Metallica Share Pro-Shot Footage From Their Las Vegas Sphere Kickoff

Metallica have released professionally shot video from the opening night of their Las Vegas Sphere residency, pulling two songs from the October 1 kickoff: “The Call of Ktulu” and “…And Justice for All.” The footage is not a tour advert so much as a record of how the band’s oldest imagery behaves inside a room built to overwhelm it.

“Ktulu” opens with a new orchestral introduction before an enormous Cthulhu rises from the sea on screen. Robert Trujillo carries the piece on bass, the position once held by Cliff Burton, and the performance ends with a dedication to him. Kirk Hammett’s runs and Lars Ulrich’s drumming keep a firm line underneath all of it, which matters when the visuals are doing so much work.

“…And Justice for All” draws on the band’s own archive, projecting an oversized image of the bound Lady Justice statue known as Doris, which comes apart as the song reaches its close, a staging idea carried over from the tour that broke them.

The “Life Burns Faster” residency runs at the Sphere through March 2027, and the band have added a 2027 leg to their ongoing M72 tour. What the clips demonstrate is that the venue does not modernize Metallica’s iconography so much as enlarge it, and the older tricks survive the enlargement.