Metallica Sphere residency confirmed for eight October shows
The band announced an eight-show Las Vegas residency titled "Life Burns Faster, " and the metallica sphere run will take place in October 2026. The announcement includes a presale window in early March and a public on-sale that follows, underscoring the scale of the planned run.
Presale window and ticket on-sale times
A special presale opens on Thursday, March 5, beginning at 10am PT and running through that evening until 10pm PT. Tickets will be available to the general public on Friday, March 6 at 10am PT. The announcement also references further information about presales, enhanced experiences and travel packages; the destination for that additional information is unclear in the provided context.
Metallica Sphere dates and No Repeat Weekend tradition
The eight-show residency is scheduled for October 2026 and lists specific October dates of 1, 3, 15, 17, 22, 24, 29 and 31. The run will continue the "No Repeat Weekend" tradition that began with the 2023 kick-off of the band's M72 World Tour: no songs will be repeated on each Thursday and Saturday throughout the course of the run.
How the venue's technology and the band's rig intersect
The announcement says the eight-show run will present live staples and surprises spanning the band's catalog enhanced by the venue's immersive technologies. Those technologies include what the announcement calls the world's highest resolution LED display that wraps up, over and around the audience; an immersive sound system described as delivering audio with clarity and precision to every guest; and multi-sensory 4D technology. The residency is explicitly framed as "a wholly unique and entirely new Metallica experience" for attendees and for band members James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett and Robert Trujillo.
Coverage of past performances at the venue has highlighted technical limits for guitarists: loud stages with tube amps have not worked, prompting John Mayer to find a workaround to run his regular amp setup, Bob Weir to ditch tube amps for an amp modeler, The Edge to run through Universal Audio UAFX pedals, and Trey Anastasio to bury his amps off-stage during a Phish residency. Metallica are expected to avoid those issues because the band converted to an all-digital live setup, switching to Axe-Fx around 2013, meaning their existing live setup should integrate with the venue's quiet stage design.
Lars Ulrich described the moment the band decided to pursue a residency: "About 12 seconds into the opening night of Sphere with U2 back in '23, I thought, 'We have to do this, it's completely uncharted territory!'" He added, "This residency gives us another chance to reinvent how we interact with our fans in a live setting. We are beyond excited to share this with the world in six months' time, and way fuckin' psyched to go next level!"
Production details, fan programming and related presale notices
The residency carries the title "Life Burns Faster" and the announcement lists production and presentation partners while also describing a dining-rewards company that offers special offers and credit back when users pay with its app at thousands of restaurants and that provides financing to participating restaurants to enable new levels of sustainability and success. Specific contact or learning-destination details for that partner are unclear in the provided context.
Fan-facing programming tied to the announcement includes a new monthly call-in show called "Tallica Talk, " hosted by Spider Dan and Steffan Chirazi. Fans are invited to call 844-TALLICA to share stories. The show's premiere will focus on the Sphere announcement and is scheduled for Wednesday, February 25 from 4–5pm PT / 7–8pm ET.
The residency notice also appeared alongside presale announcements for other live events, including presale notices for Kenny Chesney at the venue, a first-ever nationwide live tour for Megyn Kelly titled "Megyn Kelly LIVE, " Def Leppard dates at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas and 2026 dates for "An Intimate Evening with Santana: Greatest Hits Live in Las Vegas. "
What fans can expect from the run
Organizers promise the residency will combine the band's live staples with surprises across the Metallica catalog and use the venue's display, sound and multi-sensory systems to present a new experience. With the eight October shows and the continuation of the No Repeat Weekend rule, the announcement frames the run as both expansive in scope and deliberately curated in setlist approach.
