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.
London four piece Keo are on course to land their first UK Number 1 album with Put A Smile On For Me. After building a loyal audience over the past two years, the London band now lead this week’s Official Albums Chart update. Their debut record explores love, guilt, and self destruction.
Nothing But Thieves are close behind at Number 2 with their fifth album, Stray Dogs. The Southend band are hoping for a second straight Number 1 after Dead Club City reached the top in 2023. Taylor Swift is at Number 3 with The Life Of A Showgirl, helped by the expanded The Encore edition. Olivia Rodrigo’s You Seem Pretty Sad For A Girl So In sits at Number 4, while Soft Cell’s Danceteria opens at Number 5. It is the synth pop duo’s final album together following Dave Ball’s death last year.
Europe could reach Number 9 with Come This Madness, giving the Swedish rock band its first UK Top 10 album in four decades. A 30th anniversary reissue of Alice In Chains’ MTV Unplugged is at Number 13 in the midweek update, with Orbital’s Glastonbury 1994 set at Number 14. Julia Jacklin is heading for her first Top 40 album as The Gem reaches Number 18, while Suede’s Coming Up returns at Number 23 after its 30th anniversary physical release.
Also on track for Top 40 places are Nessa Barrett’s Tough Love at Number 29, the companion soundtrack to LINKIN PARK: UNSHATTER at Number 30, and Dublin band Gurriers’ Nobody’s Coming To Save You at Number 31. Blondshell, Kneecap, Tina Turner, and Leon Bridges also appear in the lower half of the midweek chart.
The official positions will be announced when the final Albums Chart is published on Friday.
