Virginia Tech has been using Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” to energize its football crowd since the early 2000s, so it made perfect sense for the band to include Lane Stadium as a stop on their current tour. Predictably, the crowd went wild when the iconic song played—so much so that the jumping fans actually set off nearby earthquake sensors.
Back in 2000, Virginia Tech introduced a high-tech video scoreboard at Lane Stadium and took the opportunity to choose a new entrance song for the Hokies. They landed on “Enter Sandman,” a pick that didn’t make major waves at first.
That changed in 2001, when top-ranked Miami came to town on December 1 for a night game described by The Washington Post as especially cold, though the temperature was around 60°F.
During the pregame, a band member began jumping to stay warm as “Enter Sandman” played, sparking a ripple effect that evolved into one of the most electric and intimidating traditions in college football.
Nearly 25 years later, Metallica returned the favor by performing at Lane Stadium in front of over 65,000 fans. They closed the show with a thunderous version of “Enter Sandman” that had the crowd so hyped, the Virginia Tech Seismological Observatory’s helicorder picked up the activity—a minor seismic event caused by the collective force of fans jumping in unison.
