Watch Metallica perform for 400 fans at surprise San Francisco show

Metallica’s set list for its concert at the Independent in San Francisco. Photo: Metallica

Metallica performed a surprise concert at the Independent in San Francisco on Thursday, Sept. 16, for 400 of its fans who were lucky enough to snag tickets.

With tickets priced at $19.81 to commemorate the year the band formed (with a surcharge of 19 cents), the show sold out in about 40 minutes after the box office opened. It was a celebration of the band’s 40th anniversary that featured a career-spanning 16-song set that included classics like “Master of Puppets,” “Ride the Lightning” and “One,” plus a three-song encore. (See the full set list below.)

Fans were required to show proof of vaccination for entry into the 500-capacity club, and attendees were required to wear masks at all times except when actively drinking, according to city mandates.

In addition to marking its fourth decade as a band, Metallica is celebrating the 30th anniversary of its 1991 self-titled fifth album, known as “The Black Album,” and last week released a box set that includes a remastered version of its first No. 1 charting release.

The band also released a 53-track tribute set titled “The Metallica Blacklist” that features covers of songs from the album by a wide-ranging group of artists including St. Vincent, Miley Cyrus, Phoebe Bridgers and Mac DeMarco, jazz saxophonist Kamasi Washington, reggaeton singer J. Balvin and many others.

Metallica plans to formally celebrate its 40th anniversary with a pair of hometown shows for its fan club members on Dec. 17 and 19 at San Francisco’s Chase Center. Tickets for those shows are only available to registered members of Metallica’s Fifth Member fan club through a lottery system.

Metallica will also headline two nights of the Aftershock festival in Sacramento set for Oct. 7-10.

Watch more fan clips of Metallica’s intimate concert at the Independent:

Metallica at the Independent in San Francisco (Sept. 16, 2021) – the full set list

1. “Whiplash”
2. “Ride the Lightning”
3. “The Memory Remains”
4. “Now That We’re Dead”
5. “Holier Than Thou”
6. “No Leaf Clover”
7. “Sad But True”
8. “Moth Into Flame”
9. “Fade to Black”
10. “For Whom the Bell Tolls”
11. “Creeping Death”
12. “One”
13. “Master of Puppets”

Encore:
14. “Battery”
15. “Fuel”
16. “Seek & Destroy”