Metallica aviva June 2026

Would a tour of 'era exclusive sets' like Maiden did/does work for Metallica ?

Ha that's pretty much the spot I was in maybe just slightly further to the left and higher up. Nice haul on the guitar picks. I managed to get one of Friday so I'm happy out too.

Loved both nights. Sound was perfect from where I was on the pitch. We only moved once last night so they were mostly close to us all night.

Crowd were really up for it last night. 32 different songs. Yes please!

Hey, would you mind sharing with me as well please?

My first Metallica concert after being a fan since my teenage years. Super impressed, the sound where I was was amazing. Right in front of James for the opening songs.

Wherever I May Roam sounded incredible live.

Just be aware that ANYWHERE selling the event posters and shirts is not legit, sure they 'MAY' be decent quality but the dublin shirts and posters were only available in pop up and venue

Metallica are missing a trick here, Maiden will sell a specific event shirt online shortly after the gig for maybe 7 days, they get all the orders in and dispatch a few weeks later.

But a real kick for those who are fans with years but cannot make it to pop up shop or venue until they get on stage. Life isn't what it was at 20 when you could be anywhere, whenever you wanted. At least do an online click and collect at the venue.

A real pity so that they don't have enough of the event T-shirts on sale for the people attending. I got my Iron Maiden Dublin shirt weeks after the show so I was "rewarded" with the opportunity to get it afterwards.

Yeah, it's about rewarding the die hard, that's why they were selling 20 at a time to scalpers.

For the pop-up shop this morning I was in the queue just after 8:30; they still had posters but the Ireland specific shirt was sold out. Plenty of other shirts/hoodies etc but you could get them anywhere.

Merch at the venue was, for want of a better expression, shockingly poor. I had pitch tickets and the main thing that shocked me was I was able to get to the tent (or rather the queue) without being asked to show my ticket, or what route I was on or anything. So I could've been anyone just rocking up to grab a bunch of exclusive gear to scalp later on, and I have no doubt that's what many did. In the end, I was queuing for the tent so long that I missed the entirety of Knocked Loose, and then almost to the front when I realised they sold out of the Molly Malone shirt, no posters either ("There might be some inside"). Then when I got to the pitch I asked a steward if I could go up into the stands to have a look and was told no (and at this point Gojira were setting up so it was either get a good spot in the crowd or spend the gig looking at the backs of people's heads). Total waste of time and really poorly run imo.

Merch aside, the gigs themselves were sensational. I was close-ish to the stage nearest the southwest entrance, there was a bunch of lads there both nights who kept a pit going for the most part and I was in and out of that, but like others have said I was kind of shocked at how sedate a lot of the standing crowd were - zero movement apart from the occasional head nod, watching the gig through their phones etc. I say "kind of" because I think it's just a symptom of Metallica themselves - they have transcended the genre and are literally one of the biggest bands in the world, so the people who go to the gigs range from diehard veteran metalheads to people who just want to go to "a gig".

When dates were announced last year and I saw the venue and stage layout I thought I wouldn't bother getting tickets because there would be too much compromise with both options - sound in stadium gigs is extremely hit and miss especially when you're in the stands and it's total luck of the draw whether it's clear or muddy. Also crowd energy in the stands can be lacking depending where you are/who you're with. On the plus side, you can see the band at all times (assuming you weren't in the East stand yesterday and blinded for half of it), and you're free to leave your seat and come back which of course isn't the case with the pitch, you lose your spot once and it's pretty much gone.
What was putting me off pitch tickets was the donut stage. Not only competing with 75% of the crowd for good views but with the snake pit VIPs in the middle too. Would it be worth getting close to tht stage if I could only actually see them (and at that, see them from a distance) for maybe only 40% of the gig, if even that? Which would have the knock-on effect of when they did actually appear near us, the crowd there would be so starved of opportunities for pictures/videos that you'd be more likely to be watching a sea of phones than whoever's playing?

In the end I talked myself into it and very glad of it - when the band weren't around the pit kept the energy up for the most part and I was lucky enough to have an unobstructed view of Hetfield for the intro of Fade to Black & Hammett for Unforgiven, so those 2 alone made the tickets worth it for me. I would've had massive massive FOMO watching the crowd go feral for Sandman if I was in the stands.

Back at work and I've post gig depression already, hopefully they come back when they do their final tour