Apocalyptica Plays Metallica By Four Cellos
Finnish rockers Apocalyptica rarely include San Diego in their tour itinerary, having played here only four times over the past decade, most recently in 2017 at Copley Symphony Hall, former home of the Fox Theater. This time, they’ll take the stage at downtown’s only other surviving vintage movie palace, the Balboa, to perform their entire 1996 debut album, the epically ambitious Plays Metallica By Four Cellos. The instrumental cello-driven rock opus, covering Metallica songs such as “Enter Sandman” and “The Unforgiven,” was essentially recorded on a dare from a record company employee who’d been blown away after seeing a live performance of the 7-minute sonic suite “Master of Puppets.” There’s a remastered version of the record out now that includes three bonus tracks – “Battery,” “Seek & Destroy,” and “Nothing Else Matters” - in addition to a live album and a DVD of their appearance at Olavinlinna Castle in Finland. The band, which performed with Metallica at a 30th anniversary concert, will also play Metallica tracks they’ve covered on other albums.