Lars Ulrich says Metallica were banned from making eye contact with Mick Jagger on tour
Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich has claimed the group were banned from making eye contact with Mick Jagger when his band supported The Rolling Stones.
In 2005, Metallica were special guests for two shows by The Rolling Stones at Oracle Park in San Francisco, which was the first time they’d not been the headline act for over a decade. In a new episode of Bill Maher’s podcast, Club Random with Bill Maher, Ulrich explained how he’d previously played with many of his childhood heroes, and “the last one of those boxes to check was The Stones”.
The drummer recalled: “So we’re sitting backstage, and – and this is in no way a judgment on the Stones, this is really more about us – at one point a a personal assistant or whatever comes and says, ‘Mick Jagger’s gonna walk through here in a couple minutes, he’s going over to his private gym in his truck, and he’s going to warm up before the show. When he walks through here, please don’t make eye contact with him or talk to him’.”
Ulrich went on to reveal how the only contact they were prohibited to have with The Stones was a group picture before going on stage, which shattered his expectations. “I had dreams, like, I thought, we’re gonna play with the Rolling Stones and you know where I’m gonna spend my whole time, is in Keith Richards hotel room, sitting at one of those legendary parties ’til nine o’clock in the morning: I’ll be the last one to leave! It wasn’t exactly like that,” he told Maher.
The Metallica founder concluded: “I always go and say hello to our support act: I look them in the eye, I ask them if there’s anything they need. It’s a human thing; if somebody comes out and plays on a Metallica stage I want them to feel at home.”
Watch the podcast in full below.
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