METALLICA just lost their long-running legal battle against Lloyd’s of London, with a California judge absolving the insurer of any financial losses stemming from the band’s forced postponement of six South American shows in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But just a day after that disappointing decision was announced, Metallica were in good spirits, back on stage and giving back, at Los Angeles’ intimate Microsoft Theater, for their third Helping Hands Concert & Auction fundraiser.
Frontman James Hetfield expressed his joy at being able to play for diehard Metallica fans again, saying: “We’ve been together forever, 200 years. We are very grateful to be doing what we are doing.”
Hetfield and company even treated Friday’s crowd to the live debut of a new thrash track from Metallica’s COVID-delayed album 72 Seasons album, which will finally be released in April 2023. “We think this is such a special show here, that we would play ‘Lux Æterna’, which is the first single from [72 Seasons]🇧🇷 We’re playing live here for the first time. What about this? Hetfield asked rhetorically. A clatter of cymbals caused the band to stop and restart the song, but the euphoric 7,100 in attendance – among them Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine and Guns N’ Roses drummer Matt Sorum – hardly seemed to care or notice.
While “Lux Æterna” was the only preview of 72 Seasons, the event, which benefited the band’s All Within My Hands foundation, brought a few other surprises. Metallica played their first covers of Thin Lizzy’s “Borderline” (“Phil Lynott was writing that song about my life,” Hetfield joked) and the UFO deep cut “It’s Killing Me”, the latter at the behest of drummer Lars Ulrich . “We keep playing covers because it’s FunHetfield laughed.
Then the “new friend” St. Vincent – who actually covered Metallica’s “Sad But True” on last year’s All-Star Covers Compilation, Metallica’s blacklist – paraded to touch another black album power ballad, “Sad But True”. During the half-acoustic/half-electric show, San Francisco folk singer/multi-instrumentalist and former AWMH intern Avi Vinocur also joined in, playing mandolin and acoustic, electric, and 12-string guitars. (“All the things we don’t know how to do,” commented Hetfield.)
Jimmy Kimmel hosted the Friday fundraiser, declaring Metallica “one of the greatest bands in the history of the world” to thunderous applause, while Robert Downey Jr. and Tony Hawk also made surprise appearances to praise the band and express their own fandom. Rising rockers Greta Van Fleet opened the show.
Since Metallica established All Within My Hands in 2017, the charitable initiative has raised $12 million to fight food insecurity, provide natural disaster relief and build sustainable communities through workforce programs and community colleges. . This year’s AWMH memorabilia auction, which began Dec. 5, runs through Dec. 20; 100% of proceeds from the auction and benefit show will go directly to people in need. Friday’s show was streamed live via Paramount+ and will be available to re-watch in full on Monday, December 19th.
As for what’s next for Metallica, post-process and post-pandemic, on April 27, 2023 – two weeks after the long-awaited release of 72 Seasons, the band’s first studio album since 2016 – they will once again play stadiums on their two-year M72 World Tour. They will play two shows in each city, with completely different setlists for each night. The full setlist for the December 16 Helping Hands show is below.
Acoustic:
blackened
The unforgivable
Limit
Its killing me
whiskey in the jar
Break (Introduced by Hetfield with: “We’ll be right back, we’ll take a little break and then we’ll come back and kick some metal ass”)
Electric:
The Call of Ktulu
Reaper of Sorrow
holier than you
all in my hands
scary death
Enter Sandman
Lux Æterna
Nothing else matters (with Saint Vincent)
search and destroy
Read more at Yahoo Entertainment:
Follow Lyndsey on Facebook🇧🇷 twitter🇧🇷 Instagram🇧🇷 amazon
Comments
Post a Comment