The question on all our minds, "will New Zealand be part of Metallica’s ongoing WorldWired Tour"?  The band recently began with the leg of their North American tour, taking them all around the continent in numerous key cities.  As expected, massive crowds converged, while Metallica delivered their monstrous hits.

News about the success and excitement instantly reached these shores.  The buzz gets louder. The clamor sounds stronger. The anticipation builds higher and higher.  Are the four horsemen on their way to Kiwiland to make the prophecy come to pass?

The gods seem to be giving positive signs, and in fact, one of them has spoken.  

"We gotta just sit and look. There's Japan. There's Australia. There's New Zealand. There's a couple other pockets that obviously Metallica has a long and very cool relationship with, so we just gotta sit down and figure it out,"  says drummer, Lars Ulrich, in a recent interview he did with So What!, Metallica’s Fan Club magazine.

Metallica’s last performance over here was in Christchurch, New Zealand CBS Canterbury Arena on September 21, 2010, a precursor to their record-breaking Australian leg.  They played three dates in Melbourne, Australia in late November 2010, which made history as the most successful leg, grossing roughly $217.2 million (the 18th highest grossing tour of all time).

Seriously, nothing else matters to these kids.  In fact, a 12-year-old youngster named William Bush launched a campaign calling Metallica fans to sign a petition via change.org to help bring Metallica back to New Zealand, which reads:

“It's been 8 years since you’ve visited New Zealand shores and we are all hoping for your return! The Bogans and Metal heads of our country have had an 8-year withdrawal and can’t wait for the next time they’ll get to see Metallica live in NZ. Who knows, Napier would be a great place for you to play! We believe this is long overdue and we deserve a Metallica Concert!!!

Whether you play in Auckland, Christchurch, Wellington my home province Hawkes Bay. Kiwis just want a Metallica concert.”

As of this writing, Bush has gathered 3,712 sign-ups, and are gunning to reach 5,000.

The effects of Metallica’s staying power reverberates to this day, influencing a new and younger generation of audiences.  Their illustrious career spans releases of fifteen albums, ten of which are studio recordings, along with four live albums, and one cover album; plus five EPs, 37 singles and 39 music videos. The band has collected 9 Grammys out of 23 nominations.  With sales of over 125 million albums worldwide, Rolling Stone magazine has ranked them at no. 61 on its 100 Greatest Artists of All Time list.

Show your support to bring the Metallica WorldWired tour to New Zealand this 2019!  Gear-up by checking out Metallica shirts from our Online Store.