Metallica played their first full concert in 2021 with a surprise show in San Francisco last night (September 16).

The metal veterans played a 16 song set spanning hits across their entire back catalogue at The Independent venue including the likes of ‘Sad But True’, ‘For Whom The Bell Tolls’, ‘Moth Into The Flame’, ‘One’, ‘Master Of Puppets’ and ‘Seek And Destroy’, the latter of which you can view below. There was also a rare outing for ‘Whiplash’.

It is the first time the band have played to a crowd for a full show this year.

The performance comes ahead of their two headline shows at the Louder Than Life festival in Louisville, Kentucky later this month.

Metallica played:

‘Whiplash’
‘Ride the Lightning’
‘The Memory Remains’
‘Now That We’re Dead’
‘Holier Than Thou’
‘No Leaf Clover’
‘Sad But True’
‘Moth Into Flame’
‘Fade To Black’
‘For Whom The Bell Tolls’
‘Creeping Death’
‘One’
‘Master Of Puppets’
‘Battery’
‘Fuel’
‘Seek & Destroy’

Lars Ulrich recently gave an update on the possibility of a new Metallica album.

“We’re on that path. I don’t know if it’s cohesive enough to call a record, but we’re dipping our toes,” Ulrich explained (via Blabbermouth). “We’ve been trying to stay busy. We did the drive-in thing last summer. We did an All Within My Hands event in November. We did [The Late Show With Stephen] Colbert. We’re doing [Jimmy] Kimmel [Live!] tomorrow.”

He continued: “We’re engaged. And we are creating at some level. It’s way too early to talk about a record or a timeline or anything. But we’re staying busy. And it’s exciting to just think of the possibilities.”

Earlier this week, it was confirmed that Metallica will headline the first-ever German edition of Download Festival when it takes place in 2022.

The inaugural Download Festival Germany will take place at the motor racing circuit Hockenheimring in the Rhine valley on June 24 next year.

Also confirmed for the line-up so far are Nevada band Five Finger Death Punch and Swedish power metal outfit Sabaton.