Metallica dug deep into their catalogue for night two of their Las Vegas Sphere residency, bringing back “Devil’s Dance” for the first time since 2008.
As Blabbermouth reports, Metallica have resurrected “Devil’s Dance” after 18 years, pulling the Reload deep cut out during the second night of their Life Burns Faster residency at Sphere in Las Vegas.
The metal giants returned to the venue on Saturday, 3 October with no songs repeated from their opening show two nights earlier, making good on the No Repeat Weekend format that has become a fixture of their M72 World Tour.
Four songs into the night, Metallica launched into “Devil’s Dance”, marking the track’s first live performance since 7 June 2008.
Originally released on the band’s 1997 album Reload, “Devil’s Dance” has remained one of the deeper cuts in Metallica’s catalogue and a genuine rarity in their live sets. According to Metallica’s own song archive, the band have performed it just 43 times.
The song actually made its live debut in August 1995, more than two years before Reload was released.
It wasn’t the only rarity worked into night two. Metallica also performed “The Outlaw Torn” for the first time since September 2019, while “Blackened” opened one of their shows for the first time since 2014.
The show followed the 1 October opening night of Metallica’s Life Burns Faster residency, which brings the band’s No Repeat Weekend concept to Sphere’s immersive production setup.
And the differences between the two nights extended beyond the setlists. The second show featured a new suite of visuals designed around its songs, including an apocalyptic environment accompanying “The Outlaw Torn” and First World War imagery and physical effects during “One”.
Metallica had promised the residency would use Sphere’s wraparound display, immersive audio and multi-sensory technology to present songs from across their catalogue in new ways. Under the No Repeat Weekend format, fans attending both shows in a Thursday-Saturday pairing hear completely different setlists across the two nights. BLUNT previously reported on Metallica’s plans for the residency when the band announced the Las Vegas run earlier this year.
The opening weekend has already shown how deep Metallica may be willing to reach. Night one brought back “…And Justice for All” for the first time since 2014 and “Now That We’re Dead” for the first time since 2021, before “Devil’s Dance” and “The Outlaw Torn” joined the list two nights later.
The 3 October setlist was:
- “Blackened”
- “Fuel”
- “Leper Messiah”
- “Devil’s Dance”
- “72 Seasons”
- “King Nothing”
- “Welcome Home (Sanitarium)”
- “The Outlaw Torn”
- Kirk and Rob Doodle
- “The Unforgiven”
- “Orion”
- “Hardwired”
- “Whiskey in the Jar”
- “For Whom the Bell Tolls”
- “One”
- “Enter Sandman”
Metallica return to Sphere on 8 and 10 October, with the 24-show Life Burns Faster residency continuing through to March 13, 2027.
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