Auckland heaving with pumped up Metallica fans

Die-hard Metallica fans have been queuing in the rain for hours before Wednesday night's sold-out concert at Eden Park in Auckland even starts.

The city and its hotels are heaving - accommodation is sold out, with the show expected to yield 40,000 visitor nights. Organisers of the band's only NZ show were expecting more than 55,000 fans to flock to Eden Park.

In the central city, a long line of people waiting to buy merchandise snaked around several corners and sprawled down numerous streets outside a Metallica M72 Pop-Up Shop on Wednesday.

People near the front had already been waiting two hours when they spoke to RNZ.

"I'm so pumped and excited," 18-year-old Emily Thomas from Nelson said.

"I've listened to them all my life, and it's kind of just stuck, I mean, I've got a Metallica tattoo that is for them."

Further up the line, Ben and Nicole Hayward had come from Wellington, and said accommodation was "pretty pricey".

"Probably about $300 more than what we're paying for Tool later in week," Nicole said with her suitcase in tow.

"We came straight from the airport!" she said.

"But it's worth it, 100 percent, otherwise we wouldn't be here."

The pair were hoping to get their hands on whatever Metallica merchandise was left by the time they got to the front.

Fateme Babaei said going to the concert had been a dream since she was a teenager.

She had also been slowly inching forward in the line over two hours.

"First of all, this was a bad idea, I could have been at home getting ready but having merch from a band like Metallica is a once in a lifetime experience, so I'm here to experience that," she said.

Leeann Jackson from Christchurch had booked a year ago, and had also been in line for two hours.

"I think it was shorter when we first got here but I think it's getting further and further," she said.

Victoria Kennedy had come from Ashburton.

"It's been longer than I thought, but dedication," she said.

"I love Metallica, ever since I was a teenager, but I'm older now."

Gates at Eden Park were due to open at 4.30pm with support acts Suicidal Tendencies and Evanescence due to hit the stage from 5.30pm.

Concert-goers were urged to arrive early to avoid queues. There is no public parking at the stadium and surrounding streets are restricted.

Bus and train travel through Auckland Transport is included with the concert tickets.

Auckland Transport said more than 50,000 Metallica fans were in the city, and they should plan ahead to beat weekday rush-hour.

"Nothing else will matter for fans to get as close as possible to the stage, so we’re urging people to get to Eden Park nice and early to avoid rush hour traffic and late delays in getting through the stadium entry gates," Rebecca Paul from AT's operations centre said.

"After the gig, expect longer wait times as we move as quickly as possible to get everyone home safely."

Extra bus and train services will be running for the event.

There is extra capacity put on the Western Line that goes by Eden Park, and special event buses from and back to the North Shore and central city.

Part of Metallica's M72 World Tour, tickets went on sale on 4 November last year. There were 106 crew working on Wednesday's massive show, plus nearly 100 locals stepping in to help on the night. The band bring with them 25 trucks full of equipment, plus 19 sea containers and half a plane of gear from the US.

The last time James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett and Robert Trujillo performed here was in 2010 at shows in Christchurch and Auckland, their first shows since headlining the Big Day Out in 2004.

A 2019 tour was cancelled about a month before the shows as lead singer James Hetfield had - at the time - checked into a recovery programme to deal with addiction issues.