Metallica Kicks Off No Repeat Weekend in Arlington with Plenty of Fuel, Fire and That Which We Desire

The stage was set in the shape of a diamond: the Snake Pit in the middle and a sea of people ebbing and flowing around.

At three of its four corners were different drum kits staged for each band with a platform connecting each corner.

As the audience entered, they were greeted by an image of the Dallas skyline with "72" hovering above displayed on six cylindrical screens lined with speakers.

This was the scene of the first night of Metallica’s No Repeat Weekend Tour at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, celebrating Metallica’s latest album 72 Seasons, and the rest of its incredible career and legacy.

Ads for veterans' suicide prevention starring Metallica singer and guitarist James Hetfield and bassist Robert Trujillo played alongside ads for Liquid Death Mountain Water and Metallica’s signature Blackened whiskey — a complement to the airplane banner flying outside the stadium.

You could fault Metallica for its shameless self-promotion, but while you're at it, you could fault the millions of people who would gladly give their money to show their support for the band in any way possible.

Maybe it was all the people who remained seated or all the people who stayed out on the concourse, but whatever it was, it was clear from the outset: Seeing Wolfgang Van Halen, the son of late rock legend Eddie Van Halen, was nice for those who had arrived early, but Mammoth WVH was not the band people were here to see. While the rest of Mammoth utilized the stage in the round with high-energy performances, Van Halen remained stationary on the east stage throughout the set of old songs and new, playing a baby-pink guitar for all but the last song, when he switched to something more appropriate — something painted black.

Mammoth kept it short, with a set time of just over 30 minutes. And while nobody would say that Mammoth is revolutionizing rock 'n' roll, there is something to be said about a young band who is keeping it alive. The floor would stay half-empty and the merch table line full leading up to Pantera’s performance. The silence after Mammoth was the cue for the audience to start filing in.

For decades, Arlington has been the proud place where Pantera was formed and groove metal was born.

Many wondered what Patera would be like without fallen members Dimebag Darrell and Vinnie Paul, but the buzz around their replacements, guitar god Zakk Wylde and drummer Charlie Benante from Anthrax, that circulated through the audience was good.

Smoke began to fill the stadium as the space around the stage and in the pit tightened. A video reel chronicling Pantera’s history started on the cylindrical screens, the lights went down and the crowd lost its mind for the hometown heroes slowly taking the south stage at 6:53 p.m.

Unlike Mammoth, all of Pantera’s members made use of the full stage, even Benante, who would switch kits on opposite sides of the stage during the set. Singer Phil Anselmo commanded the audience to raise its fists and Wylde got into audience members' faces with a blue Flying V guitar with a lightning bolt across its face. Wylde’s guitar, an homage to Darrell’s signature guitar, was complemented by Darrell and Paul’s faces on Benante’s kick drums. Anselmo dedicated “Strength Beyond Strength” to their memory. Wylde would switch to his own signature guitar later in the set among many others.

Anselmo is as much a showman as he's ever been, taking to the stage with the attitude of an angry politician, demanding every ounce of energy from his audience. And while the color of his hair and beard showed his age, you couldn’t hear it in his voice.

Original bassist Rex Brown is Pantera’s only remaining member from North Texas, but it would haven been nice to hear a bit more acknowledgment for the band’s hometown.

In one of the only moments of the sort, Anselmo acknowledged the fact. “Since I’m in Dallas, I can ask, how many of y’all saw us in the ‘80s?” he asked, to a small but strong response. More people had seen them in the '90s, but the strongest response came when Anselmo asked who in the audience was seeing Pantera for the first time. Midway through the set, Pantera shot back to the video screens with a heartfelt tribute to its fallen members, showing rare band and family footage of the two living and loving life.

As Pantera closed its set with the opening riff of “Cowboys From Hell” playing behind them, Anselmo asked the packed stadium who would come to see them in the future. The response would be one of the evening’s loudest. Before Anselmo left the stage at 7:54 p.m., he led the audience in singing, “And she’s buying a (fucking) stairway to heaven.”

During the set change, the lining of the stage was bathed in blue light and a chorus of spotlights at the corners of the stadium floor. The audience knew that it was in for a light show.

While fans waited, dozens of beach balls went bouncing around the audience. A wave started in section 219 as the fans waited for Metallica to start. It reached from floor to ceiling by its fourth lap. The great thing about doing the wave at a stadium this size is that you’ve got a pretty long break before it comes back around. Fans in the Snake Pit were waving at the football field cameras flying overhead when the screens went dark at 8:52 p.m. and AC/DC’s “It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'N' Roll)” blared out across the stadium and a photo montage played on the screens.

Everything went black at 8:57 p.m. Then Lars Ulrich hit the drums and "Creeping Death" started, while absolutely everything was bathed in red light. From the start, Metallica made every single fan in the audience feel included in its performance, with Hetfield inviting the audience to sing the final chorus on first song.

From its legions of fans to its production, from its sound to its showmanship, from its hits to its legacy, Metallica’s very presence is powerful. Regardless of where your loyalty to the band lies, you can't help but be swept into its presence. While Hetfield, Trujillo and lead guitarist Kirk Hammett roamed the stage with remote amplification, Lars stayed seated in a drum kit that would move between songs to face different parts of the audience.

After a performance of "King Nothing," the band left the stage, leaving them in red light and yellow landscapes on the cylinders. Bathed in a yellow light, it was time for some new material.

Hetfield, playing a guitar labeled "72," sped through "Lux Æterna" and “Too Far Gone?” from the new album, telling the audience, “If you don’t [have the new album], you should get it.” Hammett and Trujillo followed the song, taking to the north stage to share a jam they composed just hours before especially for the Dallas show. With the stadium lit in orange, the two played a full three minutes of music that sounded like an 18-wheeler speeding through heavy traffic.

After a blackout, the stadium was split between purple and aqua light, Hetfield now facing west, and slowly singing the opening of “Welcome Home (Sanitarium).”

Before going into another song from the new album, Hetfield took a moment to acknowledge the folks at the highest altitudes of AT&T Stadium as well as the people watching in theaters around the area, encouraging them to get up and move. There was, of course, a feeling that they should shut up and play the hits; Metallica really sold its new album with gripping performances by Hammett on lead for "Shadows Follow."

While watching the band utilize the full space of the stage gave the show a lot of energy, one of the most exciting moments of night came when the full band clustered together on the east stage for a smoldering version of "Orion," which they dedicated to fallen member and original guitarist Cliff Burton.

It was an all phone lights out, singalong moment as Hammett led the band in “Nothing Else Matters,” and the entire audience joined in, singing every lyric word for word. During "Sad But True," Trujillo seemed to ride across the Snake Pit on a platform, but how could not be determined from the seats.

As the concert began to wind down, Hetfield took a seat on the north side of the stage to lead the band into “The Day That Never Comes,” but they would pick things back up after another blackout, this time with the Texas flag on the cylinders, followed the percussive opening of “Hardwired to Self Destruct.”

The song came to a slow close, but then Hetfield belted out the opening lines of "Fuel," complete with flames and fireworks fired out over the Snake Pit. Hetfield closed the song, screaming “Burn, Dallas, burn!”

Hetfield then took some time to acknowledge the children standing out on the floor — ages 9 and 12. The singer let the audience know that he had just turned 60, and gave a big smile seeing Metallica's legacy reach Gen Alpha. Truly, Metallica has come a long way from people thinking the band and all metal music was evil.

Dozens of gigantic beach balls fell to the floor as the band started the night's penultimate song "Seek and Destroy." The  beach balls would remain there obstructing everyone on the floor’s view and really seeming to get in the band’s way as it closed with "Master of Puppets."

The house lights came up, and Hetfield let the audience know something that should have already been clear by that point, "Metallica loves you."

The band would do one final curtain call to bow and thank the fans for their years of support, but after being given the space to move and scream and cry it all out as loud as one can, maybe it is us that should be thanking Metallica.