THE BEAST

Last night (Friday, September 6), METALLICA played the first of two shows with the San Francisco Symphony for the grand opening of Chase Center, the new home of the Golden State Warriors .

The concert, conducted by Edwin Outwater with a special appearance by Michael Tilson Thomas , marked the 20th anniversary of METALLICA 's first performance with the symphony at the Berkeley Community Theater in 1999, which resulted in the live album "S&M" (Symphony & Metallica). A film of this month's concerts (including Sunday's performance at the same venue), called "S&M²" , will arrive in theaters worldwide on October 9.

Friday's show drew 16,000 fans and saw the four members of METALLICA playing on a circular, revolving stage in the center of the arena floor, surrounded by 75 members of the Symphony and Outwater , according to the San Francisco Chronicle .

The three-hour concert was split into two parts and included a rendition of "Anesthesia (Pulling Teeth)" from METALLICA 's debut album, "Kill 'Em All" , performed as a solo by the Symphony bassist Scott Pingel in tribute to METALLICA 's late bassist Cliff Burton (whose 94-year-old father was in the audience).

Drummer Lars Ulrich told the audience at one point: "There is no place on this planet METALLICA would rather be tonight than here with you."

Set I

01. The Ecstasy Of Gold (Ennio Morricone cover) (performed by the San Francisco Symphony)
02. The Call Of Ktulu
03. For Whom The Bell Tolls
04. The Day That Never Comes
05. The Memory Remains
06. Confusion
07. Moth Into Flame
08. The Outlaw Torn
09. No Leaf Clover
10. Halo On Fire

Set II

11. Scythian Suite, Op.20, Second Movement (Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev cover) (performed by the San Francisco Symphony)
12. Iron Foundry (Alexander Mosolov cover) (live debut)
13. The Unforgiven III (performed by the San Francisco Symphony)
14. All Within My Hands (acoustic)
15. (Anesthesia) Pulling Teeth (bass part performed by San Francisco Symphony bassist)
16. Wherever I May Roam
17. One
18. Master Of Puppets
19. Nothing Else Matters
20. Enter Sandman (with "The Frayed Ends Of Sanity" outro)

Earlier in the week, Ulrich said that the biggest challenge of collaborating with the symphony is "not being completely fucking intimidated by all these incredible players and incredible musicians.

"We do what we do and some even accuse us of being semi-good at it," he explained. "And that's sort of our niche. But I believe that any musician will always have a tremendous amount of respect and humility around other players and other people who excel at their particular niche or particular craft.

"I take it very seriously that I am, for better or worse, the anchor of the whole thing. And you just want to be on top of your game and really focused."

Back in March, METALLICA fans took to Twitter to express their outrage after the pre-sale for the "S&M²" show ended within seconds due to bots grabbing all the available tickets.

Members of METALLICA 's fan club were supposed to be given the opportunity to buy tickets a few days early, but it was reported that tickets began showing up instantly at StubHub before fans had a chance to view their pre-sale opportunity.

The original "S&M" concerts were conducted by the late Michael Kamen in spring of 1999 at the Berkeley Community Theatre.

The first ever setlist at @chase_center ! And night one of #SandM2 is in the books. pic.twitter.com/aHg20IlN5Z

— Metallica (@Metallica) September 7, 2019