According to The Spokesman-Review, Metallica’s concert at the Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena on Sunday night (December 2nd) was not only the band’s first gig in town since 2004, it broke a long-standing attendance record.

The Arena hosted 13,184 fans for Sunday’s show, the largest crowd ever gathered in the building for a single concert. Sunday’s performance bested the record that had stood since August 17th, 1999, when Neil Diamond drew 12,526 fans to the venue.

“To break an almost 20-year attendance record was amazing but doing it with a crowd of all ages coming to see a band like Metallica makes it all that more special,” said Matt Gibson, Spokane Arena general manager, in a news release.

So where did the Arena find room for those 658 additional people who flocked to Metallica? The floor, Gibson said.

“We had seats in place for Neil Diamond, and we did not have seats in place for Metallica,” he said. “It was a GA (general admission) show, so we had more capacity on the floor. And anytime we have a stage in the round, we always have more room because of infrastructure that we don’t need when we have an end-stage show.”

Read the full report at The Spokesman-Review.

Metallica has three shows remaining in 2018:

December
5 - Portland, OR - Moda Center
7 - Sacramento, CA - Golden 1 Center - SOLD OUT
9 - Fresno, CA - Save Mart Center

To view the band's complete tour schedule, which stretches into August 2019, visit this location.

Check out some pro-shot footage from some recent Metallica shows below: