Radio City (Anaheim): the club where Metallica played their first-ever concert

Radio City was located at 945 South Knott Avenue, in Anaheim (Los Angeles), inside a small complex of nightlife venues. Although there’s no visible trace of it today, from the late 1970s through the first half of the 1980s it was one of the most important heavy metal clubs in Southern California.

The venue originally opened in 1978 under the name Casablanca, but after a fire in 1980 it was rebuilt and reopened as Radio City. Under the management of Jerry Roach, the club became the go-to heavy metal venue in Orange County, standing out for its almost exclusive commitment to original bands at a time when many clubs focused mainly on cover acts.

The Biggest Milestone at Radio City came—without anyone realizing it—on March 14, 1982, when Metallica played their very first live concert here.

At the time, the band hadn’t released a single record and wasn’t even known outside the local circuit. Their only achievement so far was a spot on the Metal Massacre compilation by Metal Blade Records, where they would appear credited as Metallica — an album that wouldn’t be released until months later. They proudly mentioned this on the very poster advertising their first show.

The lineup for that night was:

James Hetfield – vocals
Dave Mustaine – guitar
Ron McGovney – bass
Lars Ulrich – drums

At this early stage, James only handled vocal duties, something he would later recall as an uncomfortable and stressful experience.

Metallica barely had any original material at the time. That night they played “Hit the Lights” and “Jump in the Fire,” backed up by covers of bands that shaped their sound:

Diamond Head – Helpless, Sucking My Love, Am I Evil?, The Prince
Blitzkrieg – Blitzkrieg
Savage – Let It Loose
Sweet Savage – Killing Time

The show itself was chaotic. Dave Mustaine snapped a string right at the start, and the delay left Hetfield standing alone in front of the crowd. Actual attendance was low — somewhere between 40 and 75 people, mostly friends.

“At our first show at Radio City, I was only singing. There were a lot of people there — maybe around 200 — because all my high school friends were there, along with Lars’, Ron’s and Dave’s buddies […]. I was really nervous and uncomfortable without a guitar, and then Dave broke a string on his. It felt like it took forever to change it, and I was standing up there, totally embarrassed. We were really disappointed. And there were never that many people at our shows again after the first one.”

Radio City wasn’t important just because of Metallica. Its stage hosted bands that would go on to define an era:

• Guns N’ Roses — played here on Halloween night, 1985
• Slayer — concerts in 1984 and 1985
• Stryper — frequent shows in 1984
• Poison, Great White, Dark Angel, Possessed, Agent Steel, Hirax, and many more.

Radio City became one of the epicenters of thrash and heavy metal in Southern California.

On the night of November 3, 1985, an act of arson completely destroyed Radio City. Although there were no casualties, the damage exceeded $100,000. Despite initial attempts to rebuild the venue, neighborhood complaints and the definitive withdrawal of its city license in 1986 ultimately prevented it from reopening.

The building was eventually demolished, and today the site is occupied by a rental warehouse. No physical trace of the club remains.