METALLICA Plays Surprise Concert At Small San Francisco Club: Video, Photos

METALLICA played a special intimate concert last night (Thursday, September 16) at the 500-capacity The Independent in downtown San Francisco.

The band's setlist was as follows:

01. Whiplash
02. Ride The Lightning
03. The Memory Remains
04. Now That We're Dead
05. Holier Than Thou
06. No Leaf Clover
07. Sad But True
08. Moth Into Flame
09. Fade To Black
10. For Whom The Bell Tolls
11. Creeping Death
12. One
13. Master Of Puppets

Encore:

14. Battery
15. Fuel
16. Seek & Destroy

Video footage and photos of the concert can be seen below.

The heavy metal giants, who are celebrating the 30th anniversary of their mega-selling self-titled album, shared the news of the last-minute gig via social media on Thursday. They wrote: "Hey! Gonna let you in on a little secret .. We're playing tonight at The Independent in downtown SF. Grab a $20 bill and get your ass to the box office right now! Proof of vaxx is required to get a wristband and it's gonna sell out fast. One ticket per person, cash only!"

Per city mandate, The Independent has reportedly been requiring proof of vaccination at every show since the venue reopened in July. Attendees were required to wear masks at all times except when actively drinking.

This is not the first time METALLICA has played a "secret" show in its hometown. Back in 2003, they did four free concerts at The Fillmore after announcing the dates on their fan site.

METALLICA will celebrate its 40th anniversary with a pair of hometown shows for its fan club members on December 17 and December 19 at San Francisco's Chase Center.

Prior to Thursday, the band's last hometown performance was in September 2019, when it played with the San Francisco Symphony at the grand opening concert at the home of the Golden State Warriors.

METALLICA will return to the festival stage on Friday, September 23 and Sunday, September 26, when they are scheduled to play a pair of unique sets in Louisville, Kentucky at Louder Than Life, the first of three U.S. festivals the band will perform at this fall in partnership with promoter Danny Wimmer Presents.

A remastered edition of the self-titled LP, commonly known as the "Black Album", is now available on CD, vinyl or as a deluxe box set. The remaster is accompanied by "The Metallica Blacklist", a collection of 53 artists covering the Black Album's dozen tracks, with all profits from the release split evenly between METALLICA's All Within My Hands Foundation and more than 50 other charities chosen by the artists taking part in the project.

Last Friday, METALLICA appeared on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" to promote the 30th-anniversary box set edition of "The Black Album." The band performed two songs, sat down for an interview and took part in a "Celebrities Read Mean Tweets"-style segment where the four members of the group read one-star Amazon reviews of the classic 1991 album. A day earlier, METALLICA and pop star Miley Cyrus performed "Nothing Else Matters" live on "The Howard Stern Show".