Metallica to Bring Their Show to Saudi Arabia
For the first time in their 40+ year career, Metallica is bringing their world-class live show to the sandy confines of Saudi Arabia. The performance will take place as the headlining act on the opening night of a three-day music festival called Soundstorm in the country’s capital city, Riyadh next month.
Seeing a major western media apparatus make a splash in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is nothing new, as the WWE has now has numerous successful pay-per-view events in the major Middle Eastern city. Similarly, other music artists have been playing shows in KSA in recent years as the government in that country lightens up slightly. The country is pretty young as far as its population is concerned, so it makes sense that some more contemporary acts are able to make it out there these days.
Along with Metallica, the festival will also feature Pharrell Williams, Chris Brown, H.E.R., Black Eyed Peas, J Balvin and Anne-Marie, as well as DJs Tiesto and David Guetta. Last year’s festival saw more than 600,000 people in attendance, with organizers expecting at least the same, if not more in attendance, at the more than 5.5 million square meter space.
To that end, Metallica said they were stoked to add Saudi Arabia to their list of visited countries, which also includes a performance in Antarctica.
“We’re not done with 2023 just yet, as an amazing opportunity has just come our way to perform at a major festival that we have never played in a part of the world we rarely get to visit.
“We’re excited to announce that on Thursday, December 14 we’ll be the first hard rock band to ever play at @MDLBeast’s Soundstorm Festival in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
“Festival and single-day tickets are available now at mdlbeast.com.”
This festival announcement comes 12 years after Metallica played their first Middle East show, having performed at Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Park back in 2011. Metal and that region of the world haven’t necessarily meshed well, so seeing acts like Metallica make the trek out there is a huge deal.
