Watch: METALLICA Performs Band's Longest Song To Date, 'Inamorata', Live For First Time

METALLICA played the second show of the 2024 leg of its "M72" tour Sunday night (May 26) at Olympiastadion in Munich, Germany.

In support of METALLICA's latest album, "72 Seasons", the band has been playing two-night, no-repeat shows in each city— first in Europe , then in North America and now back in Europe — as part of the "M72" tour. Each concert sees METALLICA performing on a massive ring-shaped stage, with the Snake Pit in the center, and four drum sets which are equally spaced out around the circular stage so drummer Lars Ulrich can get closer to the audience at various points in the show.

At the second Munich concert, METALLICA opened the show with "Creeping Death" and continued with "Harvester Of Sorrow" and "Hit The Lights". The band also performed classic tracks like "Fight Fire With Fire", "One" and "Enter Sandman", as well as three songs from "72 Seasons": the title track, "If Darkness Had A Son" and "Inamorata", the latter of which had never been played live before.

Prior to launching into "Inamorata", METALLICA frontman James Hetfield told the crowd: "This next song, we have never, ever played live before. And, you know, in our band we don't recognize the word 'mistake', because there are no mistakes' there's just unique moments that happen, all right? That's what we need to tell ourselves. This one is from '72 Seasons'. It's one of my favorites, so I'm gonna like it."

The setlist was as follows:

01. Creeping Death
02. Harvester Of Sorrow
03. Hit The Lights
04. Ride The Lightning
05. 72 Seasons
06. If Darkness Had A Son
07. Welcome Home (Sanitarium)
08. Inamorata (live debut)
09. The Call Of Ktulu
10. No Leaf Clover
11. Wherever I May Roam
12. Moth Into Flame
13. Fight Fire With Fire
14. Breadfan (BUDGIE cover)
15. One
16. Enter Sandman

"Inamorata", which closes the "72 Seasons" album, has the distinction of being the longest METALLICA song to date, with a running time of 11 minutes and 10 seconds.

Hetfield, who wrote the lyrics to "Inamorata", stated about inspiration for the cut in the "72 Seasons" track-by-track breakdown video: "'Inamorata', having a love affair with misery. A long classic song that screamed out to end the album. Really, really cool riffs in it, really great groove. I love the way it rounds this thing out."

In an interview with METALLICA's So What! fan-club magazine, James said about the lyrics for "Inamorata": "That whole song, you know, misery as my mistress, and I'm trying to hide her. I enjoy her at certain times, but I don't want the world to know about her. I don't want to introduce her to the world because it's not okay. So misery as a mistress, it does serve a purpose in my life, but I don't want it to be my life, and I'm tired of it running my life."

METALLICA bassist Robert Trujillo told So What! about the bass breakdown in "Inamorata": "I believe James had a vision of having this sort of SABBATH-y, 'Geezer-esque' moment where the bass is sort of a naked moment, here's this beautiful-yet-dark statement coming from the bass guitar. It feels raw, but at the same time it's got this dark beauty to it. And what I tried to do was really just close my eyes and channel every note. I say to people that that song reminds me of… it's a cross between driving on Pacific Coast Highway in the sun in your convertible, a beautiful warm summer day, ocean to your right or your left, depending on what direction you're going. It has that swagger to it; it's just very cool. Nothing's rushed. It's just a beautiful drive on PCH and the California coast. And when it gets to the breakdown, it's very strong and powerful, this raw, beautiful moment. So maybe the ocean is speaking; that's what I see. I see waves, I see the power of the ocean, the sun, the coastline. And when it gets down to that breakdown, it's just this raw, beautiful moment, and I was closing my eyes, channeling every note. I was trying to be somewhat melodic, but then I was trying to create enough space so that James could slide in there, and we could work together and communicate. It's one of my favorite moments in METALLICA."

He added: "You know, I think about the incredible statements that [late METALLICA bassist] Cliff Burton was able to make with the songs that he was involved with. I feel that [we] obviously had hit a grand slam with 'Inamorata'. It's a cross between a beautiful old film with a really cool painting or something… it resonates 'California.' There's something that's beautiful about it. It has a certain flavor and feel to me."

Hetfield spoke about his mindset going into the 2024 leg of "M72", telling "The Metallica Report":  "What I'm going into is unknown. I know how big the stage is. I know we have breaks here and there. I know what we're walking into. When we first started with this, with the 'M72' stage, in the round in the stadium, from between setting up cones, walking around thinking, 'Oh, this is how big the stage is gonna be.' 'Oh, this is cool.' 'This'll be great.' 'This is too skinny,' and this and that. And then, between that time and then actually seeing it built, where it's kind of too late, 'Oh shit, this thing is so big.' The anxiety level was off the charts at the beginning of the 'M72' tour. Like, how are we gonna cover this stage? And, of course, my ego saying, 'Well, the other guys don't have to sing. They don't have to run over there. They don't have to do all this. And no one knows the woes I have and all the worries.' But as soon as I share them with the other guys, they're, like, 'Yeah, but I got this and I got this.' It's like, 'Oh, okay. Okay. I want mine back. That's okay.' So it's a known. We know what we're up against and we know what shape we need to be in. And it's just fun. Now it's just fun. We broke that stage in. It's well trodden on and it's worked fantastically. And so we just get to step back into it and do what we do best."

Asked if there have been any modifications to the "M72" stage at all since the 2023 shows, Hetfield said: "There have been a few things here and there that have changed — extra microphones, whatever monitors that we need. And that's typical on any stage, though. The lighting tends to show things that you don't see before: 'Yeah, we need to drape that off' or whatever it may be, just things to make it better. Just like anything we do, you wanna improve on it. So that that was the first couple months of the first touring with the 'M72' stage."

Regarding how he prepares for a METALLICA tour, especially when it comes to performing around 32 songs at each stop on the ongoing "M72" trek, Hetfield said: "Obviously, before heading out on tour, sitting there, trying to remember the myriad of pretty awesome songs we have, and then just trusting that once we get together, it's, like, 'Oh, yeah.' It's muscle memory. But, yeah, over the last month, I will say that the normal thing happens where I start to doubt myself. I start to feel insecure that, 'Whoa, we're old. We can't do this,' and blah, blah, blah, all that bullshit that everyone tells themselves before they go into something that they care about and is important. So having the nightmares of, 'I'm the only one who cares about what we're doing here. Where is everybody?' I show up at the gig. Everyone's goofing off or there's 200 people backstage. And where's my stuff? Where's the setlist? What songs are we doing? And then typical things like the guitar neck is made of rubber, and there's only two strings on it. And where's my roadie? And the guitar cord won't let me get to the microphone. You know, silly stuff like that that has to happen, and I don't freak out over it. All you do is you practice and that comes back pretty quickly."

After Munich, METALLICA will continue touring throughout Europe for the first part of summer, with stops in Italy, Spain, Denmark, Norway, France and Poland, among others. Another round of North American dates will begin on August 2 in Foxborough, Massachusetts, with stops in Chicago, Minneapolis, Seattle and Edmonton. METALLICA will close out the 2024 touring season with four shows in Mexico City at the end of September.

According to Billboard, METALLICA's production travels in 87 trucks — 45 for the band and its setup, plus two groups of 21 each for the steel stage and towers. There are 130 people in the band's crew, plus 40 steelworkers, local hires and truck drivers.

METALLICA's manager Cliff Burnstein told Billboard that between 80% and 90% of fans at each concert attend both shows.

The "M72" tour launched in late April 2023 in Amsterdam.

Opening acts include FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH, ICE NINE KILLS, MAMMOTH WVH, PANTERA, ARCHITECTS, GRETA VAN FLEET and VOLBEAT.

A portion of proceeds from the shows go to METALLICA's All Within My Hands foundation, which seeks to assist and enrich the lives of members of the communities who have supported the band and combat food insecurity; provides disaster relief; and bestows scholarships.