One of the acts that helped inaugurate U.S. Bank Stadium in 2016, Metallica will return to the Minneapolis football palace in 2024 for a two-night stand featuring a "no repeat" setlist policy.
The metal giants have lined up Aug. 16 and 18 two summers from now for the Minnesota dates on their M72 World Tour, tickets for which go on sale Friday at 10 a.m. via Ticketmaster with presale options starting Wednesday.
Minneapolis is one of only nine U.S. cities with dates on the two-year tour, which is due to begin April 27, 2023, in Amsterdam and will also hit Chicago's Soldier Field just before Minnesota (Aug. 9 and 11, 2024). Each city features a night off between the two shows to lend some breathing room to the band members, who began entering their 60s with guitarist Kirk Hammett's birthday two weeks ago.
The reformed lineup of Pantera without late guitar hero Dimebag Darrell will open the first night in Minneapolis (a Friday) along with Mammoth WVH, led by Eddie Van Halen's son Wolfgang Van Halen. On the second night (a Sunday), Five Finger Death Punch and Ice Nine Kills are the scheduled openers.
Tickets will initially be sold only as two-night passes and will include Snake Pit VIP options and discounts for fans under ages 16. Prices have not yet been made public. Unlike Taylor Swift's two-night stand at U.S. Bank Stadium next summer (June 23-24), tickets to Metallica's shows will not be sold through Ticketmaster's much-maligned Verified Fan program and should be easier to come by — if not cheap.
Single-night tickets will be sold separately starting Jan. 20. These are said to be the band's only dates scheduled through the end of 2024. U.S. fans not wanting to wait a whole year to see the performances could try to catch 2023 stops in Detroit, St. Louis or the Dallas, Phoenix or Los Angeles metro areas.
The tour is named after "72 Seasons," the first new Metallica record in six years, due out April 14. In conjunction with the tour announcement, the band also issued the first track off the record, "Lux Æterna."