Metallica’s Live Stream Of Next Weekend’s Minneapolis Concert To Preview New Album?

Metallica is opening the brand new stadium in Minneapolis next weekend, and they’re offering the chance for millions of their fans around the world to listen to the show live. Metallica just announced that their debut show at U.S. Bank Stadium, the new home of the NFL’s Minnesota Vikings, will be made available live via Pandora.

However, the question remains: What will Metallica play during this special event? Will it be the same mix of die-hard tunes that they played at their “Night Before” gig for the Superbowl, or will fans be able to look forward to something new — perhaps from their upcoming album?

It has been almost eight years since Metallica’s last record, Death Magnetic, was released, and Metallica fans have been chomping at the bit for something new. There have been hints of new Metallica songs here and there over the last several years, (most notably the summer anthem, “Lords of Summer,” and the Ronnie James Dio tribute medley, “Ronnie Rising”), but only “Lords of Summer” has really made it into Metallica’s live set list in a notable way.

Now, finally, Metallica fans have been receiving more and more snippets of information via both secondhand sources and Metallica themselves over the past year that the band is actually in the studio and recording songs. Finally, members of Metallica themselves say that the new album is slated for a fall release, and that has Metallica fans wondering when new songs will start to surface.

Metallica has a long tradition of debuting brand new songs on the road before they’re officially released. Going back as far as the “Monsters of Rock” tour with Van Halen and Dokken, Metallica previewed “Harvester of Sorrow” from their soon-to-be-released LP …And Justice for All. Later, before the albums Load and ReLoad were released, Metallica previewed the track “2X4” for live audiences.

Considering the extreme length of time between the release of Death Magnetic and the release of Metallica’s next album, and considering the anticipation level held by fans, it might cross Metallica’s mind to preview a new song at a big event — something like the debut rock show at a brand new stadium. And what better way to reach a larger audience than to live stream the concert to millions of Metallica fans?

The Metallica concert live stream from the new U.S. Bank Stadium on August 20 has been made through a partnership with Pandora. Metallica explained the show on their website.

“Thanks to you the show is sold out, but if you can’t be there in person we want to bring the music to you and we’ve teamed up with Pandora to do it! Next Saturday, August 20th our friends at Pandora will live stream the entire concert starting at approximately 9:00 PM local Central Time.”

The chances are there, of course, to hear a new track from Metallica, though Metallica fans have been burned in the past when they’ve hoped that the band would play something new at big events like the Superbowl “Night Before” gig. However, in this instance, we’re presumably only a few months from the release of the new album, and the thought is that the majority of the songs are already in place and for the most part recorded. So, the question is, what would stop Metallica from previewing a new song at the opening of U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis?

What do you think? Can we expect to hear a new track at the Minneapolis show next weekend from Metallica?

[Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images]