Metallica have announced a monumental tour of the UK and Europe.
Joining the biggest stars in heavy metal on their trek from May to July next year will be Gojira, Knocked Loose, Pantera and Avatar.
At select stops, the band will continue the ‘no-repeat weekends’ format they’ve been employing since the release of 2023 album 72 Seasons, which sees them play two shows at the same venue with totally different support acts and setlists.
Tickets (including two-night tickets for the no-repeat weekends) go on general sale on Friday, May 30, at 10am local time. Fan-club pre-sales start on Tuesday, May 27, at 11am local time. See all of the newly announced dates listed below.
The new tour will mark Metallica’s first shows in Frankfurt, Germany, and Dublin, Ireland, since 2009. The UK dates consist of one stop each in Cardiff and Edinburgh, then two shows at the 80,000-capacity London Stadium. They’ll come almost one year after Metallica are set to appear at Black Sabbath’s final show, scheduled to take place at Birmingham’s Villa Park on July 5.
Metallica are currently performing across North America and will play shows at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on May 23 and 25. The tour will wrap in late June.
After the Sabbath farewell, the band will do a tour of Australia, Asia and the Middle East in November and December, which will be capped off by a performance at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on December 6.
Metallica are currently preparing to re-release their sixth album, 1996’s Load, in a number of different box set packages. They come out on June 13.
Gojira, who won the 2025 Grammy Award For Best Metal Performance with a version of French revolutionary anthem Ah! Ça Ira that they played at last year’s Olympic Games, have a stacked live schedule ahead of the Metallica tour. They will also appear at the Sabbath show, before playing across Europe and headlining the UK’s Bloodstock Open Air in August. They’ll then tour North America later in 2025.
Knocked Loose will tour Europe this summer, including a set at the first-ever London edition of Outbreak festival, before playing across North America towards the end of the year.
Avatar will play the European festival circuit this summer and, on Halloween, will headline their first arena show at Pepsi Center in Mexico City. They have more live dates scheduled for early 2026 and are working on a new album.
Metallica 2026 European tour dates:
May 09: Athens Olympic Stadium, Greece*
May 13: Bucharest Arena Națională, Romania
May 19: Chorzów Stadion Śląski, Poland
May 22: Frankfurt Deutsche Bank Park, Germany*
May 24: Frankfurt Deutsche Bank Park, Germany+
May 27: Zurich Stadion Letzigrund, Switzerland*
May 30: Berlin Olympiastadion, Germany*
Jun 03: Bologna Stadio Renato Dall’Ara, Italy*
Jun 11: Budapest Puskas Arena, Hungary+
Jun 13: Budapest Puskas Arena, Hungary*
Jun 19: Dublin Aviva Stadium, Ireland+
Jun 21: Dublin Aviva Stadium, Ireland*
Jun 25: Glasgow Hampden Park, UK*
Jun 28: Cardiff Principality Stadium, UK*
Jul 03: London Stadium, UK*
Jul 05: London Stadium, UK+
* Gojira and Knocked Loose support
+ Pantera and Avatar support
