The Hamptons’ Hottest Musical Act Is…Metallica?

The band recently played a much smaller venue than usual there

James Hetfield of Metallica playing guitar
James Hetfield of Metallica performs live for SiriusXM at Stephen Talkhouse to celebrate the launch of the “Maximum Metallica” channel on SiriusXM on August 28, 2025 in Amagansett, New York.
Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for SiriusXM

The state of New York abounds with great spaces to see live music. New York City abounds with them, but there are plenty more to be found if you head outside of the five boroughs. The Hudson River Valley is now home to some excellent venues and music festivals; Buffalo is also a frequent tour stop for artists on the road.

As for the Hamptons, well — they’re generally spoken of as more of a destination for musicians looking to unwind as opposed to playing live. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t some unexpected moments of live music there as well, including a recent stop by a band more used to playing stadiums than rooms with a capacity measured in the hundreds. And yet, that’s precisely what happened this week when Metallica paid a visit to Amagansett.

Writing at Rolling Stone, Jason Newman has more details about the concert, which took place beside the Amagansett venue the Stephen Talkhouse. The occasion for the band playing a venue that only holds 500 people was the launch of an all-Metallica station on SiriusXM. As Newman writes, the VIPs in attendance included Colin Jost, Sylvester Stallone, Michael J. Fox and Howard Stern.

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How was the band’s set? Newman describes them as sounding “reinvigorated” across their 13-song set. And this adds Metallica to the list of prominent rock bands and artists who have recently opted to play a much smaller venue than those they usually play, following the Rolling Stones and Paul McCartney.

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Tobias Carroll

Tobias Carroll

Tobias Carroll lives and writes in New York City, and has been covering a wide variety of subjects — including (but not limited to) books, soccer and drinks — for many years. His writing has been published by the likes of the Los Angeles Times, Pitchfork, Literary Hub, Vulture, Punch, the New York Times and Men’s Journal. At InsideHook, he has…
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