Metallica to become first ever major metal band to play Saudi Arabia
Metallica took to their official Facebook page to share the announcement of their final 2023 gig
Metallica has revealed their last performance of 2023, scheduled to occur at a festival in Saudi Arabia next month.
The band is set to headline the first night of the three-day Soundstorm festival in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on 14 December, reports NME.
Metallica took to their official Facebook page to share the announcement of their final 2023 gig.
"We're not done with 2023 just yet, as an amazing opportunity has just come our way to perform at a major festival that we have never played in a part of the world we rarely get to visit," they wrote.
"We're excited to announce that on Thursday, December 14 we'll be the first hard rock band to ever play at MDLBeast's Soundstorm Festival in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia," the post added.
Other artists set to perform at the festival include Pharrell Williams, Chris Brown, H.E.R., and Black Eyed Peas.
The concert in Saudi Arabia will be the inaugural performance for James Hetfield and the rest of the band in the West Asian country.
This also positions them as the initial major metal act to take the stage at a public event in the country. According to Consequence of Sound, Metallica's first performance in a Middle Eastern country dates back to 2011 at Etihad Park in Abu Dhabi.