Lars Ulrich has revisited the early days of Metallica, looking back at their first paycheque on the 37th anniversary of their debut live show.
It’s almost hard to believe, but back in the day, thrash-metal icons Metallica were once a hungry young band looking to make a name for themselves.
Yes, before they were selling out stadiums the world over and delivering face-melting solos at every turn, they were your average metal band, playing their first show like any other band does.
With Lars Ulrich recently revisiting the group’s time at the 1989 Grammy Awards, the Metallica drummer has now taken a look back at the band’s first show, sharing a retrospective of the gig on its 37th anniversary last week.
Taking place at Radio City in Anaheim, California, Metallica’s lineup looked quite a bit different to today’s with original members Dave Mustaine and Ron McGovney on guitar and bass duties, respectively.
Taking to Instagram on Thursday, Ulrich shared his memories of the show, including the setlist, original flyer, their paltry paycheque, and a couple of notes from the band’s performance.
“As you can tell from the notes in my diary, it was my first gig ever and I was “very nervous”,” Ulrich began.
“Additionally, you eagle-eyed observers may notice that there’s not a lot of ‘Tallica originals being performed here at the first outing, but almost all NWOBHM [new wave of British heavy metal] covers, most of which ended up being recorded later along the way and showing up on various Garage releases”
“Here for your viewing pleasure is a picture of your Danish drummer from later in ’82 still playing my first Camco kit (there are no pictures that exist from the first gig), the OG flyer, the setlist in my handwriting and a page from my diary describing the antics of the evening!”
As Lars Ulrich does point out, only ‘Hit The Lights’ and ‘Jump In The Fire’ were later featured on any of the group’s studio records. While many other songs performed on the night ended up as B-sides or on compilations, tracks such as ‘Sucking My Love’ and ‘Let It Loose’ have not been recorded by Metallica to date.
In related news, Aussie fans will be able to see how far Metallica have come when they hit up local shores for their first Australian performances in over six years. With the mighty Slipknot in tow, these will be some gigs you definitely won’t want to miss out on.
Check out Metallica’s ‘Hit The Lights’:
Metallica @ Radio City, California 14/3/87 Setlist
‘Hit The Lights’
‘Blitzkrieg’ (Blitzkrieg cover)
‘Helpless’ (Diamond Head cover)
‘Jump In The Fire’
‘Let It Loose’ (Savage cover)
‘Sucking My Love’ (Diamond Head cover)
‘Am I Evil?’ (Diamond Head cover)
‘The Prince’ (Diamond Head cover)
‘Killing Time’ (Sweet Savage cover)
Metallica’s WorldWired Australia Tour 2019
With special guests Slipknot
Thursday, October 17th
Optus Stadium, Perth, WA
Sunday, October 20th
Adelaide Oval, Adelaide, SA
Tuesday October 22nd
Marvel Stadium, Melbourne, VIC
Saturday October 26th
ANZ Stadium, Sydney, NSW
Tuesday, October 29th
QSAC, Brisbane, QLD
Tickets on sale March 18th through Live Nation
