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Metallica at Racino Rocks: the M72 World Tour comes to Vienna
On 1 June 2024 Metallica brought the M72 World Tour to Racino Rocks, a one-day festival at Magna Racino in Ebreichsdorf, just south of Vienna, with Five Finger Death Punch and Ice Nine Kills on the bill.
On Saturday 1 June 2024 Metallica played Racino Rocks, a new one-day festival at Magna Racino in Ebreichsdorf, a short drive south of Vienna. It was a stop on the M72 World Tour, and the band brought their touring partners Five Finger Death Punch and Ice Nine Kills with them. The Metallica gallery has photos from the night.
The M72 World Tour
The tour takes its name from 72 Seasons, Metallica's eleventh studio album, released in April 2023. The title refers to the first 18 years of life, the seasons that shape who we become, and the songs deal with growing up and carrying those years into adulthood.
The tour began in Amsterdam in April 2023 and was built around a striking idea: a stage in the round. Instead of a stage at one end of the field, the band played in the middle of the crowd, inside a ring of towers, with a pit called the Snake Pit in the centre. Drummer Lars Ulrich's kit moved around the circle during the show, so every side of the audience had a turn at the front.
No two nights alike
In many cities the band played two nights with completely different set lists, billed as "No Repeat Weekends". Racino Rocks was a single day, so Vienna got one show, built from the classics everyone came for and the new songs from 72 Seasons.
Forty years of thrash
Metallica formed in Los Angeles in 1981 and released their debut, Kill 'Em All, in 1983. Albums such as Ride the Lightning, Master of Puppets and the self-titled "Black Album" of 1991 made them one of the best-selling bands in the world. More than four decades in, James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett and Robert Trujillo still play stadium-length shows at full volume.
A new festival site
Magna Racino was built as a racecourse, and its open grounds made room for a stadium-sized crowd outside the city. For many fans from Austria, Slovenia, Hungary and Slovakia, it was the closest M72 date of the year.
See the Metallica photos from Racino Rocks, and the support acts in the Five Finger Death Punch and Ice Nine Kills galleries.