Getting a front-row seat to your favourite concert is about to get much, much easier.
Forget queuing up outside the venue for hours, Apple Vision Pro owners can stream a sold-out Metallica concert from money-can’t-buy seats at no cost and gain unprecedented access to James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett, and Robert Trujillo.
Vision Pro is equipped with ludicrously high-resolution displays — with some 23 million pixels shared between two screens the size of Royal Mail stamps — and processes images on-screen 8x faster than the blink of an eye PRESS ASSOCIATIONThe new concert film includes performances of Whiplash, One, and Enter Sandman in their entirety, with the energy of 65,000 passionate Metallica fans who saw the finale of the band’s M72 World Tour in person. The Metallica concert was published on March 14 and can be streamed at no cost on Vision Pro.
Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich spoke with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe about the Apple Immersive concert experience ahead of the release date. He said: “Game changing is putting it lightly. Seeing our concert like that, along with the energy of the Mexico City fans — it’s very immersive, and it’s super fun. We’ve always been interested in pushing the boundaries, and Metallica on Apple Vision Pro is exactly that.”
“Apple Vision Pro brings the experience of our tour to music fans around the world, and it’s an entirely new way for Metallica fans to enjoy our show,” said Lars Ulrich of Metallica
“I’ve been a music fan my whole life, and I’ve never experienced anything like this,” said ex-BBC Radio 1 DJ Zane Lowe. “It’s not just the best seat in the house — it’s like you’re in the only seat on stage.”
The full conversation can be watched on the SXSW YouTube channel, or below.
To capture the immersive footage, a team from Apple built a custom stage layout equipped with 14 Apple Immersive Video cameras relying on a mixture of stabilized cameras, cable-suspended cameras, and remote-controlled camera dolly systems that pivoted around the stage to capture multiple angles.
Vision Pro packs a cutting-edge 4K micro-OLED display for each eye with individual pixels that are smaller than human blood cells for jaw-dropping clarity. This ultra-high resolution enables its Apple Immersive Video format, which offers a 180-degree, stereoscopic format that pulls you into the action.
Apple has previously showcased this with breathtaking concert experiences from The Weeknd, RAYE, and Alicia Keys.
The launch of the Metallica concert comes a few weeks before the next blockbuster update to Vision Pro is scheduled to roll-out.
The upcoming visionOS 2.4 release introduces a Vision Pro app for iPhone, which will let owners scroll through curated recommendations for apps, games, 3D movies, and immersive experiences — like the Metallica concert on thier smartphone. You can queue-up downloads remotely, access personalised tips, and manage other device settings so everything is ready to watch the moment you put on the Vision Pro.
“Apple Immersive Video transforms the way people experience storytelling, and we’re thrilled to collaborate with Metallica on a concert unlike any before it,” said Tor Myhren, Apple’s vice president of Marketing Communications. “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.”
Metallica and Apple team up for a Vision Pro concert film
Enter iSandman? Metallica’s latest tech partnership is with Apple for a concert film based on a Mexico City performance.
However, there’s a very specific audience: people who own Apple Vision Pro headsets. Three songs were filmed during the concert with the device in mind, with 180-degree video, a choice of viewpoints and spatial audio.
The film – or ‘experience’ as Apple describes it – launches this Friday (14 March) and will be available to try on demo headsets at the company’s stores. Metallica is also releasing an EP from the concert on Apple Music this week.
This is the band’s latest foray into the metaverse. Metallica were the featured artist for the fourth season of Fortnite’s Festival music game last year, and took over five Roblox games for a campaign in 2023 that attracted 21m visits.
Metallica’s concert film is not the only new music-related experience coming for Vision Pro. Bono: Stories of Surrender will debut on 30 May, a documentary about U2’s frontman, alongside a non-immersive version for the Apple TV+ service.
Insert your own ‘it’ll be automatically downloaded to everyone’s device whether they want it or not joke here…
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