METALLICA's LARS ULRICH contemplates Las Vegas Sphere residency after 2026 tour
"I would fucking love to do it"
07-08-2025
During an appearance on Wednesday, August 6’s episode of “The Howard Stern Show” to announce the launch of METALLICA‘s own SiriusXM channel, the band’s drummer Lars Ulrich was asked if there was any truth to the rumor that METALLICA is in talks for a Sphere residency in Las Vegas in the fall of 2026 after the group’s scheduled “M72” world tour dates conclude with another European run next July. Lars said: “I’m not going to confirm anything, because there’s nothing to confirm. But I’m not going to deny it, because we’re all such fans of this venue. All of our managers and our production people have been there and looked at it. It’s something that we’re considering, (but) nothing is etched in stone or green-lit. It’s something that we’re looking at at some point when the 2026 tour is done.”
Ulrich continued: “I was there seeing U2 the first night, when they took that stage, I wanted to see it for myself before I saw it on YouTube or read about it. I was there, like everybody else that was there that night, I was completely blown away, and felt that was the beginning of another chapter in live performances.
“I’m not going to bullshit you, I would fucking love to do it, let there be no question about it,” Lars added. “It’s not signed, sealed and delivered, but speaking to me and asking my opinion, I would fucking love to do it.”
Asked by host Howard Stern if METALLICA would be interested in performing during the halftime show at the 2026 Super Bowl, which will take place in the legendary heavy metal band’s longtime hometown of San Francisco,” Ulrich said: “Fuck yeah — of course we would. First of all, we would do it. Second of all, to do it in San Francisco would be a dream come true and would be the right fit. We haven’t been approached. … Certainly as somebody who’s represented San Francisco all over the world and shouted for decades about San Francisco and our love for the Bay Area, that part of it is the right fit. Ultimately it’s not our decision.”
This past April, METALLICA guitarist Kirk Hammett was asked by The Hollywood Reporter if he and his bandmates would entertain the possibility of performing at the Las Vegas Sphere, the 17,600-capacity venue which has transformed live entertainment since opening in September 2023. He responded: “Oh, heck, yeah! That’s a great example of how venues are changing. That’s using modern technology to the fullest, to really up the levels of production and entertainment, connected to A.I. and making it a crazy experience.”
A massive, spherical venue known for its immersive entertainment experiences, including concerts and films, featuring a state-of-the-art 16K resolution wraparound screen and a powerful sound system, the Las Vegas Sphere is nestled near the Venetian Resort and Wynn Las Vegas just off the Las Vegas Strip.
The Sphere has already hosted residencies from a number of legendary rockers, including U2, PHISH, DEAD & COMPANY and THE EAGLES.
U2 opened the building with 160,000-square-foot LED screens and 4D features, playing to more 700,000 fans across 40 sold-out dates from September 2023 through March 2024. The shows commemorated one of U2‘s most successful albums, the chart-topping 1991 release “Achtung Baby”, played in its entirety, along with select tracks from other U2 LPs.
A global news event which saw the world’s biggest rock band open the world’s most state-of-the-art venue, “U2:UV Achtung Baby Live At Sphere” quickly became a pop culture moment and a must-see for music lovers everywhere. The show’s stunning visuals and live music performance, combined with the venue’s immersive technology elements, including the world’s most advanced audio system, became an instant social media sensation as hundreds of thousands of fans shared their “U2:UV” experience across multiple platforms generating billions of impressions, making “U2:UV” a truly global phenomenon. One of the band’s most ambitious creative projects to date, it saw them work once again with longtime creative collaborator and show director Willie Williams, artists including Es Devlin, John Gerrard and Marco Brambilla, and longtime partner and producer Brian Eno.
The first sports event to take place was the NHL Draft with the UFC following in September 2024.
Sphere’s next-generation technologies include the world’s highest-resolution LED display that wraps up, over and around the audience, creating a fully immersive visual environment. The venue also features the world’s most advanced concert-grade audio system, Sphere Immersive Sound, powered by HOLOPLOT, which delivers audio with unmatched clarity and precision to every guest.
Last October, Sphere Entertainment, the company behind Sphere Las Vegas, announced plans for a new venue in Abu Dhabi.
METALLICA has released the definitive re-release of the band’s five-times-platinum sixth studio album “Load”, out on June 13 via the band’s own Blackened Recordings. The album was orifinally released on Electra Records.
Remastered by Reuben Cohen at Lurssen Mastering with Greg Fidelman overseeing, the “Load” remastered limited-edition deluxe box set is available now for pre-order at Metallica.com, where full package details and track listings can be viewed. Pre-orders of the deluxe box will receive instant grat tracks “Until It Sleeps (Remastered)”, “Until It Sleeps (Herman Melville Mix)”, “F.O.B.D. (‘Until It Sleeps’ Rough Chorus Vocal Idea Mix)” and “Until It Sleeps (Live at Slim’s, San Francisco, CA – June 10th, 1996)”.
“Load (Remastered)” will be released in formats, including standard 180g 2LP, CD, cassette and digital (including a Spatial Audio mix using Atmos). Standard pre-orders receive “Until It Sleeps (Remastered)” IG, expanded edition pre-orders receive “Until It Sleeps (Remastered)” and “F.O.B.D. (‘Until It Sleeps’ Rough Chorus Vocal Idea Mix)” IGs. The 2LP, 3CD expanded and deluxe digital versions for the first time ever feature the extended version of “The Outlaw Torn”, originally edited for release due to time constraints of the CD format.
The “Load” remastered limited edition deluxe box set is an ambitious and comprehensive time capsule of 1995-97 era METALLICA, jam-packed with exclusives including previously unreleased demos, rough mixes, live performances, on-air and television appearances, and much more. The one-time pressing will include the remastered “Load” album on 180g double vinyl, a “Mama Said” picture disc, and “Loadapalooza ’96”, a 140g triple album recorded live during METALLICA‘s Lollapalooza headlining run at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre on August 4, 1996. The set’s 15 CDs range from the remastered “Load” album to never-before-released collected riffs, demos and rough mixes, B-Sides and rarities, and a wealth of live material, while its four DVDs offer a plethora of behind the scenes, in-studio and live footage, on-air and television appearances, the band’s Polar Beach Party visit to Tuktoyaktuk, Canada, and more. Rounding out the box’s content are memorabilia including a pack of 14 Rorschach Test cards, a Pushead patch, an 11×17 Lollapalooza poster, a Rolling Stone cover reproduction, a five-pack of guitar/bass picks, lyric sheets, two laminated tour passes and a deluxe 128-page book.
Originally released June 4, 1996, “Load” was the second METALLICA album to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, where it would remain for four straight weeks. The 1995 sessions at The Plant in Sausalito, California that resulted in “Load” (as well as 1997’s “Reload”) would find guitarist/vocalist James Hetfield, drummer Lars Ulrich, guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Jason Newsted creating yet another landmark of the METALLICA catalog. Currently, two of “Load”‘s four singles — “Until It Sleeps” and “King Nothing” — have been lighting up crowds the world over in regular rotation on the setlists of the band’s “M72” world tour.
Released in 1996, “Load” marked a new direction for METALLICA, featuring what one critic has described as “a fresh take on LYNYRD SKYNYRD-tinged boogie rock for the 1990s.”
Although “Load” and 1997’s “Reload” were warmly received by critics at the time, they’ve since taken their place among the most reviled work of METALLICA‘s career.
In a 2013 interview with Revolver magazine, Ulrich said that “Load” and “Reload” are “great records” that “are creatively on par with every other record we’ve made. Obviously, they’re bluesier records, and at that time, we were listening to a lot of LED ZEPPELIN, DEEP PURPLE and AC/DC, and we had a different kind of foundation than records before or after,” he said. “And I understand that there are people who couldn’t quite figure out what was going on with the haircuts and the rest of it, and that’s fine. But musically, if you strip all that other stuff away, if you just listen to the 27 songs — ‘Load’ and ‘Reload’ were intended as one double-record — it’s a great collection of songs that is on par with everything else that we’ve done creatively.”
Hetfield has repeatedly expressed his dislike of the “Load” album cover and its inspiration, telling Classic Rock magazine in a 2009 interview: “Lars and Kirk (Hammett, guitar) were very into abstract art, pretending they were gay. I think they knew it bugged me. It was a statement around all that. I love art, but not for the sake of shocking others. I think the cover of ‘Load’ was just a piss-take around all that. I just went along with the make-up and all of this crazy, stupid shit that they felt they needed to do.”
METALLICA released their last album ’72 Seasons’ 14th in April 2023.
Speaking on the concept of the album title, Hetfield says: “72 seasons. The first 18 years of our lives that form our true or false selves. The concept that we were told ‘who we are’ by our parents. A possible pigeonholing around what kind of personality we are. I think the most interesting part of this is the continued study of those core beliefs and how it affects our perception of the world today. Much of our adult experience is reenactment or reaction to these childhood experiences. Prisoners of childhood or breaking free of those bondages we carry.”
The complete track listing for “72 Seasons” is:
- 72 Seasons
- Shadows Follow
- Screaming Suicide
- Sleepwalk My Life Away
- You Must Burn!
- Lux Æterna
- Crown Of Barbed Wire
- Chasing Light
- If Darkness Had A Son
- Too Far Gone?
- Room Of Mirrors
- Inamorata
Says METALLICA: “The album package was once again conceived and art directed by our good friend, acclaimed designer David Turner and his team. David, who won a Grammy for his work on ‘Death Magnetic’, is the man behind the look and feel of all of our recent releases, including ‘Through The Never’, ‘S&M2’, and ‘Hardwired’.”
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