while the general sale starts Sept. 25.
As with previous Metallica tours, the concerts will also support causes in the communities the band visits.
A portion of proceeds from every ticket sold will be donated to local charities through Metallica’s All Within My Hands foundation.
But First, Metallica Has Another Massive Challenge
The new M72 dates aren’t even Metallica’s next major undertaking.
Before returning to stadiums, the band is preparing for an entirely different kind of live experience in Las Vegas.
Metallica’s Life Burns Faster residency at the Sphere is scheduled to begin Oct. 1 and continue through March 13, 2027.
The residency consists of 24 shows — and every one has already sold out.
Performing inside the Sphere presents a very different challenge from taking over a football stadium.
Even Lars Ulrich has admitted that the prospect is daunting.
“It’s gonna be challenging,” the drummer said earlier this year.
“And obviously, like everybody else I’ve talked to about it, it’s overwhelming and f—ing intimidating.”
For a band that has spent decades learning how to command huge stages, Ulrich suggested that the unfamiliarity is exactly what makes the experience valuable.
Lars Ulrich Says Metallica Needs To Feel Uncomfortable Sometimes
Metallica has reached a level where the band can largely dictate the circumstances surrounding its concerts.
Ulrich acknowledged that familiarity can sometimes become its own limitation.
He said Metallica has “a tendency to put ourselves in environments that we completely control and know.”
The Sphere offers the opposite.
Rather than relying entirely on decades of experience performing in arenas and stadiums, Metallica is entering an environment capable of forcing the musicians to rethink how their live show works.
Ulrich sees value in that uncertainty.
“I think it’s really good to be able to throw yourself for a loop like that,” he said.
The challenge arrives immediately before Metallica returns to territory it knows extremely well: massive outdoor venues filled with tens of thousands of fans.
From Las Vegas Straight Back Into Stadiums
Metallica’s 2027 schedule underlines just how little interest the band has in slowing down.
The Sphere residency stretches until March 13.
Less than two months later, M72 fires up again in Vancouver.
By that point, the tour will already have been running in various forms for four years.
What started in April 2023 has grown into a global undertaking encompassing dozens of countries, massive stadium productions and nearly 100 shows before the latest dates have even begun.
And rather than treating that milestone as an obvious stopping point, Metallica is adding another chapter.
M72 Keeps Getting Bigger
There is something fitting about the tour continuing after its 99th performance.
Metallica could easily have treated reaching almost 100 shows across 26 countries as the conclusion of M72.
Instead, the band is taking the stage back to Canada and the United States.
The venues will change.
The cities will change.
Some elements of the touring format will change.
But the enormous in-the-round stage remains.
So does Metallica’s commitment to directing part of its ticket revenue back into local communities through All Within My Hands.
And before any of it happens, the band has 24 sold-out nights at one of the most technologically ambitious concert venues in the world to navigate.
After more than four decades together, Metallica appears determined to keep finding new ways to make performing feel challenging.
The M72 tour began in 2023.
Four years, 26 countries and at least 99 shows later, Metallica still isn’t ready to bring it home.