This is from The Monsters of Rock concert in Moscow in 1991 that featured Metallica, AC/DC, Queensryche, Motley Crue, Black Crows, and Pantera among others. The AC/DC Live at River Plate concert had 60,000+ in attendance, this concert had 1.6 million. 🙌🤘✌️

Imagine being in your 20's and stepping on stage in front of 1.6 million people... The energy before he even sang one word is insane.

Lars did an interview with Conan O’Brien about this and the Antarctica trip. They stopped counting at 1.6 million people in attendance at this airfield. Imagine the difficulty of remaining calm and playing your music when you are feeding off the adrenaline of nearly 2 million people. Absolutely historic. Post Covid we may never see another concert like this.

My dad worked at this concert. Assembly of the stage structure. After 1.6 million, the organizers stopped counting people. Over 10,000 policemen were keeping order, of which 100 were injured. 50 people died. I was born 1 year later. Dad told me after the fall of the Berlin wall the kids were still fighting for their freedom from soviet oppression. They were all as one. I apologize for my bad English. .

With 1.6M people in attendance this concert is the biggest concert in the history of mankind.

There's a video on youtube of Metallica's Antarctica concert. It took place outside under a clear bubble and the crowd was of course small of maybe 100 people or less all jammed together. The crowd was less than 10 feet from the band. It was absolutely awesome.

The look on the woman's face when she sees the size of the crowd is priceless!

That is nothing short of an ocean of people. I can almost guarantee the earth shook when this crowd got rocking!

Awesome video, metallica is legendary. I have been to see them three times and they never disappoint, they are also some of the nicest people you would meet. I wasn't able to get a meet and greet ticket but after the show they came out and signed autographs and spoke to anyone who was waiting for them, and thanked everyone individually for being there and giving them a show they could enjoy with our energy and singing along with them.

I love the way they use "The Good, The Bad & The Ugly (Estacy of gold) theme/soundtrack....it matches everything about Metallica.

Jason’s hair was the hardest working member of Metallica back then… Freeze em all!🥶🥶🥶

This concert took place at the Tushino airfield in the Moscow region, if you look closely, you can see a green lawn in the background. And it looks like a desert because it was the first concert of Western Rock bands in Russia, not only Metallica performed there. And there were 1.6 million people at the concert, so it's like a desert.

I saw Metallica in '91 in Denver. It was my 2nd Metallica concert and have seen them 2 more times. And it was still the best one. They were at there best at that time.

Take a look at "Creeping Death" from the same concert. 1.6 million people chanting all together is said to have triggered seismic monitoring systems as well.

Metallica opens most concerts with Creeping Death. The Ecstasy of Gold is played at their concerts as a prelude to the band taking the stage. If my family holds a memorial for me once i've died, i want that song played. Respect to Ennio Morricone.

A Fu*king EPIC performance!! That crowd! Wow!

A couple of things - Prior to the Berlin Wall coming down all things "West" were outlawed in the Soviet Union to include clothing like Levi's blue jeans. This concert was the first taste of the West in most people's lives - that taste of freedom. Second - as a musician that has performed in front of crowds - that energy from the crowd must have been nearly unbearable. I have felt tremendous energy from crowds much much smaller than that.

I'm 60, I grew up on rock. Went to the best bands of the 60's, 70's & 80's. This is by far one of my favourite performances!

It’s in Tushino in an airfield hints why it’s such a big crowd great reaction

Hello, I am Razzaq from Iraq. I enjoyed watching your reaction to Metallica. It was interesting. I visited your Instagram page and liked your posts

The antarctica show was special, they played the entire concert throught the people wearing headphones, for ecological matters (no big noise there is allowed) And the attendace people were not researchers, were people that bought tickets and were transported there from Argentina in a boat where was the meeting point

The look on Cathy and Lulu’s faces was absolutely priceless when they saw the crowd.

The Monsters of Rock free concert in Moscow had several other bands too, but the astonishing bit is that it is STILL in the World's Guinness Book of Records as the live performance with the largest audience ever, it's an estimated 2 millions because there were originally 500.000 bracelets, but when those were all given out people kept coming, and the officials just stopped counting after reaching 1.5 millions ... The joke says that people are still living the airfield where this took place to this day !

The #1 Concert so far is Rod Stewart at Copacabana Beach, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil(1994) - 4.2 million attendees. If you’re curious what 4.2 million people looks like, check out this video footage from Copacabana Beach on New Year’s Eve, 1994.

The opening song is called the escacy of gold, and they play it as an opener for most concerts

Yes, ACDC were the headliners and came on later in the evening. I've watched the whole concert. The Russian authorities had no experience of what to expect. As others have said, this was part of a series of concerts called Monsters of Rock that the government were using as part of a last chance effort to keep the people happy. 3 months later the USSR imploded. Prior to this, Western music was banned (records/tapes etc) so this was the reason people just went crazy. They had planned/expected that around 300,000 would attend this concert. Quicky revised to 500,000. So when an estimated 1.3 to 1.6 million turned up, they couldn't control things. Even though the Russian Army were being used as "Security". Sadly, 700 people were crushed and had to be hospitalised and even more sadly, 52 died. Welcome to Western-style concerts!

That intro music was "The Ecstasy of Gold" which was on the soundtrack of the movie The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (from 1966).

They've used "The Ecstasy of Gold" as their opening since the '80s, if I recall correctly. . . . Ron McGovney was their original bassist. He was fired and replaced by Cliff Burton. (He plays on the demo "No Life 'Til Leather".) Dave Mustaine was kicked out of Metallica when they were travelling to New York to record the first album ("Kill 'Em All) and Kirk Hammett was recruited to be the lead guitarist. Cliff died in a bus accident in '86 (Master of Puppet Tour). Jason Newstead replaced Cliff and did an excellent job. Jason left the band in 2001. Robert Trujillo (formerly of bands like Suicidal Tendencies, Infectious Grooves, BLS, and Ozzy) replaced Jason and has been with them ever since. I hope that sums up their lineup accurately. There have been some people who filled in over the years on tour (e.g., when James broke his arm skateboarding). I can't recall, but I think Bob Rock filled in on bass for the St. Anger album. . . . Great reaction. Have fun doing more!

Today the bass player is Robert Trujillo, great reaction!!

This was just after the fall of the USSR and this concert was at one of the largest active Air Force bases, thus the military aircraft seen flying in and out, 4th largest concert in history 1.4M - 1.6M+, crazy! did you see all the towers circling the main stage? they all had speakers wired to the main stage to surround the crowd in music

Now you’ve heard the original version of this iconic song (an absolute banger!), and enjoyed it! I think that you would definitely like the version of it that’s the #1 track on the Metallica Blacklist album by a band called The Warning. Three sisters from Monterey Mexico who originally covered it in 2014 when they were 9, 12 and 14 - their cover went viral and they were noticed by Metallica (who said their drummer kicks maximum ass). In 2021 they were asked by Metallica to do a reimagined version of it with Alessia Cara; this cover is amazing and it appears as the track #1 on the Blacklist album. It’s a regular addition to all of their concerts, earlier this year they did 4 gigs opening for Muse in Mexico after that Muse offered them the opportunity to tour with them on their European tour! As they were big fans of Muse they jumped at the opportunity and had excellent reviews throughout their tour and their own headline performances. They have 1x EP and 2x Albums that were crowdfunded by their fans and 1x album since they were signed by Lava records. For the maximum impact for a reaction it could consist of the original 2014 cover, the official video of the 2021 Blacklist album release and also a live performance from Teatro Metropolitan CDMX - their live performances are actually better than the official release versions. If you are interested and would like links to these I will only be too happy to share them with you.

Looks say a thousand words lol. 1.6million people. Soldiers got a reward for what bands they wanted to see. This was a festival on a airfield. People flocked from other countries around Russia. Hense all the different flags in the crowd.

This could be the most epic moment in Rock History.

Thanks for this it has been a while since I heard them. But many covers yes

This concert was just after the fall of the USSR and I believe is the first time an American flag was flown on Russian soil.

This was just after the Berlin wall fell and the Soviet Union collapsed. Every person in the crowd lived in absolute hell for their entire lives. And then suddenly it was over and they got to experience this.

love it great work dude

The concert was held at an abandoned airfield just outside Moscow. The concert was free. That's why there were so many people.

Just awesome right!!! Rod Stewart's New Year's Eve performance had 4.2 million in attendance just blows my mind.

Correct me if I’m wrong but I believe they played in Antarctica at McMurdo Station which is the largest base on the continent. The helicopters were dropping water on the crowd and flying low to fan the concert crowd because it was really hot and they were scared of heat exhaustion deaths!

That crowd is truly insane. Imagine being in that sea of humanity.

60s,70s and 80s were the absolute best for Rock! That's why it is still played with such popularity even today.

I saw Metallica in 1988 first time Legend Valley Ohio. I went on to serve. And Justice 4 All was the thing when I enlisted

They have used that opening song, not enter sandman the intro to open all their shows since they were a band basically, I saw them twice in 1986 and both times they opened with ecstasy of gold..

First time watching y’all and don’t know if you’ve done any Ozzy but please do if u haven’t! Also Phil Collins live 2004 in Paris doing his most famous song “In the Air Tonight”. Mesmerizing!

The james interview with joe rogan about this show is a fun watch. Seen them live 3 times in boston, 2004, 2009,2017

Need more Metallica reactions. Nothing else matters and Fade to black should be the first ones

1,5 ,ilion of people at this concert...i was present111 that concert was AMAZING111

Ecstasy of gold the song they play before their concert starts, i saw them in vancouver, canada in May of '89 and they were using that song wat back then.. I have to subscribe after this one, check out creeping death and harvester of sorrow from this same show

One word, POWERFUL

That whole album is amazing

They would have performed inside only - you cannot even park a vehicle outside for more than a few minutes or the tires will freeze to the ice. Planes come and go but they do not stay and they will continue to move slightly while on the ground. Although Antarctica is cold, they receive almost no snowfall - it is officially a desert - just a very cold one where the little moisture there is condenses as ice.

I saw them in November 91, they opened every show with sandman from 91-94 at least

There's a reason that it was called "The Monsters of Rock" tour...insane lineup of bands and artists.

This is why I love rock. 🎶

I saw them at the Molson Ice Polar Beach Party, in Tuktoyaktuk. In the Arctic Circle.

Pantera also played here, in 1991. Huge crowd!!! The Russian cops were scared shitless!!!!!

My home county in the USA of 4200 sq miles only has 64K people.... yeah this concert had had 26x people on an airfield and that is if it was only 1.5M

lars ulrich is co founder of Metallica and he is from Denmark. and they did record in Denmark in my city - brondby

It actually showed up on the scale as tremors of a earthquake. There are soldiers who were meant to be on duty who ripped off their uniforms and joined in. They did get in trouble.

1.6 MILLION people. Absolute madness. ❤

That's what freedom looks like!

Metallica did indeed play in Antarctica. Because of International Antarctic Protocol, they weren't allowed to use amplifiers. So the concert was heard by the audience through headphones. Here's the concert: Freeze 'Em All: Live in Antarctica - kzfaq.info/get/bejne/aK6ZZdhqnbyvqJc.htmlsi=Ekq554J9i0hBDMk9

introduction of a genius....The Ecstasy Of Gold, Ennio Morricone.

this was the first free concert in russia in 70 years, it is obvious that this received a "warm" reception

Absolutely PHENOMENAL heavy metal rock concert! Indeed, Russia is the largest country on earth by territory, with a diverse topography, just like the USA. Thanks for your reaction.

One of the most amazing concerts ever! Those good times when the world was a better world.

You have that kid who looks like the late Cliff Burton Metallica, look at that beautiful face and his hair style😊🙏🏻

Domination from the same crowd

This was the show of show's. As the crowd gathered Metalica realized they didn't have enough power, so they added in about 60,000 watts of Russian built amps and speakers giving them a total of 135,000 watts. This show occurred either right before or right after the fall of the Soviet Union. These people had never been allowed to witness anything like this before and the Russian people are indeed rockers with approx. 2.1 million in attendance. It was EPIC.

the look on your daughters face is awesome. reminds me of when i first heard metallica.

Hahaha OMG Kathy's face when the crowd was revealed is just *chef's kiss* It's insane how many people showed up. I wish Russia would have been more of an ally to us after the fall of the USSR. Well, at least they got to experience this top tier band in their prime. I just found y'all last night through I think a Chris Stapleton vid, and you better believe I'm gonna go through your whole back catalogue. Beautiful family, much

I was 17 and Metallica fan since 1986....

The opening score is called ecstasy of gold

Orion Festival and Through The Never (the movie) put them in the red, and I wanna see you guys to Seattle 89 after the 1st encore, with One, Battery, Last Caress, Am i Evil, Whiplash and Breadfan, also the Kill/Ride Medley from Cunning Stunts

This concert including multiple bands including AC/DC among others

They were opening for AC/DC. AC/DC stage right there. AC/DC crowd.

This concert, they stopped counting the fans at 1.6 million people, they said for another hour people poured in, it's estimated to be more like 2.8 million

LEGEND HAS IT PEOPLE ARE STILL LEAVING THIS GIG.

It’s the same lead singer guitar player and drummer. Cliff Burton the bassist died in a car wreck in Holland in 1983. The rest of the members are the originals.

This concert took place shortly after the fall of the Iron Curtain. The crowd went crazy cause it was the first time they were allowed to freely watch American/Western rock.

Love réaction this new génération look like view a concert 80' 90' when he see' crowd crazy !!! No Smartphone just enjoy the moment

Even if you don’t like Rock music you have to admit that is amazing !

Over 1 million people. Some estimates as high as 2 million people there. More like 1.6 million. So basically the entire population of Boston and Denver all there at 1 convert lol. Wild. 😜

Hey you won't be tired after this I'll tell ya now!!!This is like being an energizer bunny, this hypes people up like nothing else. You'll just get high on the adrenaline from this, it's insane. Try Creeping Death from the same concert aswell, it has an insane guitar solo by Kirk in it.

AC/DC WERE ALSO PERFORMING AT THIS CONCERT

The death of the Soviet Union, right here!

KILL EM ALL, was their 1st commercial album.

I rarely feel old but thinking I was 18 at this concert 😂

The largest crowd for any concert ever. I don't think it will ever be matched or surpassed. Metallica stayed playing live shows for over 2 and a half years solid worldwide to get their fan base built from grassroots to where they are today. Arguably the biggest metal band ever was,is or will be. I remember telling friends who weren't into metal that they would take over the world and got ridiculed and laughed at by most everyone including my metal head buddies. Lo and behold I got the last laugh. Also if they wouldn't have fired Dave Mustaine we wouldn't have been blessed with Megadeth. Dave was probably one of the most influential thrash metal musicians who absolutely deserves credit for ushering in the wonderful world of Thrash metal. Thanks for a great reaction. I really enjoy watching you guys react to one of the grandfathers of thrash metal. More please! Lol.

This concert in a word: seismic.

Yes look up the Freezem all concert in Antarctica.

From San Fransisco, California.

Eat this Hip Hop: this is Rock’n’Roll ! 🤘🏻

I bet the earth spun like the way a bent wheel on a bike does that day.

I was there in my 20.

You already got some informations in the other comments. So here's my little fact to this event: The helicopters flew constantly to press fresh and cool air to the audience on this hot day to prevent them from fainting.

This was held at an abandon airfield just outside of Moscow.

There was a concert in New York that had 3.6 million people. Another concert in Brazil had 3.5 million in attendance. Crazy lol

Creeping death by Metallica from this same concert is a must watch as well