Metallica's show at the SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, CA was attended by a lot more than just a handful of celebrities. Metallica drew roughly 78,000 fans to each of their two shows at the stadium over the weekend, beating pop superstar Taylor Swift's previous record of drawing roughly 70,000 fans to each of her six shows. Metallica reportedly sold a total of 156,000 tickets to both shows.
According to their Wikipedia, SoFi Stadium has a maximum capacity of 100,240 people for major events. The SoFi social media team has since confirmed the record on Twitter, stating "Metallica now holds the highest single-show attendance record at #SoFiStadium. Thank you for two incredible sold out nights!"
While Metallica hasn't commented on the record outside retweet SoFi, I'm sure drummer Lars Ulrich had his mind completely blown. In a recent interview with Q104.3, Ulrich expressed his complete disbelief that Metallica is as popular as they are.
"It's pretty surreal. 42 years in, it's pretty crazy," he said. "I've said this a thousand times, but it still feels like we're just getting started and it still feels like we are just trying to figure it all out and we keep threatening, at least to people around us, that we may turn professional at some point soon. The dedication and the support from the fans over the years it's crazy. And, obviously, it's not all the same fans. There's a whole revolving door, a whole new, young generation that is showing up at all the shows, and I'm getting recognized by 10-year-olds on the street, after the whole Stranger Things phenomena, you know.”
"For a lot of years, in our twenties and thirties, we were full of piss and vinegar, as they say, and probably never slowed down long enough to take any of it in, as one doesn't when one just keeps cruising at that speed, but now in our advanced ages here, – and I can't wrap my head around the fact James turned 60 today – it's amazing that there's still this love for heavy music and for what we do."
“42 years into this ride that is still happening and it's pretty wild the shows we have here this weekend at MetLife are the biggest shows we've ever played in the greater New York, Jersey, tri-state area. The difference now, compared to, say, 20, 30 years ago, is that we slowed down long enough to take it in, and appreciate the love, appreciate the generosity of the fans and the interaction, and how fortunate we all are to share music and to be able to still feel that we're out here."
