SAT ABOUT 50 feet away from James Hetfield, as he was stood in the middle of The Round in San Francisco’s brand-spanking-new Chase Center, sans his trusty ESP but flanked by a full orchestra, belting out Unforgiven III… It was an image, a moment and a night that I’ll never forget; S&M2 was a stark and welcome reminder that, almost 40 years in, there’s still no one that does things quite like Metallica.
As we catch up with metal’s biggest band ahead of the official home release of that iconic gig, there’s a lot to talk about. After all, the world is a very different place from the one they played in on that night in September 2019: James has since been through rehab, the world has come in and out of lockdown, and gigs as we know them are going to be gone for a little while yet. What does this all mean for the band that have always refused to stand still? And have they really been thinking about getting a new album together, or are they yanking our chains? I know which I’d prefer to be true…