Metallica to play new Bucks arena
It’s official: Metallica will play its first Milwaukee show in nine years this fall.
It’s happening Oct. 16 at the $524 million Milwaukee Bucks arena — the same week both Foo Fighters and the Eagles play the venue, tentatively named the Wisconsin Entertainment and Sports Center.
Metallica’s WorldWired tour leg from 2018 to 2019 will actually start in Wisconsin Sept. 2, at the Kohl Center in Madison.
On Sunday, a video was shared on the new Bucks venue’s Facebook page with the words “Monday” and “Worldwired Tour” — the same video now on Metallica’s Facebook page.
Featuring longtime members James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett, Lars Ulrich and more recent addition Robert Trujillo, Metallica is one of the top-selling groups in rock history, with more than 125 million albums sold worldwide. In the United States alone, it’s sold 58 million albums, including its 1991 selftitled release, the top-selling album since at least 1991, when Nielsen SoundScan began tracking sales.
Last year, the band had the fifth highest-grossing tour in the world, according to concert industry publication Pollstar, following the 2016 release of double-album “Hardwired … To Self-Destruct.”
It was Metallica’s sixth consecutive album to debut at the top of the Billboard 200, and the band’s first in eight years (excluding the Lou Reed collaboration “Lulu”).
Tickets for the Milwaukee show, priced between $65 and $135, are available beginning at 10 a.m. Friday by calling (800) 745-3000 or (866) 448-7849, or visiting
A series of presales begin Tuesday through Ticketmaster.
Tickets for the Madison show are available through Ticketmaster for between $63 to $133, also beginning at 10 a.m. Friday, with presales kicking off Tuesday.
The Milwaukee Metallica show is the eighth concert announced for the forthcoming Bucks venue, currently being constructed with $250 million in public money.
Shows with Justin Timberlake (Sept. 21), Foo Fighters (Oct. 17) and Elton John (Feb. 19) are essentially sold out. Tickets are also available for Kevin Hart (Sept. 13); Maroon 5 with Julia Michaels (Sept. 16); Jim Gaffigan (Sept. 22); and the Eagles (Oct. 18).
Raj Saha, the arena’s general manager and head of programming, told the Journal Sentinel a grand opening concert will take place in late August or early September, preceded by several days of soft-opening events.