Jason Newsted hasn’t been to the Sphere yet, but he’s definitely got his eye on it. The former Metallica bassist sat down with Eddie Trunk on SiriusXM’s Trunk Nation on May 12 and made it clear he’s interested in catching shows at the Vegas venue — including his old band’s massive residency *. “Very happy for them,” Newsted said about Metallica’s run at the cutting-edge venue, which now boasts 24 total shows under the title Life Burns Faster after the band tripled the original dates back in March *. For a guy who left Metallica in 2001 but still got inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame alongside his former bandmates in 2009, there’s no bitterness here — just genuine interest in what The Eagles, Metallica, and other acts are doing with that 16K resolution wraparound screen *.
The Sphere residency is a monster undertaking that kicks off in early October and stretches all the way into 2027, with shows scheduled across October, November, January, February, and March *. Metallica’s keeping their No Repeat Weekend tradition alive, meaning every Thursday and Saturday show will feature completely different setlists — no repeated songs *. That’s a hell of a commitment for a venue that holds 17,600 people and has already hosted U2, Phish, Dead & Company, and The Eagles since opening in September 2023 *. It’s the kind of spectacle that demands attention, even from someone who’s been there and done that with the biggest metal band on the planet.
Meanwhile, Newsted’s got his own thing cooking with Jason Newsted & The Chophouse Band, a project that’s been kicking around since 1992 for charity gigs and is now hitting the road for 18 dates starting July 1 *. The run includes 10 support slots with Blackberry Smoke in July and wraps up with two nights at Nashville’s legendary Ryman Auditorium on July 24-25 *. It’s a far cry from the NEWSTED project he shelved back in 2014 after losing hundreds of thousands of dollars, but the man’s still out there playing and clearly still paying attention to what’s happening in the rock world *.