Metallica have been playing all over the place throughout 2022, and the other night, they tackled “Metal Militia” live for the first time since 2016, which you can see footage of below.
The performance took place at the Netherlands’ Pinkpop Festival on June 17. After playing a 13-song set, the rockers came back out for a 3-song encore. “Metal Militia” was the first, followed by “One” and “Master of Puppets” [via Setlist.fm]. It’s the first time that the band has played “Metal Militia,” which is from their 1983 debut Kill ‘Em All, since December of 2016. Their tour statistics further note that the track has only been played live a total of 91 times throughout their entire career.
See fan-filmed footage of Metallica playing “Metal Militia” at Pinkpop toward the bottom of the page.
While six years may not sound like a long time, Metallica have been toured consistently around the world since then, which means hundreds of shows have gone by since they last added it to their setlist. It’s also one of several surprises the group has thrown into their sets lately. Earlier this week marked the first time they ended a show with “Master of Puppets” since 1997.
Metallica’s next show is set to take place tomorrow night (June 19) at the Prague Rocks festival, followed by a handful of other European performances that’ll take place through July. They have a couple of North American shows scheduled as well — see all of their 2022 dates here.