Metallica Sphere: metallica sphere Residency Confirmed for October 2026
Metallica will perform eight shows at Sphere in Las Vegas in October 2026 as part of a residency titled "Life Burns Faster, " organizers say. The metallica sphere run continues the band’s "No Repeat Weekend" policy and includes a designated listener presale beginning March 5 and a general on-sale on March 6.
Metallica Sphere Shows and Dates
The Life Burns Faster residency is scheduled for eight October dates: October 1, 3, 15, 17, 22, 24, 29 and 31. The eight-show run will span the Metallica catalog with both live staples and surprises intended to be enhanced by Sphere’s immersive technologies.
Presale and Public On-Sale
A special presale for listeners opens on Thursday, March 5, starting at 10am PT and running through Thursday, March 5 at 10pm PT using the code SIRIUSXM. Tickets go on sale to the general public on Friday, March 6 at 10am PT.
No Repeat Weekend Policy
The residency will continue Metallica’s "No Repeat Weekend" tradition, which began with the 2023 kick-off of the M72 World Tour: no songs will be repeated on each Thursday and Saturday throughout the run. The band described the eight-show run as offering fans the opportunity to hear both live staples and deeper cuts across the Metallica catalog.
Why other guitarists struggled
Several guitarists who have played Sphere have faced technical challenges tied to the venue’s design and stage requirements. John Mayer, Bob Weir, Trey Anastasio and The Edge encountered the same issue: loud stages with onstage tube amps have proven difficult to use at Sphere. Bob Weir abandoned tube amps in favor of an amp modeler; John Mayer had to find a workaround to run his usual amp setup; The Edge ran through Universal Audio UAFX pedals; and Trey Anastasio buried his amps off-stage during Phish’s residency, saying it was impossible to play with onstage amps at the venue.
Production, technology and partners
Organizers said Sphere’s technology will play a defining role in the Life Burns Faster shows. The venue’s world’s highest resolution LED display will wrap up, over and around the audience; Sphere Immersive Sound is described as delivering audio with clarity and precision to every guest; and multi-sensory 4D technology will be used to create new experiential dimensions for attendees. Metallica noted that these technologies will present a wholly unique experience for James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett and Robert Trujillo regardless of whether fans have seen the band in stadiums, arenas, theaters or from the Snake Pit and the 360-degree M72 stage.
Metallica "Life Burns Faster" at Sphere is produced by Live Nation and presented by inKind. inKind is described as rewarding diners with special offers and credit back when they use the app to pay at thousands of top-rated restaurants nationwide, and as providing innovative financing to participating restaurants to enable new levels of sustainability and success.
Tallica Talk call-in programming
A new monthly live call-in show titled "Tallica Talk" will feature Spider Dan and Steffan Chirazi as hosts. Fans can call 844-TALLICA to share their excitement and Metallica stories. Each episode will feature a different theme; the premiere will focus on the Sphere announcement on Wednesday, February 25, from 4–5pm PT / 7–8pm ET.
Band drummer Lars Ulrich said the seeds of the residency were planted during Sphere’s opening night: "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!’" Ulrich 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!"
Metallica’s existing live setup should also ease the transition to Sphere. The band moved to an all-digital live rig, having switched to Axe-Fx around 2013, which is expected to mitigate the amp and stage issues other guitarists have encountered at the venue.
The announcement was accompanied by promotions highlighting presale opportunities for other Las Vegas and touring events, including presale notices for Kenny Chesney at Sphere, a nationwide live tour for Megyn Kelly, Def Leppard at Caesars Palace and 2026 dates for Santana’s "An Intimate Evening with Santana: Greatest Hits Live in Las Vegas. "
For fans planning to attend, the key sales windows are the listener presale on March 5 (10am PT–10pm PT) using code SIRIUSXM and the general public on-sale on March 6 at 10am PT.
Unclear in the provided context: specific ticketing pages and full details of enhanced experiences, travel packages and where to register were referenced but not listed in full in the materials provided here.
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Closing paragraph: Metallica’s Life Burns Faster residency at Sphere in Las Vegas will consist of eight October 2026 shows, maintain the No Repeat Weekend practice established during the M72 World Tour, use Sphere’s LED, immersive sound and 4D technologies, and follows a presale on March 5 and a public on-sale on March 6.
