Metallica Announce 2026 European Stadium Tour

Gojira, Pantera, Knocked Loose, and Avatar will be joining the band as special guests

Next year, Metallica are returning to Europe for another leg of their massive M72 World Tour. The trek will feature very special guests Gojira, Pantera, Knocked Loose, and Avatar. Continuing their No Repeat Weekend format, Metallica will play two stadium shows in every city, hitting London, Cardiff, Dublin, Berlin, Bucharest, Athens, and more.

The trek will see Metallica play 16 shows across 9 countries. Each stadium show on M72 2026 offers a variety of Enhanced Experiences, with options including access to a Meet & Greet, production and stage tour, food and beverage in the Black Box Lounge, early entry into the venue, Snake Pit tickets, and the I Disappear Ticket – the ultimate pass for the fan who wants to run away to every show on the tour.

Tickets go on sale Friday, 30 May. Fan Club Pre-sales begin Tuesday, 27 May. Check out the full tour itinerary below.

Each stadium show on M72 2026 offers a variety of Enhanced Experiences, with options including access to a Meet & Greet, production and stage tour, food and beverage in the Black Box Lounge, early entry into the venue, Snake Pit tickets, and the I Disappear Ticket – the ultimate pass for the fan who wants to run away to every show on the tour.

Metallica are currently trekking across North American on another leg of their massive M72 World Tour. While fans in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania anxiously await the band’s arrival next weekend for a two-show stand at Lincoln Financial Field over Memorial Day Weekend, Metallica have revealed a rare live video from the Load era. The band released Friday a performance of the deep cut “2×4.” The clip is from a show at the Astoria 2 in London, England on August 23, 1995, before Load was released in 1996. It will be featured in the forthcoming Load reissue.

Check out the official video HERE.

Recently, Metallica announced a massive reissue of Load slated to commemorate the record’s 30th anniversary. The remastered album arrives on June 13. It will be available as a Deluxe Box Set, 2-LP, 3-CD Expanded Edition, Standard CD, Cassette, and via digital download. Dubbed “The Whole Kitchen Sink,” the box set includes more than ten pounds of content across six pieces of vinyl, 15 CDs, four DVDs, a 128-page book, and reproduced memorabilia.

All versions are available for pre-order HERE.

This summer, the band is heading overseas to take part in Black Sabbath’s massive final concert in Birmingham, England.

Metallica’s eleventh studio album 72 Seasons arrived in April of 2023 via the band’s own label, Blackened Recordings. Produced by Greg Fidelman with frontman James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, 72 Seasons is Metallica’s first full length collection of new material since 2016’s Hardwired…To Self-Destruct. The 12-track album clocks in at just over 77 minutes. It debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Rock and Top Hard Rock Albums Charts. It also topped the UK Albums and UK Rock & Metal Albums charts, and went No. 1 in several other countries around the world. It was released in formats including 2-LP 140-gram black vinyl and limited edition variants, CD and digital download.

The album garnered the band a 2024 GRAMMY® Award nomination for Best Rock Album, while the lead single “Lux Æterna” was nominated for Best Rock Song. The band won the GRAMMY® for Best Metal Performance for the title track, “72 Seasons.” The beat out Disturbed, Ghost, Slipknot and first-time nominees Spiritbox.

In addition to touring with Metallica again this summer in the United States, Pantera are embarking on a headlining tour with very special guests Amon Amarth. The trek begins on July 15 at The Pavilion at Star Lake in Burgettstown, Pennsylvania – the same venue where Pantera launched their first tour in over 20 years back in 2023.

“We are excited to announce the Heaviest Tour of the Summer,” Pantera said in a statement. “We are hitting the road in the U.S. and bringing Amon Amarth along for the ride.”

After headlining Download Festival in 2023, Pantera set out their first tour of the UK and Europe in over 20 years earlier this year.

On July 28, 2023, Pantera kicked off their first full tour in over two decades at The Pavilion at Star Lake, just outside of Pittsburgh. Revisit our review and live photos HERE. This past summer, Pantera are re-joined Metallica as special guests on the second North American leg of their massive M72 World Tour.

Pantera’s last studio effort was their 2000 watershed album Reinventing The Steel. The album landed at No. 4 on the Billboard 200. Many fans and critics maintain that the album is the band’s best overall piece of work. In October 2020, the album was re-mixed by producer Terry Date and re-released on CD, vinyl, and digital download to celebrate its 20th anniversary.

In 2001, Pantera’s classic lineup went on an indefinite hiatus and never reunited.

To date, the four-time GRAMMY® Award nominees have sold over 20 million records worldwide.

Four years since its release, Gojira are still riding the wave of their latest effort Fortitude (Roadrunner). The album’s hit single “Amazonia” earned the band a GRAMMY® nod for Best Metal Performance. The record topped both Billboard’s Top Rock and Top Hard Rock Albums charts. It peaked at No. 2 in their native France. In 2023, the band mounted the massive Mega Monsters Tour alongside Mastodon and Lorna Shore. Last year, the band joined Korn for a huge tour across North America.

Knocked Loose released You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To last May through Pure Noise. The album has performed well commercially, hitting No. 1 on the UK’s Rock & Metal Albums chart and cracking the Top 25 on the Billboard 200 in the United States. With three hit singles, including the beautifully brutal duet with Poppy “Suffocate,” the band is poised to truly break out on this album cycle.

“On this album, we go the fastest we’ve ever gone; we go the scariest we’ve ever gone. We also go the catchiest and the most melodic that we’ve ever gone, and that’s the point,” guitarist Isaac Hale said. “Instead of branching off into a specific direction, we want to encompass all directions.”

The Swedish metal outfit Avatar released their ninth studio album Dance Devil Dance in 2023 through Thirty Tigers. The band self-produced the record alongside Jay Ruston. They released two singles from album – the title track and “The Dirt I’m Buried In.” Halestorm vocalist Lzzy Hale makes a special guest appearance on the album’s closer, “Violence No Matter What.”

9 May 2026 – Olympic Stadium – Athens, GR*
13 May – Arena Nationala – Bucharest, RO*
19 May – Stadion Slaski – Chorzow, PL*
22 May – Deutsche Bank Park – Frankfurt, DE*
24 May – Deutsche Bank Park – Frankfurt, DE^
27 May – Stadion Letzigrund – Zurich, CH*
30 May – Olympiastadion – Berlin, DE*
3 June – Stadio Renato Dall’Ara – Bologna, IT*
11 June – Puskas Arena – Budapest, HU*
13 June – Puskas Arena – Budapest, HU^
19 June – Aviva Stadium – Dublin, IE*
21 June – Aviva Stadium – Dublin, IE^
25 June – Hampden Park – Glasgow, SCT*
28 June – Principality Stadium – Cardiff, WLS*
3 July – London Stadium – London, UK*
5 July – London Stadium – London, UK^

*with Gojira and Knocked Loose
^with Pantera and Avatar

Tickets, Enhanced Experiences, and Travel Packages will be available HERE