Metallica - Gig Review & Photo Gallery 15th November @ Accor Stadium, Syd NSW

Metallica
Accor Stadium, Sydney NSW
November 15, 2025
Supports: Evanescence and Suicidal Tendencies

Boomer Christmas is in full swing as the single busiest month of old-boy, stadium-scale music-tours in Australia’s history takes place throughout November. It’s Metallica’s turn to grace the stage tonight at Sydney’s Olympic Stadium, only a week after Oasis stopped crying their hearts out, and a week before AC/DC get their balls out, or something to do with balls.

Being a rock fan this month has been an expensive venture. With hefty tour prices, pop up shops in every city for all three bands and a loaded merch tent, the kids aren’t getting spoiled this Christmas. If they do get anything, it may just be a band shirt, a branded stubby cooler or an official bootleg copy of tonight's concert, available any minute now on metallica.com.

This is Metallica’s last show on this 6 date run and it has had Australia frothing. It’s 36 years since their first outing here in 1989. I first saw them in 1993. They were here last for the 2013 leg of the now defunct Soundwave Festival which means this is their first tour down under in 12 years. It’s also been a long 6 years since they cancelled their tour here with Slipknot back in 2019. We understood entirely why and we wanted only the best for Papa Het, but we’ve patiently watched them do two-date per city runs with two seperate setlist across the world for years now and we were starting to feel very left out.

We didn’t get the two dates per city and while we were a little bummed about that, when the tickets went on sale a year ago, they were snapped up immediately, sold out in mere minutes. One night or two, we weren’t missing this for quids. The excitement was real. Amongst the abundant tours and festivals that have taken place in Australia over the last 12 months, it’s this tour that’s been the most talked about.

So has the wait been worth it? 

Not if that looming, thick black evil looking storm front that’s headed straight for us doesn’t fuck off in a hurry. If it goes how the experts have predicted, it could get real dangerous, really quick and the whole night might go to shit. There’s already talk that Suicidal Tendencies may have to cut their set short if the weather goes south.

After a smattering of rain comes and goes, gates open 20 minutes later than expected and the long lines surrounding Accor slowly drain into the stadium. We arrive at our seats just in time to see the lads from Suicidal Tendencies make their way out onto the stage, smack on 6pm

‍“I wanna know one thing. WHAT THE FUCKS GOIN ON AROUND HERE?”

Cyco Mike Muir screams to a half full yet quickly filling Accor as his band Suicidal Tendencies burst on out and open the last show of this epic tour with a high energy ‘You Can’t Bring Me Down’. Cyco Mike is a one man Moshpit. He shows none of 62 years he’s been on the planet and if he and Ben Weinman’s swinging guitar ever collide, the resulting impact will level this massive stadium. 

“This ain’t no stadium. This is the Church of Suicidal”, yells Mike again as he stands beside longtime collaborator and all time killer guitarist Dean Pleasants. If I had a shot of Blackened Whiskey every time Mike yelled out “ST” or “Suicidal”, I’d be hammered by the third song. Say what you want about branding, ST have it down pat.

‍Jay Weinberg is incredible to watch. Sporting a shirt from local hardcore legends Speed, he’s no stranger to a stadium crowd. He was supposed to come here for the cancelled 2019 Metallica tour with Slipknot but tonight, with Suicidal Tendencies, we get to see him in full flight. There’s no mask, no blinding pyro and no big built up kit in the way. Even at a distance, even in this setting, Jay is mesmerising to watch. 

The true eye opener for me is bass player Tye Trujillo who, at 21, is a phenom at this point. Despite his age, he is already a seasoned veteran and with this, his second ST tour of Australia, he has more than earned his spot on this line up. His bass playing leaves most other musicians in the dust and he well and truly holds his own alongside guitarist Ben Weinman who, as a member of The Dillinger Escape Plan, is largely considered as one of the worlds most entertaining and influential musicians of the last 20 years. 

The band are joined onstage by Nisha STar for new banger ‘Adrenaline Addict’. Mike tells us “Life is hard, but it’s a little harder when you don’t stand up for yourself”. The song hits like an old favourite as a few pits open up on the floor. Between Mike and Nisha there’s a lot of skipping going on around the walkway, yet somehow it all seems very punk rock. Mike talks fondly bout his time here as an Aussie resident, living in the Sutherland shire. He brags about his son being born here and his love for Australia. The Sydney crowd are super responsive, doing their very best to make it hard for Mike to leave. The pit opens up hard for the hi-octane Tony Hawk's Pro Skater classic ‘Cyco Vision’ before Mike makes his way onto the floor to perform amongst the frothing punters for closer ‘Pledge Your Allegiance’. Judging by that massive grin across his gorgeous face, I’d say he’s a very happy. He’s swamped by fans belting out more shot sculling chants of “ST” and it’s a magic finish to this historic Aussie run. 

The clouds are still teetering around Homebush as I grab a beer between sets and as I look about, I notice that a Metallica show has become a family affair. What was once a haven for angry and excitable young men has become a safe space for every generation and every gender. Ages range from young enough for diapers to old enough for diapers. There’s a real and impressive family dynamic on show tonight. Nights like this are a babysitters worst nightmare. Instead of leaving the kids at home to go to a concert, folks are now bringing them to the show, all wearing matching tour t-shirts. Metallica was once an entity that divided generations. Now they’re the band that brings them together.

‍Evanescence saunter on out to an almost fully packed stadium and Jesus Christ, Amy Lee can wail. After gently singing the intro to ‘Afterlife’, she rips in and blows the storm clouds out of the sky. A ray of light cracks through the darkening sky as every inch of Accor is engulfed in her voice and I can make out a few nearby punters mouth out a collective “fuck me dead”. The band are impressive. Playing to a crowd of this size has to be daunting for any group from both a nervous and technical standpoint, but these guys are on point. Having said that, this is the Amy Lee show. Its always been said that she can sing like no one else and tonight, in front of a packed 80,000 strong sold out crowd, she flat out proves it.

They don’t use much of their massive space though. Where ST used every damned inch of this ample stage, including a brief stint amongst the crowd, Evanescence have stuck to jamming themselves up the back in front of the snake pit. There are a few instances where the guitarists chance it and go for a brief walkabout, but all in all they largely crowd the drum riser, which is fine with me, because he’s great to watch. Amy does take on the walkway on occasion though, and her piano has been placed there on stage left.

Nonetheless, there are a massive amount of true fans in the audience, singing every word. They have their favourites though. ’Going Under’ hits hard early in the set, as does ‘The Game Is Over’. A lot of hands go skyward for ‘Wasted On You’ and a huge cheer echoes around the stadium for ‘Call Me When You’re Sober’. It’s a song that gets played on a keyboard that’s set up in front of the drums, even though there's a whole piano sitting a few metres away, over on the walkway circling the snakepit. 

‍Emma Anzai’s bass tones dominates perfectly at times and her backing vocals add even more weight to Amy’s impeccable performance. ’My Immortal’ is simply beautiful and adds an air of grace to tonight's proceedings. A few bodies in the crowd get hoisted up onto their friends shoulder for this one. Looking around it’s clearly a very special moment for quite a few people here tonight. ‘My Immortal’ bleeds into ‘Bring Me To Life’, and the whole joint sings it back to her. What a dream. To write a song as a budding musician, to play it 22 years later to 80,000 people on the other side of the planet, only for them to sing it back to you, that is a gift. It’s a brilliant moment and the perfect closer to a truly great set. Bravo.

The lines to the drinks, the food, the loo and the merch all go for days as everyone gets prepped for the big dogs coming up. I get a beaut surprise as I run into my mate Roni, who’s made the three hour trek from the Central West to be here tonight with her family and she’s got a huge shit eating grin plastered across her face. You would too if you got the meet and greet tickets to the Melbourne show earlier in the week, hung out with Lars and Kirk and then spent the rest of the night in the Snake Pit alongside your amazing husband, singing along with your favourite band ever, from only a few yards away. Absolutely unreal seeing her. I’m jealous as hell.

‍‘Long Way To The Top’ by AC/DC hits and the mad scramble to get to seats is on. The whole crowd gets amongst it, belting out every word and it’s crazy to think that I’ll be back here next week to see this song live from the masters.

When Metallica played the Sydney Big Day Out in 2004, it was a scorching 43 degree Celsius day. On that day, just as the music of Ennio Morricone started to play, the skies opened up and a beautiful, welcomed, cooling rain sprinkled down on the sunburnt masses. Tonight, over 21 years later, as ‘Ecstasy of Gold’ plays across the stadium, the cloud that threatened to ruin this evenings proceedings has faded to a floating mist. A cool breeze sweeps across the stadium as the cemetery scene from ‘The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly’ is shown on the large stage backdrop as the founding fathers of Thrash, the biggest of The Big 4, the most successful metal band of all time walk out onto the stage, get into position around the drum kit and the long wait is finally over. 

‍‘Creeping Death’ hits and the entire place loses it’s collective head. As 80,000 Aussies rise to their feet and scream “So let it be written. So let it be done. I’m sent here by the chosen one”, the enormity of the moment smashes me like a mallet and I can’t help but tear up a little. 12 years is a long time between drinks, and this is the band that has been a defining force in my life, and as I stand here in our Olympic Stadium screaming myself silly and grinning like a dickhead, it’s all been worth the putrid wait. I take a look to the sky because James Hetfield said so and the offending storm clouds have well and truly left. They rip into ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls’ and even though I knew it was coming after having studied the other Aussie setlists, I still lose my entire goddamned mind. Bassist Rob Trujillo does his famous crab walk while guitarist Kirk Hammett tries to knock him over. Hetfield stands staunch behind Lars Ulrich on drums while Kirk and Rob playfully duke it out. Everyone in attendance points skyward and belts out every word. Sydney has shown up tonight. Everyone is all in.

‍“GIVE ME FUEL, GIVE ME FIRE, GIVE ME THAT WHICH I DESIRE”

BOOM! Fire shoots straight up from the stage as the lads tear into ‘Fuel’ and if this place had a roof, it’d be torched. One silly woman a few rows down from me yells at all of us to sit down and it doesn’t take an abacus to see that she is vastly outnumbered. We all stay upright and dancing for ‘Cyanide’ from Death Magnetic. That groove at the start of the song is unreal and the whole stadium sings the riff along with the fellas but that mid-song drum bit does my head in. Lars nails it, but it’s still a disjointed mess for mine. 

Papa Het makes his way to the eastern edge of the stage to the delight of the punters in the Cathy Freeman Stand and waiting for him there is THAT guitar. He kicks off 'Unforgiven' from The Black Album and even Little Miss Sit Down is up on her feet for this one. ‘Wherever I May Roam’ follows and it’s a party. Lars described this song as “arena rock” back in 1992 on their A Year and a Half in the Life of Metallica documentary and I think he was selling himself short. This is stadium rock now mate. It brings joy, creates energy in this space, and that feeling resonates across generations. I’m getting flashbacks to my high school days when this came out, when my back wasn’t cactus and I didn’t have old-man hamstrings. When the whole joint bets out a collective “My body lies, but still I roam Yeah YEAAAAAAAHHHHH”, I dead set got chills.

James introduces Rob and Kirk to the stage to do their doodle. They put on a spiel asking who are the best Aussie bands to ever do it before ripping into ‘For Those About To Rock’ by AC/DC which then leans into ‘Nice Boys Don’t Play Rock and Roll’ by Rose Tattoo. I still reckon they missed a chance of getting 80,000 people to bow to their partner with a slick rendition of ‘Rock-A-Bye Your Bear’ by The Wiggles.

James sits stage left for ‘The Day That Never Comes’ and I’d love to hear him rip this acoustically in a small club. When he screams “I’ll splatter colour on this grey”, it shakes the foundations of Sydney. ‘Moth Into Flames’ follows and while it’s a song about the reality of addiction in all it’s forms, the large neon graphics on the background has me feeling like I wanna plan another trip to Vegas. It also raises a few questions, like what the hell is a “Glitter Gulch”?

The lads pause for a bit as James tells us he has the best job in the world. He tells us all about a young bloke in the crowd called Hugo. His Make-a-Wish request was to meet and watch Metallica, and tonight he got to do it. A special night for his family in what has been a rough time. James goes on to ask the crowd who has and hasn’t seen Metallica before tonight. He officially welcomes the newbies to the Metallica Famil-eh ”whether you want to be or not. You’re in it. The only stipulation is, you can’t leave. You can’t ever leave.”

“Kirk’s still in it. He’d tried to leave but he couldn’t go.”

Um, what?

Man I hope that’s a joke.

‍‘Sad But True’ rips. It’s a bloody heavy singalong that has the whole stadium churning again. Kirk takes the reins and does a brief solo that builds into ‘Nothing Else Matters’, a stone cold classic that was a huge turning point in Hetfield’s songwriting career. I’ve heard this song plenty enough but live it still gets me. I’m not gunna be tough here. It’s a pointless venture. People get their phone lights out and it’s like the joint is packed full of fireflies. When the place sings the solo in with,

‍“Never care for what they do,
Never care for what they know
And I knooooowwwww YEAH-EAH”

It’s pure goosebumps. 

Even Hetfield had a tear. 

He’s only sung it a million times. Still gets him. 

Fuck the tears. It’s party time.

James brings out his Electra Flying V, a replica of the OG guitar he used for the recording of the first two albums and asks if we happen to have the album Kill ‘Em All. 

“The first album? Way back? 1983? Back when we were little girls?”

It gets a few laughs from the boomers as the beachballs come out for ‘Seek and Destroy’. Somehow all the balls ended up on stage left. One ball came close to us, in the Cathy Freeman stand but some smelly gronk hit it back onto the floor. Don’t worry about us mate. We just wanted to see if we could get it up into the nosebleeds. 

Gronk. It’s a word.

‍‘Lux Aeterna’ doesn't get the usual new song treatment and gets a few approving nods from this still very lively crowd. Everyone is happy enough to scream out the song title when it’s called for and overall it goes well. Lars has had enough of sittting up the back of the stage as he heads to a second kit that just rose out of the walkway on the west side of the walkway and he jumps on for Lux. As the guitar squeal-fades out at the end, Lars makes us all wait, and then…

DUN! 

DUN DUN DUN!!!

What follows is an absolute maelstrom from the audience as ‘Master Of Puppets’ gets belted around Accor and no one is sitting for this. Every inch of this is sung at high volume. The verse, the chorus, and definitely the guitar solo. Forget that everyone's voice has long gone, were gunna get those high notes if it kills us. An all time moment and a dream to see all these years later.

Lars saunters to a third kit on the other side of the walkway as the gunfire soundtrack and pyro warms up the stadium. The stage lights up and James kicks off the opening licks for for ‘One’. Make no mistake. This is a holy moment. For a lot of fans this is where it started for them. That video back in 1989 that made it’s way onto MTV is how many people were introduced to Metallica. Silhouettes of soldiers adorn the background as 80,000 fans sings each word in unison. The song builds and then "DARKNESS”. I can feel it through the floor and in my soul. This song is a showcase for the whole band. Lars does stall a little towards the end, but overall a killer rendition of a tough song and it goes down a beautifully.

‍‘Enter Sandman’ finishes the party off as circlepits form throughout the floor section. This song has been inescapable for over 30 years. Even the casual fan knows every inch of this song. The only downside is that it’s all nearly over and I don’t want them to leave. Especially since it’s going to be a while until they come back. 

But it’s official. Metallica are now a party band. At one time, they were the loudest band on the planet, feared in the music world as purveyors of sin, and a bad influence on the youth of the world. They’re now a family friendly beacon of health, wellness and positivity that promotes a holistic approach to being your best self while having a bloody great time. Their pop up stores fund their ‘All Within My Hands’ Foundation, and meeting them is the wish of a young bloke called Hugo.

But this whole venture is more than just four blokes playing music. This is an multi-billion dollar institution that has become an industry benchmark. Their music and influence is absolute and will live on forever. Men who started a band in a garage, performing a style of music that some attempted to outlaw in America in the late 80’s, to become the biggest metal band on the planet and to see their roles change and shift over the decades. From musicians to chart toppers to CEO’s, Philanthropists and beyond. 

But above all that, they are loved. Their music is engrained in the generations of fans that adore them, and to simply get a glimpse of them is the whole world to so many. Tonight was a prime example of that. Metallica filled our hearts tonight, and on this whole tour.

But 12 years is too bloody long lads.

See you soon, hey?

Review by Duane James @duanejamestattoo

Photo Gallery by Jackson Sunders @jsaundersfilm. Please credit Jackson Saunders and Wall Of Sound if reposting photos.