Band Sets Concert Attendance Record At NRG Stadium On June 14th

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All Photos By Larry Petro/Petrofyed Photography

Wow. Where to begin? If you've read any of my concert reviews over the past 24 years then you know that I relate my experiences as stories, some good, some bad and then some just 'meh'. But one thing I always do is present facts about what I experienced and for better or worse this is once again what I will do. I need to make a disclaimer though before I begin: What happened has nothing to do with METALLICA, PANTERA or SUICIDAL TENDENCIES, the bands playing this show, or any of their staff or PR, or even anyone from Live Nation for that matter. Any failures for the evening fall squarely on the shoulders of the person in charge of media relations at NRG Stadium, home of the NFL's Houston Texans. I only bring it up in the hopes that it will institute changes with regards to how media is handled and treated at concerts held there.

Over the nearly 25 years I have contributed to KNAC.COM, including the last 13 as the Managing Editor for the site, I have made many connections and have built some great relationships with publicists, PR companies, record labels and even a few bands themselves. When it comes to requesting media credentials for upcoming shows it is done as to provide publicity for whichever band it happens to be and what is expected in return for those credentials is a comprehensive review of the show and pictures (if applicable). And in this day and age unless you're a print newspaper or something similar then usually the person photographing the show is also the one reviewing it. Every photographer on my staff that requests concert credentials is required to also write a review and they accept that, and every venue in town (Houston anyways) understands this and either allows the photographer to keep his gear on his/her person or makes accommodations for the gear to be stored when not being used so that the rest of the show can be watched and reviewed. Every venue except NRG Park, which has failed to grasp this very simple concept and because of that this review will be far from complete as you shall see as you read on....

We were told when we received our media confirmation emails that we would be parking in the 'Teal Lot' at the stadium, which I believe is the designated location for media, whether it's for football games or whatever. Great. This lot happens to be literally a stone's throw across the street from the westside VIP entrance of the stadium where we were supposed to meet. Unfortunately, in what can only be described as an adaptation of 'Who's On First?', evidently the people inside the stadium didn't know what the people outside were doing as the access street for this lot was barricaded off at both ends. After a few minutes of stressful driving around I managed to locate the parking lot for employees and asked the kind lady manning this lot for some assistance. After a call on her radio she was told to have us drive around the barricade to get to the lot. Well, in the world we live in now what do you think happened when I drove around this barricade and down that street? Yeah, about halfway to the lot there were several police officers who could have thought I was some sort of terrorist the way that they started waving their arms and flagging me to stop. After a few tense moments of explaining to them that I was with the media I was allowed to proceed to the lot. Who would have thought that getting to park this close would be one of the only highlights of the evening?

After waiting outside in the heat for about 30 minutes we were finally let into a hallway and about halfway between the door and the pathways around under the stadium is where our 'staging area' was located. It is here that we were given the news that we would not be shooting SUICIDAL TENDENCIES as their management had decided it against it, evidently for the whole tour, which was fine. Since there was no mention of their photo policy in our confirmation emails we assumed that this was the case. The problem was that there was no place provided to store our cameras, nor was there anyone assigned that could stay with them and we were not permitted to leave them unattended. What this meant was that we were basically held hostage with our gear, having to babysit it and thus could not even watch any of SUICIDAL's set. There we sat for the next hour or so until they came to get us to shoot PANTERA. I asked one of our escorts for the night what purpose it served for us to have 'review' tickets for the show if we didn't get to watch it. I was basically given a shrug of the shoulders and told that it has always been that way at the stadium. This is absolutely not true. My one and only other time shooting at this venue was 8 years ago, ironically also a METALLICA show, and we did get to leave our gear and go out and watch the show between shooting the bands.

Initially we were not even allowed to use the bathroom anywhere because we weren't allowed to leave our designated area. Our only option was to go outside the venue and use the porta-potty that was located in our media parking lot, which several of us did before someone inside finally realized what was happening and offered to escort any of us to one of the bathrooms located in the pathways.

I had never seen SUICIDAL TENDENCIES before that I can recollect and was really looking forward not only to catching them live, but relaying their set to you the readers. But alas, it was not to be. Unfortunately this was just the beginning.

At 6:45 we were finally escorted out into the stadium to get set up for PANTERA and we got our first look at the stage setup, and impressive it was. The stage was positioned in the center surrounded by 8 tall towers with curved portrait video screens set at the top of each so that everyone in the place could get better views of what has happening onstage. The lights went down and PANTERA, original members Phil Anselmo and Rex Brown, along with drummer Charlie Benante and guitarist extraordinaire Zakk Wylde took their places as a couple of tracks were piped through the PA system, PANTERA's "Regular People (Conceit)" and the Peter Ivers/David Lynch song "In Heaven (Lady in the Radiator Song)". The band them launched into the quite appropriate "A New Level", which sent the audience to just that, a new level. It was followed up with the aggressive "Mouth For War" and "Strength Beyond Strength" before our time photographing them was up. We were escorted back to our little hallway where once again we were relegated to sit with our gear, missing the rest of PANTERA's set. But for those of you that are curious, here's their setlist thanks to Setlist.fm:

• "Regular People (Conceit)" (PA)
• "In Heaven (Lady in the Radiator Song)" (Peter Ivers/David Lynch) (PA)
• "A New Level"
• "Mouth For War"
• "Strength Beyond Strength"
• "Becoming" (With "Throes of Rejection" outro)
• "I'm Broken" (With "Demons Be Driven" outro)
• "Cemetery Gates" (Intro only with video tribute to Dimebag Darrell and Vinnie Paul) (PA)
• "5 Minutes Alone"
• "This Love"
• "Fucking Hostile"
• "Walk"
• "Domination"/"Hollow"
• "Cowboys From Hell" (With "Stairway to Heaven" outro)

METALLICA last played Houston in 2017 on June 11th, along with AVENGED SEVENFOLD and VOLBEAT. Almost exactly 8 years later (June 14, 2025) they made their triumphant return and as one might expect, the show has been sold out for the better part of a year. In fact, as it was later reported, the band set an attendance record for a concert at the stadium with over 75,000 people on hand to witness what METALLCIA has consistently delivered, a concert of epic proportion!

As the lights dimmed the crowd roared to life with the beginning of the AC/DC song "It's A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock 'N' Roll" as the video screens lit up with scenes from METALLICA's storied history. At its conclusion the usual intro of "The Ecstasy of Gold" by Ennio Morricone was played and then it was time..... "Creeping Death" kicked things off and it was on. Because Houston did not get a 2-show, no repeat weekend as other cities did, we were treated to an aggressive, in your face onslaught of hits such as "For Whom The Bell Tolls" and "Ride The Lightning" before we had to once again cart our gear back to the stadium bowels. At least this time we were allowed the option of taking our gear to the car and entering back into the venue using our tickets so that we could watch the show. Normally we would not put our gear in our vehicles like that but since that parking lot was guarded we felt safe in doing so. We ended up missing just one song before getting to our seats during "Lux Æterna", one of two tracks the band would perform from their most recent album from 2023, 72 Season, the other being "If Darkness Had a Son".

Guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo had their moment of fun during their little 'doodle' of "Hit The Lights" and a nod to Texas with ZZ TOP's "La Grange". We got lots of fire pyro during "Fuel", more pyro at the beginning of "One" and then as the band launched into "Seek & Destroy" giants yellow and black beach balls dropped from behind the video screens that were at the top of each tower onto the crowd. It was certainly a sight to behold as they plowed through one of their most famous songs with the balls bouncing around the arena. After 2 hours things finally concluded with "Enter Sandman", sending everyone home happy, albeit exhausted.

Despite the numerous frustrations of the night METALLICA definitely left a lasting impression on the city and the hope that it won't be another 8 years before they grace our town with their presence again.

On a final note, the one thing that stuck in my craw the most about the lack of media accommodation/consideration was this: While being escorted back to our little hallway through the pathways by the Texans' locker room entrance was another room with a work counter along the back wall, electrical outlets and USB ports, tables, chairs and stools. And the plaque on the wall outside of this room? 'Media Work Room'

Turns out they DID have an area they could have staged us in and stored our gear all along.....SMH

Setlist:

• "It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll)" (AC/DC) (PA)
• "The Ecstasy of Gold" (Ennio Morricone) (PA)
• "Creeping Death"
• "For Whom the Bell Tolls"
• "Ride the Lightning"
• "The Memory Remains"
• "Lux Æterna"
• "If Darkness Had a Son" Kirk And Rob Doodle ("Hit the Lights" and ZZ Top's "La Grange")
• "The Day That Never Comes"
• "Fuel"
• "Orion"
• "Nothing Else Matters"
• "Sad but True"
• "One"
• "Seek & Destroy"
• "Master of Puppets"
• "Enter Sandman"

Check out some more photos from the show!
All Photos By Larry Petro/Petrofyed Photography

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