Watch: FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH Plays First Show As Support Act For METALLICA On 'M72' Tour

FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH played its first show as the support act for METALLICA on the "M72" tour Sunday night (August 6) at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Fan-filmed video of FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH's performance can be seen below. Additional support at the gig came from ICE NINE KILLS.

FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH's setlist was as follows:

01. Lift Me Up
02. Trouble
03. Wash It All Away
04. Jekyll And Hyde
05. Inside Out
06. Bad Company (BAD COMPANY cover)
07. IOU
08. Wrong Side Of Heaven
09. Burn MF
10. Welcome To The Circus
11. Under And Over It
12. The Bleeding

FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH was originally supposed to support METALLICA on several European shows this past spring — including April 29 at the Johan Cruijf Arena in Amsterdam, Netherlands; on May 17 at Stade De France in Paris, France; and on May 28 at Volksparkstadion in Hamburg, Germany — but ended up canceling the dates in order to allow singer Ivan Moody to fully recover from his recent hernia surgery. They were replaced by NIGHTWISH singer Floor Jansen in Amsterdam and EPICA in Paris and Hamburg.

When FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH played a few shows in Europe as the support act for METALLICA in July 2022, FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH shared a video report on the pairing in which Moody said of the experience: "Everyone sets goals, as you should. But you have to understand, for us, this is the apex, this is the climax, this is the top of the fucking hill. And it's amazing to me that we've been on tour for almost 15 years and never crossed paths with this band. And I've gotta tell you, they paved the road for any of us, and anyone that argues that fact is out of their fucking mind. The one and only METALLICA."

Back in 2016, FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH bassist Chris Kael told Loudwire that METALLICA's classic third album, "Master Of Puppets", represented a turning point in his music tastes. He recalled: "I went to a place called Disc Jockey Records back in Lexington [Kentucky] and I had in my hand 'Master Of Puppets' and RUN-DMC 'Raising Hell' and I had to make that decision. Which one? I've heard about this band METALLICA through Circus magazine and whatnot, but I haven't heard the music, but I know RUN-DMC."

He continued: "I ended up picking up METALLICA and 'Master Of Puppets', and right from the first notes of 'Battery', hearing that beautiful guitar piece into crushing and everything that Cliff Burton did on that basically shaped me melodic-wise on bass right from the very beginning. So that album is probably one of the most influential in terms of making me want to play bass. I'll never be able to get to the same level talent-wise that Cliff Burton was, but it was a challenge."

In 2015, FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH's then-drummer Jeremy Spencer said that Lars Ulrich was a huge influence on him as a drummer and credited the METALLICA sticksman for inspiring him to play double bass.

"['Master Of Puppets' is] definitely my favorite, probably, metal album ever," Spencer said. "It's gotta be top two for sure. It's a toss-up between that and… I actually like 'South Of Heaven' by SLAYER too. But when I first heard 'Master Of Puppets', man, the drumming and the double bass, I never heard anything like that before as a young kid. It made such an impression on me that I just kind of wanted to do all things double bass. There's some really fast moments in 'Damage Inc.', and it just stuck with me and made such an impression on me as a drummer when I was younger; I instantly fell in love with it."

Asked what was so special about "Master Of Puppets" in particular, Spencer said: "I think they blended… They kind of had some European melody going on in the guitars, especially in the early records. That was different. But it was just… It was a different beast at that time; nothing sounded like it. There was an energy coming from that, and I think the riffs and the arrangements of the songs, it made such an impression on me and on so many other people."

Regarding how much of an impact Burton's contributions had on the way "Master Of Puppets" turned out, Spencer said: "I really don't know, but, obviously, he had some serious influence on them, 'cause their sound drastically changed [after his death]. But I love it. I think the first three records are incredible, to me."

FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH is continuing to tour in support of its ninth album, "AfterLife" which was released in August 2022 via Better Noise.