Love it or hate it, there’s no escaping the fact that Fortnite is a cultural powerhouse and its high-profile collaborations continue to cement that.
Leaks have all but confirmed the next big music artist to perform in the game world will be the classic rocker group Metallica. It was hinted at by the leaked roadmap and has now been backed up by a find by a user. An in-game text file, seemingly accidentally left there by Epic Games states “Used in CH5S3 Metallica Concert.”
CONFIRMED: A Metallica concert in Battle Royale will take place later during Chapter 5 – Season 3 🔥
Epic Games accidentally left a text in the files that says "Used in CH5S3 Metallica Concert"
(Thanks to @elbuffaloart for making me aware of this in DMs!) pic.twitter.com/VGTxaJ4zaH
— Shiina (@ShiinaBR) June 3, 2024
The band already features in the game in the form of the Master of Puppets emote which features a clip of the song of the same name.
When will the Metallica Fortnite concert be?
The fact that the text file included “CH5S3” has led people to believe that the concert will be sometime during Chapter 5 Season 3. The Chapter 5 Season 3 battle pass runs up until August 16, but there’s some speculation that the concert will be in June.
Fortnite’s Festival Season Pass 3, which features Billie Eilish will run out on June 13, so the Metallica concert could come in between the end of the Billie Eilish season and the start of Festival Season 4, though no date has been announced for that yet.
Another factor to consider in all this is that Metallica is currently on a world tour which ends late in September and a mid-tour pitstop in the land of Fortnite could do wonders to encourage younger folks to buy tickets to see the venerable legends of rock.
Metallica in Fortnite – what could the setlist be?
It seems a given that Master of Puppets will feature, given the preexisting emote. Likewise, the band’s classic Enter Sandman is already part of the in-game radio so there are good odds we’ll see a performance of that.
Previous gigs have lasted between five (Travis Scott played five songs) and eight (Marshmello played eight) songs, but there’s no set formula. Metallica might play just a handful, or maybe the concert will be a longer affair.
All we really know is that Metallica has been a touring band for many years and if anyone knows how to put on an epic show, it’s these legends of rock. If it happens, it will certainly be an event worth being at.
Featured image: Epic Games