Classical and metal music will collide when Metallica is joined by the San Francisco Symphony this fall to perform for the first time at the Golden State Warriors’ new arena.
Both acts will be the first artists to perform at the 18,064-seat Chase Center on September 6, which will be home to the Warriors this year. The performance, set to be conducted by Thomas and Edwin Outwater, will mark the 20th anniversary of Metallica’s first performance with the San Francisco Symphony back in 1999 at the Berkeley Community Theatre; the concert, which was conducted by the late Michael Karmen, can be heard on the live album S&M.
“We wanted to do something unique to the Bay Area, something that would happen only here and nowhere else in the world,” Warriors President and Operating Officer Rick Welts said of the announcement.
During a news conference on Monday, Metallica’s Lars Ulrich and James Hetfield posed with San Francisco Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas, along with Welts, Warriors owner Joe Lacob, and San Francisco Mayor London Breed, showcasing their concert poster.
“We’re not just a sports team anymore,” Lacob said during the conference. “We now are an entertainment organization – and we want to be just as good at that as we have been at the sports side of things. We want to deliver world-class acts for all right here at this venue for decades to come. And we intend to do that.”
The show, which will be dubbed “S&M2,” will include material from the 1999 show, as well as Metallica’s hits throughout the past 20 years. Bruce Coughlin will compose new orchestral charts for the tracks. Hetfield described the show as a “beautiful opportunity” and the band is “super proud that after 38 years there’s still cool things on the horizon for us.”
The Warriors will announce more acts set to perform at the stadium over the next few days as a part of “Reveal Week.”
Metallica just wrapped up the North American leg of their WorldWired Tour and are set to take a brief break before heading overseas for shows throughout the summer and fall. During shows in Oklahoma, Kansas, Kentucky, and Indiana, the band broke attendance records.
