It’s been a few years since Australians last had the chance to rock out at a Metallica gig, but we might not be waiting too much longer if recent statements from drummer Lars Ulrich are to be believed.
Back in 2013, Aussie fans were treated with a series of Metallica performances thanks to that year’s edition of the Soundwave Festival. Since then, well, fans have been eagerly awaiting the group’s return.
While the band released their most recent album, Hardwired… To Self-Destruct, back in late 2016, rumours have since swirled about whether or not the group will be heading down to our shores.
In fact, our hopes were raised spectacularly and dashed ever so valiantly after Soundwave head honcho AJ Maddah hinted that the thrash legends might be heading to Australia last year. Sadly, that never eventuated, and even after the group announced a ‘world tour’, Aussies were sadly left out. However, it looks like we might not be waiting all that longer.
As Music Feeds point out, Metallica’s So What! magazine was published earlier this month and featured drummer Lars Ulrich chatting about the future of their current tour, and whether it’ll wrap up next year or “edge into 2020”.
“I mean obviously there’s an end at some point,” Ulrich explained to So What!’s Steffan Chirazi.
“We gotta just sit and look. There’s Japan. There’s Australia. There’s New Zealand. There’s a couple other pockets that obviously Metallica has a long and very cool relationship with, so we just gotta sit down and figure it out.”
“But to me the most important thing is, and this goes back to what we were talking about [the last time], the maintenance thing,” he continued. “We gotta go to Japan, we gotta go to Australia, we gotta go here, we gotta go there. That’s fine. As long as it’s done within the boundaries that exist.”
“And so you know, I don’t think whether it’s ’19 or ’20 or whatever, to me we’re in a mode where there’s a balance to it now that’s manageable.”
While Lars didn’t exactly give us a date to lock into our calendars, we’re definitely feeling a bit better knowing that the Metallica blokes haven’t forgotten about us in their touring plans.
Incidentally, we recently noted over on The Industry Observer how Metallica use Spotify to view local listening habits in order to curate their setlists. So maybe now’s the time to start listening to your favourite Metallica B-sides, covers, or live favourites in hopes that they might sneak it into their setlist when they finally give us a visit.
Check out Metallica’s cover of ‘So What’:
