Metallica has postponed the second night of the band’s M72 World Tour concert in Arizona after frontman James Hetfield tested positive for COVID-19.
The legendary metal group, which played its opening show at Glendale‘s State Farm Stadium on Friday (Sept. 1), announced via social media the following afternoon that the foursome is rescheduling its Sunday (Sept. 4) performance following Hetfield’s diagnosis.
Metallica wrote on X (formerly Twitter) along with a photo of the singer’s positive COVID test, “We’re very sorry to report that tomorrow’s scheduled M72 date at State Farm Stadium has been postponed to Saturday, September 9, 2023, as, unfortunately, COVID has caught up with James,”.
“We’re extremely disappointed and regret any inconvenience this has caused you; we look forward to returning to complete the M72 No Repeat Weekend in Glendale next Saturday.”
Metallica was successful at their opening show at State Farm Stadium on Friday, but Hetfield struggled with vocal problems during the performance, according to the Arizona Republic.
The band shortened their set by two songs, removing “The Day That Never Comes” and “Master of Puppets”.
Despite the postponement, Metallica wrote in their post, that other shows were still scheduled for Saturday and Sunday as part of the M72 Weekend Takeover around Phoenix.
These included a tribute show, and pop-up shops, In the video for the October 8 event, Metallica performed a headlining set at Power Trip Fest in Solomons, following the band’s recreated show in Arizona. The group’s next M72 Weekend Takeover will occur at St. Louis Dome in the US on 3 and 5 November, with crucial tastings, and more.
Since the start of the tour in the US, Metallica has played 16 songs on each opening night, followed by the set-closing “Master of Puppets” and “Seek and Destroy”.
Fans at State Farm Stadium got 14 songs and no “Master of Puppets”. As the Arizona Republic, part of the USA TODAY Network, said in its full review, “Normally, I hesitate to overuse a word as apt for overuse as ‘tragedy.’ But what else would you call it?”
In April, Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo recalled personally bringing the band together after the lockdown to complete their latest album, “72 Seasons”.
“When we were able to get in the same room to record (after the pandemic), the songs were getting the magic that you hear,” Trujillo told USA TODAY. “I feel this album, every note we played was struck with much more intensity because of everything that was going on.”