Two members of METALLICA's road crew may or may not have suffered burns last night (Saturday, July 28) during the opening show of the band's eight-concert run at Palacio de los Deportes (Sports Palace) in Mexico City.

According to El Universal, near the end of METALLICA's set in Mexico, while the band was performing "Enter Sandman", one of the flare launchers that was placed on stage failed. Two men came on stage to check what was happening, and a huge flame suddenly appeared, engulfing them. (See video below.)

"Stop, stop!" shouted METALLICA lead singer James Hetfield, much to the confusion of the 22 thousand fans who attended the gig.

With fire extinguishers, other METALLICA technicians came on the stage to help their two colleagues, who were then taken out on stretchers.

After several minutes, the band continued the performance.

"It's all part of the show," a spokesperson for Ocesa, the promoter of the concert, said about the onstage commotion.

The incident appeared to be a recreation of the "accident" that was staged for METALLICA's 1998 concert video "Cunning Stunts" when, during the performance of the song "Enter Sandman", the entire stage set collapsed and exploded, with pyrotechnics going off and a technician (referred to in the credits as the "Burning Dude") running across the stage on fire and another technician swinging overhead.

Last night's concert marked the debut of METALLICA's new 140-foot-by-50-foot stage that features "colossal components and striking visual elements spanning METALLICA's entire 30-year career."

Prior to the gig, the members of METALLICA held a press conference where Hetfield said their focus for the immediate future was "the [new] stage set and the dangerous elements of that — staying alive." METALLICA bassist Robert Trujillo added, "We're gonna try and bring the best show possible and get it right. Like James said, it's very dangerous — we've got stuff flying every which way."

A posting in the "Tour Journal" section of METALLICA's official web site described last night's concert as "amazing," adding that "shit really hit the fan [during 'Enter Sandman' with] loud bangs, random fireworks, falling towers, falling spot light guy, falling scaffolding, guy was caught on fire.... then a complete blackout. After a few [minutes], some things were still working, so the crew brought up some work lights, amps and speakers, and the band played on with 'Die, Die My Darling'."

METALLICA's setlist for last night's concert:

01. Creeping Death
02. For Whom The Bell Tolls
03. Fuel
04. Ride The Lightning
05. One
06. Cyanide
07. The Memory Remains
08. Wherever I May Roam
09. Sad But True
10. Welcome Home (Sanitarium)
11. ...And Justice For All
12. Fade To Black
13. Master Of Puppets
14. Battery
15. Nothing Else Matters
16. Enter Sandman

Encore:

17. Die, Die My Darling
18. Seek & Destroy

Photos of last night's show can be found at Metallica.com. A few of the pictures are also available below.

In 1993, towards the end of the "Black" album touring cycle, METALLICA played an unprecedented, five sold-out nights at Sports Palace in Mexico City, Mexico. Then in 2009 while touring in support of the Grammy Award-winning, multi-platinum "Death Magnetic", METALLICA played three consecutive sold out nights to over 150,000 fans at Foro Sol Stadium which was immortalized in the "Mexico City Live" CD/DVD.

METALLICA recently announced that it will play at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia on August 24 and August 25, adding that the concert will be filmed in 3D for the band's upcoming 3D feature film project.

The METALLICA movie, which was first announced last year, will be directed by Nimród Antal, perhaps best known for the horror movie "Vacancy" and the 2010 "Predator" sequel "Predators".

The film will be some sort of combination of concert footage and storyline, and is tentatively scheduled to arrive in theatres in the summer of 2013.















Photos below courtesy of Metallica.com