Metallica – M72 World Tour
Principality Stadium, Cardiff
Sunday 28th June 2026
Support: Gojira + Knocked Loose
Cardiff has seen plenty of carnage over the years.
Rugby madness. Six Nations chaos. Hen parties armed with inflatable objects. Pints flying down St Mary Street like they’ve got somewhere important to be.
But on Sunday night, the Welsh capital belonged to Metallica.
Not just “big band in a big stadium” belonged to them either. We’re talking full-scale metal takeover. Black shirts everywhere. Battle jackets in every pub. Fans pouring through the city centre like a denim-and-leather army. The Principality Stadium glowing like it knew something ridiculous was about to happen.
And ridiculous it was.
Metallica rolled into Cardiff on their colossal M72 World Tour and delivered a night of fire, thunder, riffs, emotion and enough pyro to make the dragons on the Welsh flag look like they’d turned up for work experience.
By the end of the night, the roof hadn’t just been blown off.
It had been melted.
🏟️ Cardiff Turns Into A Metal Capital
Before a note had even been played, Cardiff felt different.
There’s always a buzz when a massive show lands in the city, but this was something else. Everywhere you looked, there were Metallica shirts. Old ones, new ones, faded ones, tour ones, bootleg-looking ones that had clearly survived more festivals than most of us have had hot dinners.
The pubs were packed. The streets were loud. Every conversation seemed to involve setlist predictions, favourite albums, travel nightmares, first-time gig stories or someone trying to remember where they parked.
You had the old-school thrash heads. You had families. You had younger fans seeing Metallica for the first time. You had people who probably hadn’t been to a gig this big in years but were absolutely ready to shout “MASTER!” like their lives depended on it.
That’s the magic of Metallica.
They’re not just a band anymore. They’re a gathering point. A pilgrimage. A reason for thousands of people to descend on a city and collectively lose the plot.
Proper tidy scenes, mun.
💥 Knocked Loose Bring The Early Bruising
Opening a stadium show for Metallica is no small job.
You’re walking out in front of a crowd where some people are still finding their seats, others are queuing for drinks, and plenty are wondering whether their knees can survive standing for the next few hours.
Knocked Loose did not gently ease anyone in.
They came out swinging.
Their set was raw, ugly, aggressive and absolutely not interested in being background music. This was hardcore chaos thrown onto a massive stadium stage with zero apology. For some of the more traditional Metallica fans, it probably landed like being slapped by a brick.
But fair play — that was the point.
Knocked Loose brought danger to the early part of the evening. They were sharp, nasty and full of that modern heavy energy that refuses to behave itself. It was not polished stadium rock. It was sweaty, furious, teeth-gritted noise.
And Cardiff responded.
Maybe not everyone knew what had hit them, but by the end, plenty were awake, alert and fully aware that this wasn’t going to be a gentle Sunday evening.
🌊 Gojira Sound Absolutely Massive
Then came Gojira, and the stadium suddenly felt heavier.
There are bands who sound big because the PA is big.
Gojira sound big because their riffs appear to have been forged somewhere under the sea by angry ancient machinery.
The French metal titans brought precision, weight and atmosphere in serious amounts. Every groove landed with terrifying control. The drums hit like industrial equipment. The guitars sounded enormous. The whole thing felt less like a support slot and more like a ritual designed to summon something massive from beneath Cardiff Bay.
Gojira are one of those bands who can make complex music feel physical. You don’t just listen to them — you feel them in your chest.
They were the perfect bridge between the chaos of Knocked Loose and the stadium-dominating machine of Metallica. Heavy enough to crush. Classy enough to command a huge crowd. Confident enough to make a stadium feel like their own.
By the time they finished, the atmosphere had shifted.
Cardiff was ready.
🐍 The Ecstasy Of Gold Sends The Stadium Into Meltdown
Then came the wait.
That beautiful, tense, slightly unbearable wait before Metallica.
The stage sat in the round, huge and imposing, with the Snake Pit at its heart. It looked less like a normal concert setup and more like a metal command centre built by people who love volume, flames and making grown adults cry with riffs.
Then the lights dropped.
And The Ecstasy Of Gold rang out.
Goosebumps. Everywhere.
There are few live music rituals as powerful as that moment. The second that music starts, everyone knows what’s coming. Phones go up. Fists go up. Horns go up. Voices rise. The whole stadium becomes one massive ball of anticipation.
Then Metallica appeared.
And Cardiff erupted.
⚡ Creeping Death Starts The War
Opening with Creeping Death is not subtle.
It’s a statement.
No warm-up. No easing in. No polite little hello. Just straight into one of the most ferocious songs in the Metallica armoury.
That riff hit and the Principality Stadium went off.
James Hetfield sounded huge. That voice still has ridiculous power — part preacher, part war machine, part metal uncle who could command a crowd to scream one syllable and somehow make it feel biblical.
Lars Ulrich battered the kit with that familiar grin, pushing the whole thing forward with chaotic joy. Kirk Hammett was flying through leads with trademark swagger, while Rob Trujillo prowled the stage like an absolute beast, bass rumbling through the stadium floor.
And then came the chant.
“DIE! DIE! DIE!”
Cardiff shouted it back like a city possessed.
What an opener. What a start. What a way to tell Wales, “Right then, butt, let’s have it.”
🔔 For Whom The Bell Tolls Hits Like A Thunderclap
From there, For Whom The Bell Tolls brought the heavy stomp.
That bass intro is still one of the most iconic sounds in metal, and inside the Principality Stadium it felt enormous. It didn’t just play through the speakers — it rolled around the venue like a warning from the gods.
This was where the scale of the night really landed.
Metallica know how to use a stadium. They don’t just stand there and play to the front. They move, they work the space, they make sure every side of the venue feels involved. The in-the-round production meant there was always something happening, always someone nearby, always a reason to look somewhere else and shout yourself hoarse.
For a venue as huge as the Principality, that mattered.
Some stadium gigs can feel distant.
This didn’t.
This felt alive from every angle.
🧨 The Setlist Had Serious Bite
The Cardiff setlist gave fans a proper journey through Metallica’s world.
It had the old-school violence.
It had the stadium anthems.
It had the emotional gut-punches.
It had the newer material standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the classics.
Cyanide gave the set a sharp modern punch, while The Memory Remains turned into a giant singalong, with the crowd happily taking on the ghostly vocal hook like a massive Welsh choir that had been dragged through a whiskey barrel.
Then 72 Seasons reminded everyone that Metallica aren’t just touring on past glory. The newer material sounded huge live — muscular, confident and full of bite.
That’s important.
A band with Metallica’s legacy could easily coast. They could roll out the obvious classics, collect the applause and disappear.
But this felt like a band still engaged. Still hungry. Still proud of where they are now, not just where they’ve been.
🖤 The Unforgiven Brings The Heart
After all the early firepower, The Unforgiven brought one of the night’s emotional highs.
This is where Metallica’s power really shows. Yes, they can flatten a stadium with thrash riffs. Yes, they can make fire explode on cue. Yes, they can make thousands of people scream like they’ve just seen the bar prices.
But they can also make a huge venue feel intimate.
The Unforgiven sounded beautiful. Heavy, wounded, dramatic and full of feeling. Around the stadium, people sang every word. Arms went around shoulders. Phones went up. Some fans just stood still and took it all in.
It was one of those moments where you remember why these songs have lasted.
They’re not just loud.
They mean something.
🔥 Fuel Turns Cardiff Into A Furnace
Then came Fuel.
And oh yes, Cardiff got the flames.
The moment James hit that immortal line — “Gimme fuel, gimme fire…” — the stadium turned into a full-blown pyro playground.
Fire blasted upwards. Heat rolled across the crowd. The whole production kicked into another gear. It was loud, daft, thrilling and completely glorious.
This is what stadium metal is supposed to be.
Not polite.
Not careful.
Not pretending to be tasteful.
Just a massive band, a massive song, huge flames and tens of thousands of people grinning like they’ve just been given permission to be twelve years old again.
Fuel was one of the night’s biggest spectacle moments, and Cardiff absolutely lapped it up.
🌑 The Day That Never Comes Hits Deep
After the fire, The Day That Never Comes brought the drama.
The song’s slow build worked brilliantly in the stadium. It started with space and emotion before growing into something heavier and more intense. That final section hit hard, proving again how well Metallica can shift from melody to full-force heaviness without losing control.
It was one of the more powerful performances of the evening because it showed the band’s range.
Metallica aren’t just about speed. They’re about tension. Release. Build. Impact.
And when they get that balance right, few bands can touch them.
🛣️ Wherever I May Roam Brings The Swagger
Wherever I May Roam swaggered into the set like a dust-covered road warrior.
That riff has always had a travelling, restless energy to it, and live it sounded absolutely colossal. It suited the scale of the night perfectly — four musicians who have spent decades crossing the planet, still turning up in cities like Cardiff and making the place feel like the centre of the metal universe.
The crowd was fully locked in by this point.
Every chorus got louder. Every riff got a bigger reaction. Every time Hetfield leaned into the mic, the stadium answered.
This wasn’t just watching a band.
This was a shared event.
🌙 Nothing Else Matters Unites The Stadium
Then came Nothing Else Matters.
And let’s be honest — everyone sang.
Everyone.
The diehards. The casuals. The people who pretend they only like the thrash stuff. The bloke three rows back who’d been shouting about Ride The Lightning all night. Everyone.
Because when that intro starts in a stadium, resistance is pointless.
The Principality Stadium became one giant voice. It was emotional, warm and genuinely beautiful. There’s something special about a song that can bring that many people together without needing fire, speed or chaos.
Just melody. Feeling. Memory.
It was one of the night’s most human moments.
For all the size of the production, this was proof that Metallica’s biggest weapon is still the songs.
😈 Sad But True Crushes Everything
Then Metallica went from heartfelt to heavyweight with Sad But True.
That riff is pure menace.
Slow. Heavy. Simple. Massive.
Inside the stadium, it landed like a concrete block dropped from a crane. The whole place nodded along, fists raised, voices roaring. Hetfield sounded absolutely made for this one, barking the lines with that familiar grit while the band locked into the groove behind him.
It was not fast.
It did not need to be.
Sad But True doesn’t run at you.
It walks slowly across the room and ruins your day.
💣 One Delivers The Night’s Darkest Moment
Then came One.
This was one of the absolute highlights of the night.
The atmosphere shifted immediately. The opening carried that eerie, haunted feel, building slowly while the stadium seemed to lean in. Then, as the song grew heavier, the tension became enormous.
By the time the machine-gun section arrived, the whole place exploded.
It was dramatic. Powerful. Devastating.
One remains one of Metallica’s greatest live weapons because it has everything — atmosphere, emotion, darkness, technical brilliance and that final burst of pure metal fury.
Cardiff got the full impact.
No messing about. No half measures.
Just one of the greatest metal songs ever written, delivered by the band who made it immortal.
🧨 Seek & Destroy Lets Cardiff Loose
After the darkness of One, Seek & Destroy brought back the party-thrash chaos.
This was pure old-school Metallica fun. Big riffs. Big chants. Big crowd energy.
The song still sounds dangerous after all these years. There’s a youthful bite to it that refuses to age properly. It still feels like a band kicking down doors and causing trouble, only now those doors happen to be stadium-sized.
Cardiff loved it.
The crowd shouted, punched the air and gave everything they had left, which by this point was probably mostly adrenaline and whatever was left in the bottom of a plastic pint cup.
🧵 Master Of Puppets Causes Absolute Carnage
Then came the big one.
Master Of Puppets.
You could feel the anticipation before the riff even fully kicked in. The reaction was instant. Massive. Ridiculous.
This song has always been legendary, but in recent years it has reached a whole new generation too. That made the Cardiff reaction even more special. You had older fans who’ve lived with it for decades standing alongside younger fans who were getting their first stadium-sized taste of it.
And everyone went off.
That riff remains one of the greatest in heavy music. It sounded monstrous. The whole stadium moved with it. The chorus was shouted like a battle cry. Kirk’s solo soared across the venue. Lars drove it forward. Rob gave it that extra low-end bite. James stood there like the master of ceremonies for the greatest metal sermon in Wales that night.
If anyone had somehow made it that far without fully losing their mind, Master Of Puppets finished the job.
🌙 Enter Sandman Closes The Night In Style
And then, finally, Enter Sandman.
There was no better closer.
That opening riff rang out and the stadium erupted one final time. It’s one of those songs that has gone beyond being just a song. It’s part of rock culture. Everyone knows it. Everyone reacts to it. Everyone sings it.
Cardiff gave it everything.
The lights, the crowd, the band, the production — it all came together for one final giant moment. It felt like a victory lap, not just for the show, but for Metallica’s entire legacy.
Few bands can close a night like that.
Fewer still can make it look so natural.
❤️ Big Riffs, Big Heart
Away from the flames and noise, Metallica also deserve credit for putting something back into Cardiff.
Through their All Within My Hands Foundation, the band made a £20,000 donation to Cardiff Foodbank around the show, helping support people in the local community.
That matters.
It’s easy to focus on the huge production, the trucks, the lights, the fire and the stadium spectacle. But when a band of this size makes an effort to support the city they’re visiting, that deserves a proper horns-up.
Metallica brought the riffs.
They also brought heart.
Class act.
🏁 Final Verdict
Metallica at the Principality Stadium was everything a stadium metal show should be.
Massive songs. Huge flames. Thunderous sound. A crowd fully up for it. Support bands that brought real weight. A setlist packed with classics, emotion, newer material and enough riffs to power Cardiff for a week.
It felt enormous, but never empty.
It felt polished, but never soulless.
Most importantly, it felt like Metallica still care. They still perform with fire. They still command a stadium like almost nobody else. They still make songs that are decades old feel alive, dangerous and completely essential.
Cardiff showed up.
Metallica blew the place apart.
By the time the final notes faded and thousands of fans poured back into the city centre with ringing ears and massive grins, one thing was obvious:
This wasn’t just a gig.
This was a full-scale metal event.
Metallica didn’t just blow the roof off the Principality Stadium.
They melted it down, forged it into a giant riff-powered dragon, and sent it flying over Cardiff.
YESS MUN. What a night. 🤘🔥
⭐ The Riff Report Rating
10/10
A stadium-sized metal masterclass packed with fire, feeling, history, chaos and enough riffs to shake Wales from Cardiff to Caernarfon.
🔥 Standout Moments
- Creeping Death opening the night with pure thrash carnage
- Gojira sounding absolutely enormous in a stadium setting
- Fuel turning Cardiff into a fire-breathing metal furnace
- Nothing Else Matters creating one massive Welsh singalong
- One delivering the night’s darkest and most powerful moment
- Master Of Puppets causing full stadium-wide chaos
- Enter Sandman closing the night like a metal victory parade
🎸 Metallica Cardiff Setlist
- Creeping Death
- For Whom The Bell Tolls
- Cyanide
- The Memory Remains
- 72 Seasons
- The Unforgiven
- Fuel
- The Day That Never Comes
- Wherever I May Roam
- Nothing Else Matters
- Sad But True
- One
- Seek & Destroy
- Master Of Puppets
- Enter Sandman
