Metallica’s return to Etihad Park can now be comfortably described as their Middle East hometown show, having packed more than 25,000 fans on all three occasion.
Bassist Robert Trujillo once described Etihad Park to The National as looking like a spaceship from the air, and each return has strengthened that connection – with the band since 2011 also playing shows in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain.
This was by far the biggest crowd in this year’s ongoing Abu Dhabi F1 after-race concert series, and the road hounds they are, Metallica performed with scintillating precision and drive. Forty years at the forefront of heavy metal hasn’t dimmed them.
They arrived behind 72 Seasons – the 2023 album distinguished by its frenetic tempos and darker lyricism – yet the Abu Dhabi show was a greatest-hits display of their power and precision.
Their entry cue, The Ecstasy of Gold by Italian composer Ennio Morricone, almost works as a Pavlovian call for the faithful, with metal hand signs lifting
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