Lars Ulrich has taken a look back at the past, recalling the “inspiring and memorable experience” of Metallica opening for The Rolling Stones.
Earlier in the century, Metallica had been going through a bit of a tough time. Following the departure of bassist Jason Newsted, the group embarked on a search for a new member, chronicling their efforts, their clashes, and the recording of their new album in the documentary Some Kind Of Monster.
Releasing St. Anger in 2003, the group hit the road soon after for a lengthy world tour. By the time they wrapped up in late 2004, fans weren’t too sure when the group would emerge for another run of live shows.
Thankfully, they weren’t waiting long, with Metallica announced as one of the support acts for The Rolling Stones’ A Bugger Bang tour when it stopped by San Francisco.
Speaking of the event earlier this year, drummer Lars Ulrich noted that these shows “gave us the way to start it back up again”.
“That was the last time we had a real break — we haven’t shut down the band in 14 years, but we disappeared then for about a year,” he explained to The Sun.
“And then The Rolling Stones called us up and said, ‘Come and play some shows with us in California,’ and we sort of agreed you’re not going to say no to The Stones, so that was it.”
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Now, Lars Ulrich has looked back on these shows once again, celebrating the 14th anniversary of the two performances with a post on Instagram.
“14 years ago – we returned to live action after almost a year away by supporting an up-and-coming British blues band called The Rolling Stones over a coupla shows in San Francisco,” he explained.
“The St. Anger tour finished the previous November and after some much-needed chill time, we were gearing up to start thinking about the next creative phase when we got the call.
“Up til that point, we had played with a lot of the bands that I had posters of up on my walls, including Deep Purple, AC/DC, Iron Maiden… and the chance to put a check mark next to rocking with The Stones at home in SF seemed way fucking fun.
“The idea of playing a coupla shows supporting, going on stage early, nothing to promote, performing a shorter set, going to my own bed at home was definitely a vibe and was a cool way to ease ourselves into the making of the next record.
“An inspiring and memorable experience!”
In related news, Aussie metalheads were undoubtedly devastated recently to learn that the highly-anticipated tour local from Metallica would not be going ahead as planned.
Originally slated to kick off last month, the band revealed that their upcoming dates would be postponed while frontman James Hetfield entered a treatment program in order to confront his struggles with addiction.
At this stage, there’s no word as to when these dates will be rescheduled, though proposed tourmates Slipknot say they’re hoping to bring their live show down to Australia regardless at a similarly undetermined date.
Check out Metallica supporting The Rolling Stones in 2005:
