Metallica to Play Their First-Ever Show in Saudi Arabia

Metallica have announced their final show of 2023: a headlining December 14th performance on the opening night of the three-day Soundstorm festival in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The gig will be Metallica’s first in Saudi Arabia and will make them the first major metal act to perform at a public event in the country. Other artists set to perform at the festival include Pharrell Williams, Chris Brown, H.E.R., and Black Eyed Peas. A reported 600,000 people attended last year’s Soundstorm, which is booked by Saudi promoters MDLBEAST.

Shared Metallica on Facebook: “We’re not done with 2023 just yet, as an amazing opportunity has just come our way to perform at a major festival that we have never played in a part of the world we rarely get to visit. We’re excited to announce that on Thursday, December 14 we’ll be the first hard rock band to ever play at MDLBeast’s Soundstorm Festival in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.”

Public performances of heavy metal in Saudi Arabia are rare. In 2022, Saudi melodic death metal band Immmortal Pain became the first heavy metal group to perform at a large public event when they played at Comic Con Arabia. As for Metallica, the thrash legends made their live debut in a Middle Eastern country when they played Etihad Park in Abu Dhabi in 2011; however, they have never played Saudi Arabia, nor has any other major metal band in a public capacity.

Get Metallica Tickets Here

Following the performance in Saudi Arabia, Metallica don’t have another show booked until the European leg of their “M72” tour in May. A North American leg is set to kick off a few months later in August, and you can get tickets to the band’s 2024 shows here.

You can see the band’s announcement for the performance in Saudi Arabia below.