Metallica, Dave Matthews Band First Concerts Announced For San Francisco’s Chase Center

Evan Agostini / Invision / AP – Dave Matthews
Dave Matthews performs for the cause during A Concert For Island Relief at Radio City Music Hall in NYC Jan. 6.

Chase Center, the new, 18,064-capacity home of the Golden State Warriors situated in San Francisco’s Mission Bay neighborhood, has started to announce music programming.

Hometown heroes Metallica will perform Chase Center’s first concert on Sept. 6 – and the show won’t be a standard-issue performance by the metal luminaries.

Instead, Metallica will reunite with the San Francisco Symphony, reprising the collaboration that yielded the 1999 live album S&M. (Short for Symphony & Metallica, naturally.) 

Courtesy of Chase Center – S&M2
Metallica and the San Francisco Symphony will present S&M2 on Sept. 6 at San Francisco’s new Chase Center.

Appropriately titled S&M2, the concert will feature an appearance and conducting by longtime San Francisco Symphony conductor Michael Tilson Thomas, who begins his final season as the ensemble’s music director this fall.

“This is beyond exciting on so many fronts,” said Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich. “The fact that San Francisco is finally getting a much needed world-class arena, the fact that Metallica get to be part of the opening celebration, the fact that we get to revisit S&M 20 years later, and the fact that we get to share the stage not only with the San Francisco Symphony once again, but with the legend himself, MTT, as he kicks off his final year as music director here in San Francisco. This is mind-blowingly awesome… bring it on ASAP!”

Thomas also shared his excitement for the “extraordinary only-in-San Francisco music event.”

Though Metallica have performed frequently in the Bay Area in recent years, their Chase Center concert is their first, full-scale, solo headlining appearance in region since a February 2016 concert at San Francisco’s nearby AT&T Park, which grossed $4.34 million.

In October 2016, the band played the Bridge School Benefit at Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, Calif., and in December 2016, Metallica headlined the Fox Theater, selling 2,800 tickets and grossing $165,000.

Other recent gigs include a headlining set at Outside Lands in August 2017 and an appearance at “Band Together Bay Area,” the charity concert that also featured Dave Matthews and Dead & Company, in November 2017.

In fall 2018, the band played a Salesforce-affiliated event at San Francisco’s City Center Plaza and a benefit concert at the city’s Nob Hill Masonic Auditorium.

Four nights later after Metallica takes the Chase Center Stage, Dave Matthews Band will headline the venue on Sept. 10. In addition to appearing at Band Together Bay Area, Dave Matthews Band filled Shoreline Amphitheatre on Sept. 8, 2018, selling 17,096 tickets and grossing $1.27 million, and packed two nights at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, Calif., selling 17,000 tickets and grossing $1.47 million total.

Metallica and Dave Matthews Band are two consistent live powerhouses. Metallica appeared on Pollstar‘s Year End Top 100 Worldwide Tours chart in each of the last three years, grossing $237.9 million over that period. In 2017, Metallica grossed $152.8 million, placing them at No. 5 on the chart.

Meanwhile, Dave Matthews Band has appeared on the chart every year this decade, excluding 2017. Last year, the group ranked No. 35, grossing $47.7 million.

“Chase Center will not only hold Warriors basketball games, but it will also have nearly 200 events a year including concerts, family shows and more,” Eric Bresler, executive director at Chase Center, told Pollstar in a feature about the venue late last year. “We’re looking forward to having a tremendous line-up of entertainment to open the building. We also are planning to have activations throughout the arena and the surrounding district all year long, including potential events such as ice skating in the plaza, yoga on the plaza, farmers markets, movie nights and more.”

Chase Center promised to make several more “Reveal Week” concert announcements through Friday.