The Obscene Amount of Guitar Picks Metallica Goes Through in One Show
Metallica will be wrapping up the 2024 North American leg of their M72 tour soon. Anyone lucky enough to catch the band on this tour knows the stage setup and the overall production is intense.
Just how intense? CBS News Minnesota did a breakdown of some incredible numbers related to the M72 tour when it rolled into Minneapolis on August 16 and 18. The outlet spoke with Metallica tour coordinator Jon-Michael Marino who confirmed the band’s tour has a crew of over 150 people. In addition to that crew, there are also 40 steelworkers, 168 local production hands and 92 truck drivers hauling all of the stage pieces to and from every city.
The sheer amount of instruments taken on tour is stunning, too. CBS News Minnesota reports, “There are four drum kits on the stage with two backups in the truck. There are 64 guitars and bass that go on the road, and 36 of them need to be show-ready (12 per band member).”
And then, we have drumsticks and guitar picks. Apparently, Lars Ulrich goes through 25 sticks a show, which are either used or given away. As for guitar picks for James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett and Robert Trujillo, they go through a whopping 6,000 per show. Like Lars, these picks are either used or given away. (Boy, whoever supplies Metallica with guitar picks for a tour must make a decent paycheck!)
Metallica has two more cities left in North America on their M72 tour. They’ll play Lumen Field in Seattle on August 30 and September 1. Then, they’ll head to Mexico City to perform at Foro Sol on September 20, 22, 27 and 29.
Or, to use simple math, Metallica has 36,000 guitar picks until the end of the tour.
Metallica Learns to Press Vinyl at Their Vinyl Plant
In other Metallica-related news: The iconic metal band recently stopped by Furnace Record Pressing, the Virginia-based vinyl pressing plant they invested in in March 2023, and learned how to press a vinyl record.
In the video below, each member of Metallica learns to press vinyl step-by-step. In fact, each member presses a “splatter vinyl” of their classic album Ride the Lightning. The clip is cheekily captioned, “Even with 43 years and 12 LPs under their belts, the fine folks at Furnace Record Pressing can still teach Metallica a thing or two about ~making~ a record.”
When Metallica invested in Furnace Record Pressing in 2023, they gained a majority interest in the plant, which was first founded in 2014 and has pressed over five million vinyl records for Metallica over the years.
Metallica saw this investment as an opportunity to better serve its fans and their demand for vinyl. Hetfield said in a statement, “Furnace has been great to Metallica and more importantly to our fans. This deepened relationship between Metallica and Furnace ensures that fans of vinyl everywhere, particularly our Fifth Members, will have continued access to high quality records in the future.”
