Metallica brings the heat to sold-out Ford Field in 1st of 2 Detroit shows

Metallica waged the first of two heavyweight rounds in Detroit, taking over a sold-out Ford Field for a Friday night blast of adrenalized intensity.

The veteran band is a streamlined, fine-tuned machine these days, and the supersized production that commandeered the Lions’ house is a sign of that. Still, Friday brought its satisfying share of ageless metal vigor — bursts of the scorching, often intricate greatness that made Metallica a titan in the first place.

The band’s Detroit weekend, which will include a Sunday return to Ford Field, is the 2023 finale of the M72 World Tour, notable for its “No Repeat Weekend” concept: Friday’s 16-song set list was entirely distinct from whatever might get cooked up Sunday by vocalist-guitarist James Hetfield, drummer Lars Ulrich, guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo.

The tour officially comes in support of the band's latest album, "72 Seasons," which earned Metallica three Grammy nominations earlier Friday. But in reality, it's a four-decade career celebration. If you view this Friday-Sunday combo as one marathon concert — indeed, hordes of fans are attending the whole shebang — it’s the most extensive dose of Metallica the city has gotten since the Orion Music + More fest in 2013.

Friday’s show included three songs from the new album, with the crisp-riffed, punk-spiked “Shadows Follow” the best among them. It was a highlight of an evening that started hot and ended even hotter in a 2-hour, 10-minute set bookended by the classics “Creeping Death” and slicing, propulsive “Master of Puppets.”

All took place on a giant, circular stage at the center of Ford Field, with eight towering video pillars supplying the graphics and close-up camera feeds.

That in-the-round setup let Metallica cram fans into nearly every nook and cranny of the stadium, though it did seem to limit the band’s traditional propensity for pyrotechnics, which were restricted Friday to “Fuel” and “Master of Puppets.”

Official attendance hasn’t yet been announced, but Friday’s crowd appeared to number well upwards of 60,000, based on similar Ford Field concert configurations in the past.

Metallica's Detroit visit also includes a host of extracurricular activities, among them a downtown pop-up merch shop that did brisk business Thursday and Friday, often with lines out the door. The retail space, at 160 W. Fort, was scheduled to be open 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

The new album’s yellow-and-black color scheme dominates the pop-up shop, and it was also conspicuous Friday night inside the stadium, where the stage came trimmed in yellow and the eight video towers often brandished it.

At key moments, Ford Field was a sea of pumping fists, thrashing heads and metal horns — and not just from the old-school Metallica fans now well into their 40s and 50s. Friday was clearly a multigenerational affair.

At one point, Hetfield spotted a sign clutched by a young fan who was apparently being hoisted up by a dad: “MY FIRST CONCERT,” it read.

“You picked the right one, I must say,” Hetfield responded.

The newly minted 60-year-old has held on to his voice for the most part, still letting out the growls and yowls that have long been his trademark, as he worked a dozen-some microphone stands stationed around the looped stage.

The in-the-round format found Ulrich and his kit positioned at four different spots throughout the night, offering fans a different vantage point of the animated guy who's usually stuck in back.

Even with the vast territory provided by the stage, which the three roaming members certainly exploited, there were plenty of moments that saw them all convening together like a young rock band crammed inside a tight rehearsal space. It brought a sense of condensed energy to the cavernous stadium, providing uplift to key sections of numbers such as “The Day That Never Comes” and “Orion.”

The latter ended with a shout-out from Hetfield to late Metallica bassist Cliff Burton, who spearheaded the mid-‘80s instrumental.

Amid the smattering of Metallica standards — which leaves plenty on the table for Sunday night — Friday’s show included some lesser-played album cuts to please the die-hards, notably the Black Album’s “Through the Never” and the “Master of Puppets” deep track “Leper Messiah.”

Metallica’s musical approach has certainly evolved through the decades, and the group hasn’t been afraid to take some stylistic off-roads in recent years, to mixed results. But a pair of latter-day songs performed late in Friday’s show, “The Day That Never Comes” and “Hardwired,” showed that the band is still capable of summoning the blend of ferocity and complexity that marked its golden-period work.

“Hope to see you Sunday!” Hetfield shouted into the mic after an extended curtain call with the house lights up.

Metallica will be back in action then at Ford Field, this time with an opening bill featuring Five Finger Death Punch and Ice Nine Kills. (For reference: Metallica’s Friday set began at about 8:50 p.m.)

Contact Detroit Free Press music writer Brian McCollum: 313-223-4450 or bmccollum@freepress.com.

Metallica's night-one Detroit set list, Nov. 10, 2023

(1) "Creeping Death"

(2) "Harvester of Sorrow"

(3) "Through the Never"

(4) "Leper Messiah"

(5) "Lux Eterna"

(6) "Too Far Gone"

(6a) "Primo" (a Detroit-specific jam performed by Kirk Hammett and Robert Trujillo)

(7) "Fade to Black"

(8) "Shadows Follow"

(9) "Orion"

(10) "Nothing Else Matters"

(11) "Sad But True"

(12) "The Day That Never Comes"

(13) "Hardwired"

(14) "Fuel"

(15) "Seek & Destroy"

(16) "Master of Puppets"

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Metallica brings the heat to Ford Field in 1st of 2 Detroit shows