METALLICA To Reunite With SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY To Open Chase Center In San Francisco

METALLICA will team up with the San Francisco Symphony on September 6 to open the new Chase Center in San Francisco.

The classical musicians and classic rockers will be the first acts to perform at the new 18,064-seat arena that will serve as home to the NBA team Golden State Warriors in the fall.

The pairing was announced earlier today (Monday, Monday, March 18) at a press conference hosted just outside of the venue attended by METALLICA's Lars Ulrich and James Hetfield, San Francisco Symphony music director Michael Tilson Thomas, Warriors owner and CEO Joe Lacob, Warriors president and chief operating officer Rick Welts and San Francisco mayor London Breed.

"We wanted to do something unique to the Bay Area," Welts said at the announcement, "something that would happen only here and nowhere else in the world."

Speaking about what it is like to perform with an orchestra, Hetfield quipped (see video below): "There's more people on stage. And there's actually real musicians on stage. And we're a lot more nervous. But it adds to the power. It adds to the opportunities for dynamics, for creating moods with the music, bringing people in, walls of sound — all kinds of great opportunities added by having a symphony along with you, along for the ride.

"It's a beautiful opportunity," he added. "And we're super proud that, after 38 years, there's still cool things like this on the horizon for us, and we're still able to explore and have some fun with some new friends."

"This is beyond exciting on so many fronts," stated Ulrich. "The fact that San Francisco is finally getting a much needed world-class arena, the fact that METALLICA get to be part of the opening celebration, the fact that we get to revisit 'S&M' 20 years later, and the fact that we get to share the stage not only with the San Francisco Symphony once again, but with the legend himself, MTT, as he kicks off his final year as music director here in San Francisco. This is mind-blowingly awesome... bring it on A.S.A.P."

Tickets for the concert go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday, March 22, at ChaseCenter.com. METALLICA fan-club members will be allowed to access them via an exclusive pre-sale at 9 a.m. Tuesday, March 19; and there will also be a pre-sale for Chase cardholders at noon Tuesday.

The original "S&M" concerts were performed by METALLICA and the San Francisco Symphony conducted by the late Michael Kamen in spring of 1999 at the Berkeley Community Theatre. The "S&M²" concert will feature the first live performances of these arrangements in 20 years, plus the first-ever METALLICA/San Francisco Symphony renditions of songs written and released since the original "S&M", with new orchestral charts by Bruce Coughlin.

METALLICA's first performance with the San Francisco Symphony yielded the Grammy-winning live album "S&M".