Metallica San Diego fans have two things to chew on this week. On Oct. 15 the band shared an official video of “The Call of Ktulu” from the first night of its Sphere residency in Las Vegas, per Blabbermouth. And the band’s next local stop is already on the books: Snapdragon Stadium on Thursday, May 13, 2027, on the M72 World Tour.
One is a look at what Metallica are doing right now. The other is the Metallica San Diego date to save if you want to see them without leaving town.
The Call of Ktulu, live at Sphere
The clip comes from Oct. 1, 2026, opening night of the Life Burns Faster residency at Sphere. “The Call of Ktulu” is the instrumental that closes Ride the Lightning, and it’s a smart pick to show off a room built around a wraparound screen. There are no vocals to compete with the visuals.
Blabbermouth lays out the scale of the run. The residency is 24 shows, set up as 12 “No Repeat Weekend” engagements across October, November, January, February and March. Each Thursday and Saturday pair gets entirely different setlists, with no songs repeated between the two nights. That’s the same idea the band has used on M72, the tour that brings the next Metallica San Diego date. The residency runs from Oct. 1 through March 13, 2027.
Metallica first announced eight Sphere dates between Oct. 1 and Oct. 31, then added November 5 and 7, January 28 and 30, six February nights (4, 6, 18, 20, 25 and 27) and four in March (4, 6, 11 and 13). Blabbermouth puts Sphere’s capacity at 17,600.
Lars Ulrich explained the pull when the residency was announced, in a quote Blabbermouth reran:
About 12 seconds into the opening night of Sphere with U2 back in ’23, I thought, ‘We have to do this. It’s completely uncharted territory’.
Lars Ulrich, via Blabbermouth
Metallica San Diego date: Snapdragon Stadium, May 13, 2027
Once the residency ends, M72 picks back up. Live Nation’s Sept. 16 announcement has the 2027 North American leg opening May 8 at BC Place in Vancouver and ending June 19 at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City. The second stop is ours: May 13 at Snapdragon Stadium. The Live Nation event page lists it for Thursday, May 13, 2027, at 6 p.m.
Here’s what is and isn’t confirmed:
- Date and venue: Thursday, May 13, 2027, Snapdragon Stadium (Live Nation)
- Time: 6 p.m., per the Live Nation event page. No set times have been posted.
- Support: Live Nation says Limp Bizkit and Avatar support the 2027 North American run. See the note below.
- On-sale: General on-sale began Friday, Sept. 25, at 10 a.m. local time, after fan club and other presales that week.
- Prices: Not published in the announcement. Check the official ticket link before you buy.
On the openers, there’s a small gap in the record. The Live Nation announcement names Limp Bizkit and Avatar as support for the 2027 North American leg as a whole, without a per-city breakdown. The San Diego event page lists Metallica, Limp Bizkit and Avatar together. Neither the band nor the venue has published a San Diego-specific lineup beyond that, so treat the Metallica San Diego openers as expected, not locked, until day-of details come out.
Live Nation also notes that part of every ticket sold goes to local charities through All Within My Hands, the band’s foundation.
The full 2027 run
If May 13 doesn’t work, the nearest alternatives aren’t that near. Per Live Nation:
- May 8 – Vancouver, BC – BC Place
- May 13 – San Diego, CA – Snapdragon Stadium
- May 18 – El Paso, TX – Sun Bowl Stadium
- May 22 – San Antonio, TX – Alamodome
- May 26 – Fayetteville, AR – Razorback Stadium
- May 29 – Kansas City, MO – Arrowhead Stadium
- June 2 – Raleigh, NC – Carter-Finley Stadium
- June 5 – Indianapolis, IN – Lucas Oil Stadium
- June 8 – Buffalo, NY – Highmark Stadium
- June 12 – Madison, WI – Camp Randall Stadium
- June 15 – Cleveland, OH – Huntington Bank Field
- June 19 – Salt Lake City, UT – Rice-Eccles Stadium
There’s no other California date on the 2027 leg, so the Metallica San Diego stop is the only one in the state. Live Nation counts 99 M72 shows in 26 countries since the April 2023 kickoff.
Also in the Metallica news cycle
Away from the Metallica San Diego news, not everybody is cheering. Theprp ran this headline on Oct. 15: “Roger Waters Calls Metallica’s James Hetfield A ‘Complete Prick’ In The Wake Of Hetfield’s Recent Apolitical Commentary”. Read their story for the context.
For more Metallica San Diego coverage and beyond, check our look at the Kill ’Em All tribute, and our story on the Back to the Beginning film hitting theaters.
Until May, the Sphere footage is the closest look you’ll get. The Metallica San Diego date is still seven months out, so watch Live Nation for updates on openers and times.
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