Metallica still packs punch in prolonged Triad Combat concert at Texas’ Globe Life Field

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It took much of Saturday night and a little bit of early Sunday morning, but Metallica proved it still packs a punch.

The seminal heavy metal rock band played a prolonged concert split into three sets at Globe Life Field in Arlington as part of the first ever Triad Combat pay-per-view event in front of more than 20,000 in attendance.

The Triad Combat event, which combines elements of boxing and Mixed Martial Arts, was streamed worldwide on FiteTV. The seven-fight card featured conventional boxers against Mixed Martial Arts fighters. Kicking, however, is not allowed and the fighters wear smallish boxing gloves. The Triad ring was set up about where second base would be located on the baseball field.

Metallica got to throw the first punches of the night. The band played two songs on a massive stage set up in center field before the fights started, including opener “Fuel” moments after the national anthem. The band followed it with “Ride the Lightning,” the title track from their 1984 album. It was one of four songs from the album that made up the 16-song, hits-heavy set.

That burst of 15 minutes of metal adrenaline was it for more than the next three hours as the focus turned to the fights. Six of the seven fights then took place before Metallica returned to the stage.

The band came back for two more songs at about 11 p.m. before the main event fight between heavyweight Bulgarian boxer Kubrat Pulev and MMA fighter Frank Mir. Pulev won in a first round TKO at the 1:59 mark.

After some post-fight interviews, famed ring announcer Michael Buffer officially introduced the band before the bulk of their set, which got going around 11:30 p.m. and finished at about 12:40 a.m.

“Ladies and gentleman, there are stars, there are superstars, and then there are legends,” Buffer said from the Triad ring. “Presenting the undisputed, heavyweight champion of the world of metal rock, this is Metallica!”

The band tore into “Whiplash” with ferocious drumming from Lars Ulrich from their 1983 album Kill ‘Em All. They closed the show with “Seek & Destroy,” another song from Kill ‘Em All.

“How do you feel? You feel love? You feel energy? You feel a sense of belonging,” Singer and guitarist James Hatfield asked the crowd before the band played “Sad But True,” one of five songs played from its untitled “Black” album . “You feel a sense of freedom again, finally? I feel that because we’re up here getting to do what we were created to do finally. Yes, it has been a little while. So please join me and sing whatever you can, because I need all the help I can get.”

The band last played the area in June 2017, across the street at AT&T Stadium, three months before ground was broke on the construction of Globe Life Field.

Metallica’s set list at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, Nov. 27, 2021

1. Fuel

2. Ride the Lightning

(three-hour break)

3. Master of Puppets

4. Nothing Else Matters

5. Enter Sandman

(30-minute break)

6. Whiplash

7. The Memory Remains

8. Wherever I May Roam

9. Sad But True

10. Creeping Death

11. The Unforgiven

12. For Whom the Bell Tolls

13. Whiskey In the Jar (Thin Lizzy cover)

14. Fade to Black

15. Battery

16. Seek & Destroy