Metallica concert review

Heavy metal legends Metallica roll into Houston with thunderous riffs

Heavy metal is a baton that has been passed on for generations now. Now, more than ever, metal has turned into family entertainment. On Saturday night at NRG Stadium, the Metallica family reunion left ears ringing and hearts full, with a few scorch marks from hellacious pyro.

Metallica — 44 years into this — is a frenetic, multigenerational machine. Four gray hairs from San Francisco that can still pack out a football stadium. The current lineup of James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett, and Robert Trujillo is the longest-running one in the band’s history.

Hetfield’s frenzied screech from 1981 is now a smoky, barrel-chested growl. Hammett’s metallic, exploratory guitar lines are a part of the metal vocabulary, and Trujillo — still the new guy — has been the sturdy thunder below it all. Urlich’s reliable drumming is its stadium-honed heart.

Openers Suicidal Tendencies and Pantera provided direct support, with ST serving as a bracing thrash appetizer. Keeping it all in the family, Trujillo’s 21-year-old son Tye is now playing bass for ST, just as Robert did in the ‘90s. The band’s set whizzed by before most fans were able to enter the building, but those who arrived early witnessed a masterclass in ‘80s hardcore thrash.

Texas sludge legends Pantera have been celebrating the lives of departed brothers Dimebag Darrell and Vinnie Paul since the group reformed in 2022. Collapsing in acrimony in 2001, the band and its fans never got a proper sendoff, and, with the violent shooting death of Dimebag and Paul’s death due to heart disease, the current lineup only features two original members in lead singer Phil Anselmo and bassist Rex Brown. Guitar hero Zakk Wyle, stepping into Dimebag’s shoes, is a Hall Of Fame avatar for Dimebag, perhaps the only living human that could have delivered the appropriate riffs. Anthrax’s Charlie Benante now handles drumming duties.

It’s 2025, and I’m watching a Pantera pit on the floor of NRG Stadium from a comfortable seat in the end zone. Anselmo, seemingly ageless, stalked Metallica’s sprawling, jaggedly circular stage barefoot and howling, splitting the difference between Henry Rollins and Rob Halford. Heathen anthems “Walk” and “Cowboys from Hell” still slice with precision, just as they sounded in the adjacent Astroarena in 1995.

Before Metallica hit the stage around 9 pm, bored fans passed the time by doing the wave in NRG Stadium, but it only made a few laps before fizzling out.

Kicking off with “Creeping Death” from 1984’s Ride The Lightning, Metallica reveled in rumbling NRG Stadium’s foundations.

“For Whom The Bell Tolls” sounds as apocalyptic as ever, one of the early highlights of the night. The band has embraced it’s Load and Reload era recently, with the latter’s “The Memory Remains” and “Fuel” making setlist appearances. The crowd deftly filled in for the late Marianne Faithfull during the former. There’s still a lot of love for ‘90s eyeliner Metallica.

Metallica’s 2023 album 72 Seasons saw the quartet reconvening for a loose and unrelenting collection of songs. “Lux Æterna” and “If Darkness Had a Son” have a slithery swing to them, borne from those famous Metallica jam sessions that sometimes appear on YouTube.

1991’s “Nothing Else Matters” is still a romantic ballad for metalheads, a Gen X wedding staple.

Few hard rock bands can still pack a football stadium in 2025, which makes Metallica among the last of a dying breed. All in their early ‘60s, they’re not unlike a performance hot rod team with 30 or so souped-up machines in the garage that only they know how to drive. They just have to take a few more breaks than they used to in between laps. Those four guys together still make magic via extremely loud noises.

Closing out with “Master of Puppets and “Enter Sandman,” Metallica pushed Houstonians out into a humid Saturday night, covered in each other’s sweat, looking forward to the next Metallica family reunion.

Setlist

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

Metallica concert Houston NRG Stadium 2025

Photo by Brittaney Penney

Metallica played a career-spanning set on June 14, 2025.

Waddle We Have Here

3 endangered penguin chicks just hatched at Galveston's Moody Gardens

A Humboldt penguin chick in an Easter Basket at Moody Gardens

Photo courtesy of Moody Gardens

Look what showed up in an Easter Basket!

Galveston's Moody Gardens announced this week that it has successfully hatched three Humboldt penguin chicks in the Aquarium Pyramid, the first time the facility has done so.

“This is our first ever time having Humboldt penguin chicks, so we’re very excited,” said Amy Jones, a biologist who works with the penguins and seals at Moody Gardens.

Two chicks were born to penguins Yolanda and Cusco, and another to Marcona and Ballesta, all between March 15 and 18. Aquarium staff has been monitoring the chicks and their parents, and all seem to be thriving.

Humboldt penguins are warm weather penguins that naturally inhabit the coasts of Peru and Chile. Moody Gardens introduced Humboldt penguins to its aquarium in 2017. A burrowing species, mating pairs lay and protect eggs in protected nests.

The new chicks will remain secluded in their nesting box for the time being until they develop their waterproof feathers. The parents are keeping them warm and fed. Sex will be determined via DNA testing at a later date, after which the chicks will be named and formally introduced to the public.

Achieving viable Humboldt penguins hatchings is a significant feat for a program that is less than 10 years old, according to Moody Gardens. The birds require strict diets and climate controlled habitats to thrive, and successfully housing a colony of 12 in an environment that makes them comfortable enough to breed is quite an achievement. Engagement and stimulation is key, and visitors to the aquarium can often see the penguins playing with bubbles and toys that simulate activity in the natural environment.

Successful hatchings are also a win in the fight against extinction. Humboldt penguins are classified as a vulnerable species, with only about 23,000 left worldwide. The birds are heavily impacted by El Niño events that disrupt the nutrient-rich Humboldt current that forms the base of the penguins' food pyramid. Driven by man-made climate change, these events are increasing in number and severity. Overfishing, pollution, habitat loss, and being caught in fishing nets also accounts for a decline in the population, according to press materials. Programs like the one at Moody Gardens help educate the public on the dangers the penguins face in the wild.

The real question is: when will visitors be allowed to see the babies? Staff continues to monitor the chicks with regular weigh-ins. The chicks will remain in the nesting boxes for at least several weeks until they are mature enough to start entering safe areas and, eventually, the main habitat. In the meantime, people can see videos on the Moody Gardens Instagram page.

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Metallica concert review

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Waddle We Have Here

3 endangered penguin chicks just hatched at Galveston's Moody Gardens