Metallica performed two shows in the Bay Area – let’s take a closer look at the production

As part of their “M72” global tour, Metallica took KPIX (CBS Bay Area) and NBC Bay Area behind the scenes at their June 20th performance at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California. The news channels hosted Jon-Michael Marino, tour coordinator for the band. The following show was on Sunday, June 22nd.

You have certainly an energy that’s a little bit different when you’re in your hometown, whether you wanna say there’s a little bit extra pressure, a little bit extra incentive. To me, some of the best shows on a tour are absolutely the hometown shows.

According to reports, 350 Metallica team members occupied Levi’s Stadium for eight days, including six days for setup, during which they unloaded 87 semi-trucks loaded with hundreds of tons of equipment. Eight towers, 192 audio inputs, miles of fiber optic cable, 588 speakers in total, and 72 cameras throughout the stadium make up the circular stage. According to Jon-Michael Marino, there are two backup drum kits in the truck and four drum kits on stage. Thirty-six of the sixty-four guitars and basses that travel must be show-ready (12 per band member). Only 25 drumsticks are used or distributed per performance, compared to 6,000 guitar picks used or distributed per concert.

Across, let’s call it 15-16 songs, there’s various tuning. There’s also things that happen naturally like strings breaking, guitars going out of tune that have to be swapped in the moment.