Which Ennio Morricone piece has Metallica long used as concert intro music?

“Which Ennio Morricone piece has Metallica long used as concert intro music?” — The answer is “The Ecstasy of Gold.” Morricone composed the piece for Sergio Leone’s 1966 Western The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, where it accompanies Tuco’s frantic search for buried gold in a vast cemetery.

Metallica adopted the recording as its entrance music in 1983, during the band’s early touring years. The choice reportedly came through manager Jon “Jonny Z” Zazula, who preferred Morricone’s dramatic instrumental over the band’s earlier heartbeat-style intro. The music’s rising strings, choir, and wordless vocal create suspense before the group appears onstage.

Fans sometimes mistake “The Trio,” another Morricone cue from the same film, for Metallica’s signature introduction. “The Ecstasy of Gold” is the established answer because it became a recurring pre-show ritual and appears on Metallica live releases, including Live Shit: Binge & Purge and S&M. Metallica has also performed its own concert versions, but the familiar entrance is generally Morricone’s original recording rather than a standard Metallica song with lyrics.