Lars Ulrich, left, James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett, and Robert Trujillo of Metallica perform at Louder Than Life Festival 2021 at Highland Festival Grounds on Friday, Sept. 24, 2021, in Louisville, KY.
Amy Harris/Invision/APMetallica will stream their two 40th-anniversary concerts next week in a free broadcast.
The gigs will take place at San Francisco’s Chase Center on Dec. 17 and 19 and will be viewable through the Coda Collection via Amazon Prime; the streams will begin at 9 p.m. PT. Full tune-in details are available on the Coda Collection website. Amazon is also offering specific links to the first night’s concert and the second night’s.
The band will kick off its anniversary festivities, which they’re describing as a takeover of their adopted hometown, with a block party and a concert by the band White Reaper (opened by Lars Ulrich’s sons’ band, Tapei Houston) on Thursday. The city will host music events the whole weekend, including concerts by Kamasi Washington (who contributed to the band’s Blacklist tribute project), a Metallica tribute-band showcase, a film fest, and other events detailed on the group’s website. Part of the film fest includes screenings of their Cunning Stunts and Orgullo, Pasión, y Gloria: Tres Noches en la Ciudad de México concert films, which will also be available to stream that weekend via the Coda Collection.
Non-music happenings that weekend include trivia, opportunities to give back to the community (a pop-up food bank and oceanside cleanup), events related to the band’s Blackened whiskey, and a gallery showing of photos of the band. A list of all of these is also available on the band’s website.
The quartet has also partnered with Amazon Music for The Metallica Takeover, a guest-hosted station where the group recalls the stories behind its songs set to a soundtrack of entries from its entire catalogue.
NEWS
Little Mix’s Jesy Nelson has asked the public for help after her car, which had vital medical equipment for her daughters inside, was taken.
The singer shared back in January that her twin daughters, Ocean Jade and Story Monroe, had been diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), an uncommon genetic illness that leads to gradual muscle weakness.
She has spoken honestly about how difficult it has been adjusting to caring for her children, and has since used her platform to raise awareness for SMA. On Sunday (April 19), she explained that some of the key equipment she relies on to care for her daughters is now missing after her vehicle was stolen from outside her home.
Posting on her Instagram Stories, Nelson said her black Land Rover Defender with the registration JJ73SSY was taken from her driveway “in the early hours of the morning” in Brentwood, Essex.
“Please if any of you have seen or know of any information, can you DM me or contact the police,” she wrote. “I have so much of my girls’ hospital equipment in that car that’s really needed.”
When she first opened up about her daughters’ diagnosis in January, she described it as “the most gruelling three, four months and endless appointments”, before confirming doctors had told her the twins have “SMA type 1”.
“It does affect every muscle in the body, down to legs, arms, breathing, swallowing,” she said, adding that both daughters were having trouble feeding and were unable to move their legs freely.
Nelson also shared that doctors at Great Ormond Street Hospital told her the girls were “probably never going to be able to walk. They probably will never regain their neck strength, so they will be disabled.”
In April, she marked a major step forward after the government confirmed that newborn screening for SMA will begin in October this year, earlier than the originally planned 2027 rollout. “We need to keep pushing to make sure every baby has the opportunity to have this heel prick test at birth,” she said.
According to the charity SMA UK, around 47 babies in the UK were born with the condition in 2024, while about one in 40 people are believed to carry the gene linked to the disease.
Nelson left Little Mix in 2020, explaining that being part of the group had taken a “toll” on her mental health. She later launched her solo career with her debut single ‘Boyz’ featuring Nicki Minaj in 2021, followed by ‘Bad Thing’ in 2023.
