Metallica donated £20,000 to a Cardiff foodbank ahead of their sold-out show at the city’s Principality Stadium.
The heavy metal legends are currently touring the UK, and made the generous donation to the Cardiff Foodbank charity after an appeal from its organisers.
Just two weeks earlier, they had said they were “very worried” as they had never seen the warehouse “so empty” and appealed for donations on social media.
Metallica’s donation was made through their charitable foundation, All Within My Hands, and was apparently preceded by an email clarifying that it wasn’t a scam.
Rachel Biggs, the foodbank’s CEO, told the BBC: “We had an email saying, ‘This isn’t a scam, please get in touch with the foundation.’ They said, ‘We are going to donate £20,000 to you.’
“It’s an incredible amount of money that will make such a difference and replenish our empty shelves.”
Cardiff Foodbank supports 20,000 people a year and runs eight centres across the city, along with a mobile service that delivers pre-packed bags.
The donation from Metallica will provide 9,000 meals for people in need, and was described by the charity as its largest celebrity donation.
"What’s great for us [is] it helps raise the profile and what Metallica are doing is mobilising their fans, mobilising the local community,” Biggs said.
She explained that donations were down but the demand was as great as ever, with running costs for the foodbank estimated at £700,000.
“The number of people needing us is the same as last year, but our food donations have dropped by 27 per cent and we’ve seen that reflected in the empty shelves,” she said.
“The cost of living impacts all of us, it also impacts our running costs and we know our donors are generous, but we know the cost of living is pinching their pockets too.”
The Cardiff Foodbank received another major celebrity donation in 2024, when Taylor Swift made a “generous” contribution to 1,400 foodbanks across the UK as well as community organisations in Edinburgh, Liverpool, Cardiff and London – the cities hosting her record-breaking Eras Tour.
Trussell director of public engagement Sophie Carre said that Swift, who became the first solo artist to play Wembley Stadium eight times on the same tour, had helped the charity at an “incredibly important time” when it expected a “huge number” of people to turn to it for support.
Metallica and their management team launched their All Within My Hands foundation in 2017, giving a proportion of their ticket sales to local and national charities.
They also collaborated with the Welsh Blood Service ahead of their Principality Stadium show to encourage fans to donate blood and plasma.
Following their Cardiff show, they are next scheduled to play two nights at London Stadium on 3 and 5 July, concluding the UK leg of their current tour.
This October, they will then kick-off their eight-show residency at the Las Vegas Sphere.
