Metallica wrapped their 2025 Australia and New Zealand run in Auckland with a stadium-sized hit of gratitude and volume.
As with the other shows, the night opened on tape with AC/DC’s It’s a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock ’n’ Roll) and Ennio Morricone’s The Ecstasy of Gold before the band walked out and hit the gas for real.
Here is the full Metallica Auckland setlist from Eden Park, November 19, 2025:
Metallica Auckland setlist from Eden Park
- Creeping Death
- For Whom the Bell Tolls
- Fuel
- Harvester of Sorrow
- The Unforgiven
- Wherever I May Roam
- Kirk & Rob Doodle:
- Split Enz – ‘I Got You’
- Six60 – ‘Don’t Forget Your Roots’
- The Day That Never Comes
- Moth Into Flame
- Sad But True
- Nothing Else Matters
- Seek & Destroy
- Lux Æterna
- Master of Puppets
- One
- Enter Sandman
If you want the time-stamped trainspotter version, you can also peep the full Eden Park setlist with support acts and set times. Setlist.fm
By the time Seek & Destroy tore across Eden Park, the night had shifted from “finally, Metallica are back” into “this is the one everyone will talk about when the tour is over.”
The Kirk and Rob doodle turns into a pure New Zealand moment
All tour long, the Kirk and Rob doodle slot has been the little heartbeat in the middle of the set. Perth got Budgie and John Butler Trio in a loose, surfy jam. Adelaide followed with INXS and The Angels.
Melbourne turned Marvel Stadium into a punk choir when Kirk and Rob ripped into The Living End’s Prisoner of Society and the doodle sessions kept rolling with Smoko in Brisbane courtesy of The Chats. Sydney closed the Australian leg with a two-piece salute, featuring AC/DC’s For Those About To Rock and Rose Tattoo’s Nice Boys Don’t Play Rock ’n’ Roll.
Auckland might be the cleanest expression of what that doodle idea was always trying to do. Kirk and Rob went straight into Split Enz’s ‘I Got You’, one of New Zealand’s biggest cultural exports, and the reaction was instant. No warm up. No “do you know this one.” Just a riff and a stadium of people yelling it back.
Then they pivoted into Six60’s ‘Don’t Forget Your Roots’ and Eden Park got even louder. That choice mattered. Split Enz ticked the heritage box. Six60 anchored it in the present and in the reality of who fills the stadiums here now. It felt less like a clever cover choice and more like Metallica taking a breath and saying, “We see you. All of you.”
Mapping the local scene: how Auckland fits the 2025 doodle story
Across the run, the doodle has basically turned into a hand-drawn map of who matters in each city right now. Perth got John Butler Trio and that rootsy, festival-adjacent energy. Adelaide got classic pub rock. Melbourne and Brisbane leaned hard into punk and modern pub rock. Sydney tied everything back to AC/DC and Rose Tattoo, the spine of heavy rock in this country.
Auckland expands that pattern instead of just repeating it. Split Enz is the obvious national icon pick, the kind of song your parents and your friends all know in different ways. Six60 is the band you actually see at Eden Park now. Putting both in the same doodle turned this from a gimmick into one of the biggest cultural nods of the whole tour.
It also closes a loop that started when the dates first dropped and fans realised the tour would kick off in Perth and finish in Auckland. Ending the ANZ run with a Split Enz hook melting into a Six60 sing-along in a packed Eden Park is exactly how this thing was supposed to land.
FAQ: Metallica Auckland setlist and doodle at Eden Park
What was the Metallica Auckland setlist at Eden Park in 2025?
The Eden Park finale on November 19, 2025 opened with the usual intro tapes before launching into Creeping Death, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Fuel, Harvester of Sorrow, The Unforgiven and Wherever I May Roam. The Kirk and Rob doodle hit Split Enz’s ‘I Got You’ and Six60’s ‘Don’t Forget Your Roots’, before the band ran through The Day That Never Comes, Moth Into Flame, Sad But True, Nothing Else Matters, Seek & Destroy, Lux Æterna, Master of Puppets, One and Enter Sandman.
What did Kirk and Rob play in their Auckland doodle?
In Auckland, Kirk Hammett and Robert Trujillo used the doodle slot to honour both New Zealand’s heritage and its modern scene with ‘I Got You’ by Split Enz and ‘Don’t Forget Your Roots’ by Six60. That dual nod made the Auckland doodle one of the most meaningful cultural moments of the entire ANZ run.
How does the Auckland doodle fit into the rest of the 2025 Australia and New Zealand tour?
The Auckland doodle completes a tour-long tradition of local tributes that has already taken in John Butler Trio and Budgie in Perth, INXS and The Angels in Adelaide, The Living End in Melbourne, The Chats’ Smoko in Brisbane and AC/DC plus Rose Tattoo in Sydney. Together, they sketch out a rough but very real map of the bands that built and still shape rock culture across Australia and New Zealand.
Watch: Metallica cover Six60 in Auckland
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