Metallica Releases First Concert Footage In Saudi Arabia

Metallica (Instagram @metallica)

JAKARTA - Metallica released a snippet of The Unforgiven's song from their first concert in Saudi Arabia earlier this month.

The metal icon appeared at the Soundstorm festival in Riyadh on December 14 as their last show in 2023, which also marked their first show in the country.

The concert was originally touted as the first show of a major international heavy metal artist in the country, but Canadian death metal band Cryptopsy appeared in Riyadh on December 1.

A spokesman for Heavy Arab Entertainment said via Metal Injection about Cryptopsy's historic appearance.

"We are very proud to be the pioneers of the first international metal band organization in Saudi Arabia, and we are very honored to have Cryptotopsy, along with Creative Waste and Marisin, marking an important milestone in Saudi metal scene history," the spokesman said.

Our commitment to promise and fulfill, even when facing imperfections, is truly the driving force behind this achievement. Most importantly, our greatest personal achievement is to provide a platform for our local metal band to share the stage with idols and their great influence here, in their homeland."

Each of our bands has played an integral role as participants, co-creators, and supporters in realizing our collective vision to establish Saudi Arabia on the global metal music map.

Now Metallica shared a video of them playing The eight-minute Unforgiven which was recorded professionally from the show.

Metallica itself features setlists of 16 songs that include favorites such as For Whom The Bell Tolls, Master Of Puppets and Enter Sandman.

You can find full fan-shot footage and setlist of Metallica's first show in Saudi Arabia here.

Metallica will depart again in May 2024 for another part of their M72 World Tour, where they will play two nights in each city with two unique sets of without repetition' and different supporting actions. The tour will end in Mexico in September 2024.