American heavy metal band Metallica have rocked so hard at a recent university concert that it was registered as a small earthquake.
The pioneering band, formed in 1981, are one of the biggest selling rock acts of all time, credited for their innovations within the metal subgenre.
Having sold more than 125 million albums globally since their formation 44 years ago, Metallica remain one of the most popular touring bands around the world.
Their song Enter Sandman – among their most popular singles – has become an anthem not just for metalheads everywhere but for sports fans too.
At Virginia Tech in America, the song’s iconic opening riff has been the soundtrack to several college football games down the years at the university’s 66,000-capacity Lane Stadium.
And this week, the Los Angeles band decided to play the song at Lane Stadium for real, as if to thank the V-Tech Hokies sports organisation for their loyalty down the years.
As well as finishing their set with Enter Sandman, which reached number five on the UK charts in 1991, Metallica walked onto the stage while playing the song over loudspeakers.
Just over a mile away from Lane Stadium, at V-Tech’s Seismological Observatory, tremors created by the crowd jumping up and down apparently caused ‘unusual seismic readings’.
Speaking to Fox Weather in America, the Seismological Observatory’s director Martin Chapman confirmed that motions were detected during the concert.
However, while the crowd’s reaction to Enter Sandman was enough to cause a flicker on a nearby seismograph, it apparently wasn’t big enough to trouble the Richter scale.
Metallica currently consist of long-time members James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett, and bassist Robert Trujillo who joined in 2003.
One band who apparently caused an earthquake in the UK back in 1992 were Madness, whose gig at Finsbury Park in London was apparently detected by the British Geological Survey.
The band’s lead vocalist Suggs told The One Show in 2021: ‘We hadn’t played for about six years. We had taken a few years out. I think we had gone to live in Holland.
‘A guy called Vince Power used to do an Irish festival. 35,000 people turned up, and when we started One Step Beyond they started jumping up and down in unison. And as it said there, they had to evacuate flats.’
More recently, in 2023, it was also reported that excited Taylor Swift fans were causing seismic events during the Love Story singer’s worldwide Eras Tour.
Seismologist Jackie Caplan-Auerbach told CNN at the time that ‘Swift Quakes’ occurred during some shows, and that mass dancing caused seismic activity ‘equivalent of a 2.3 magnitude earthquake.’
The Western Washington University geology professor noticed the strange phenomenon while moderating a Pacific Northwest Facebook group, the outlet reported.
‘I grabbed the data from both nights of the concert and quickly noticed they were clearly the same pattern of signals,’ she said. ‘If I overlay them on top of each other, they’re nearly identical.’
Got a story?
If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us [email protected], calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.
MORE: Fans convince original Chrono Trigger dev to ‘look into’ doing a remake
MORE: Stuart Little child star’s heartbreaking career announcement 26 years after hit movie
MORE: Harry Styles fans in shock after he’s spotted at Vatican greeting new pope
#Metallica #actual #earthquake #rocking #hard #uni #gig
