Watch Metallica’s ‘The Night Before’ Pre-Super Bowl Concert Live
Tonight at approximately 8:30 p.m. PST, Metallica will take the stage at AT&T Park in their native San Francisco for their “The Night Before” concert, a sold-out blowout to get the party started before Super Bowl 50 invades Santa Clara’s Levi’s Stadium on Sunday night. To celebrate the gig, Metallica are offering up a live-stream of their hometown gig, also their first concert of 2016, in the video above.
“There’s a lot of excitement in the air, both from people that live here in the Bay Area and from all corners of the world,” Ulrich told Rolling Stone. “It’s an awesome thing to be a part of and to have in our backyard.” Ulrich added that, in the weeks leading up to their pre-Super Bowl concert, he was routinely checking the weather, hoping a wet winter in the Bay Area wouldn’t mar the pre-Super Bowl show.
As for what Metallica might play for their return to the stage, Ulrich said, “If I told you that we were going to play all the deep, obscure tracks from Load and ReLoad, you know I’d be lying to you. I don’t want to dampen anyone’s enthusiasm, but we’re leaning a little bit towards the classics.”
Before Saturday night’s concert, Metallica invited around 300 lucky fan club members Friday to watch the band’s “The Night Before” soundcheck, a rarity for the group. “Soundchecks can be notoriously uninspiring, but since we have to get some cobwebs out, and we figured people will be coming in from far away for the game, we invited 250 fan club members,” Ulrich said. “It’ll up the ante and keep us on our toes.”