Metallica will be seriously in your face come this Friday (March 14). The heavy metal legends announced on Tuesday (March 11) that their 2024 Mexico City show has been optimized as an immersive experience on the Apple Vision Pro headset. The concert featuring such beloved hits as “Enter Sandman,” “One” and “Whiplash” will be beamed into the VR headsets beginning on Friday.
The film was shot during the band’s sold-out Sept. 29 finale of their two-year M72 World Tour at Mexico City’s Estadio GNP Seguros. “With Metallica on Apple Vision Pro, you feel like you’re right there: front row, backstage, and even on stage with one of the biggest bands of all time,” said Apple vp of marketing communications Tor Myhren according to the Associated Press.
The footage of singer James Hetfield, guitarist Kirk Hammett, drummer Lars Ulrich and bassist Robert Trujillo was filmed in high-resolution, 180-degree video and immersive spatial audio, with Apple building a custom stage layout for the shoot featuring 14 immersive video cameras. If you don’t already own one of the $3,500 Pro headsets, you can preview a demo of the footage from “Whiplash” on a headset at your local Apple store; an accompanying M72 World Tour: Mexico City EP will be available in Spatial Audio on Friday as well.
Ulrich discussed the VR experience during a chat with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe at SXSW this week, saying that it was, “Pretty overwhelming. Sort of surreal. You still get, to this day, self-conscious. ‘Really, that’s what I look like when I drum? What’s with the tongue and all the silly faces?’… When we were having the conversation about doing it and understanding the technology and the possibilities, understanding the cameras and all of it… we were trying on the Vision Pros and looking at these sporting events and the nature things and so on. It’s f–king insanity. And then seeing a Metallica concert like that.”
The Metallica gig is the latest Vision Pro music exclusive, following on the heels of events featuring Alicia Keys, RAYE and The Weeknd, as well the recently announced Stories of Surrender from U2 singer Bono, which will premiere on the headset on May 30.
Check out a preview below.
