One of many groups to play a Metrodome concert that fans considered a logistical fumble, Metallica will be the first rock band to try out the Dome's glitzier replacement, U.S. Bank Stadium.
The "Enter Sandman" hitmakers will enter the new Vikings football palace on Aug. 20 — only the second concert at the Minneapolis stadium after country singer Luke Bryan on Aug. 19.
Tickets will cost $49.50-$149.50 and go on sale March 25 at 10 a.m. via Ticketmaster.com or 1-800-745-3000. The field for the concert will be general-admission (no seats). Pre-sale offers start Tuesday at 8 a.m. One of the top metal bands of recent years, Avenged Sevenfold, will open the big gig along with Volbeat.
On hiatus for much of the 2010s, Metallica has been working on a new album and hinting at a return to the stage, but it has been not announced a full-blown tour yet. The Minneapolis date is the band's only confirmed show of the year, a one-off date to celebrate the opening of the new stadium.
The thrash metal vets' last time in town was at Target Center in 2009 in support of their last album, 2008's "Death Magnetic." If they do not have a new record out by August, they will at least have new expanded-edition reissues of their first two LPs to tout, "Kill 'Em All" and "Ride the Lightning," coming April 15.
Metallica performed at the Metrodome in 1992 on a co-headlining date with Guns N' Roses, one of the biggest concerts in Dome history and one of many there still decried years later for poor acoustics and all-out bad vibes. The quartet was also the headliner of the last major concert at the Dome in 2003, a lineup with Linkin Park and Limp Bizkit that had many in attendance fearing all the pyro would demolish the stadium's decaying, flimsy fabric roof before its due time.
Representatives of U.S. Bank Stadium are eager to prove their $1 billion more concert-worthy. All those angular corners and glass walls, however, could make it challenging for sound engineers.
Chris Riemenschneider • 612-673-4658
