The band Metallica couldn’t stand touring with: “It’s not something we want to do again”
In the world of metal, Metallica have always been known as the ultimate road dogs.
The band have even played ‘Master of Puppets’ over 1750 times now which shows you how many gigs they’ve kicked off overall. They may have also had their bright spots whenever they went into the studio. Still, the appeal of every one of their songs is getting to experience them live, usually with mountains of pyro everywhere and James Hetfield looking like a metal god in the centre of everything.
A tour is only as good as those that are playing with you. And Metallica have played with huge names like Anthrax, Danzig, Faith No More and even Kyuss. Most of the time, they proved to be perfect touring buddies, old stalwarts of having fun on the road. But they were not necessarily a fan of what Axl Rose got up to on their joint tour.
When you’re first starting out, though, you play with almost anyone that will have you. It wasn’t out of the question for Metallica to play in funky venues across America, but their first major break as a touring band came when they got to tour with Ozzy Osbourne, where ‘The Prince of Darkness’ admitted that they were hard to follow every night.
By the time they hit their fourth album, they had already hit the arenas without a radio single to their name. This wasn’t music meant to be liked by the masses, but life can take you in some weird directions when you loosen up a bit. After coming off the road, the group’s decision to work with Bob Rock brought them from an arena band to one of the world’s biggest groups, selling out stadiums worldwide.
If one stadium act works well for business, why not have two? In one of the most brilliant marketing moves in history, Lars Ulrich motioned for Metallica to do a co-headlining tour with Guns N’ Roses, who were already coming off their exercise in self-indulgence, Use Your Illusion.
While both of the bands sounded amazing on record, it’s hard to create a massive show like this when one of the main stars doesn’t want to do their job. During numerous performances on the tour, Rose occasionally decided to show up late or maybe the stars were aligned in a certain way, meaning he couldn’t go on that night.
Speaking to Rolling Stone later, Hetfield said that it was a nightmare trying to put the tour together, saying, “They’re a different type of band – and I use the word band loosely. It’s a guy and some other guys. We were out to show people that there was something a little more progressive and hardcore than Guns n’ Roses. And to go about it our way. But it was hard going on, dealing with Axl and his attitude. It’s not something we’d want to do again.”
It probably didn’t help that one of their shows ended in a riot in Toronto when Hetfield was nearly burned alive, and Guns N’ Roses cut their set early. No matter how much confidence you have in your band, there’s no way you’re going to just shrug off seeing those same fans pissed beyond belief, storming the grandstands and destroying everything in sight.
Jason Newsted certainly believes Metallica held up their end of the bargain for the joint tour. “We chose to play first, of course, because we wanted to play on time,” he explained. “We deliver. It’s like going on at 8:01. We’re on at 8:01. That’s the way it’s always been, that’s why they’re who they are. That’s why Metallica’s still touring now and crushing everybody and selling more records.”
Being ‘bankable’ might not be a classic accolade to bestow on a band, but Metallica showed why it is a very underrated virtue. “So they played after us, and whenever they decided to come on stage, they’d come on stage,” he told American Songwriter of Guns N’ Roses. “We had 30 minutes late, an hour late, two hours late. Whatever time that homeboy decided to come on, or his psychic said he could come on, or whatever the hell happened.”
Despite having one of the most pompous rockstars of the time on the road with them, you have to take those kinds of shows as a learning experience. Whenever the band saw Rose disrespecting the audience’s time or cutting out of the show hours early because his voice was giving him trouble, Hetfield wasn’t going to sit around moping. He was taking notes on what not to do whenever you’re on the touring circuit.
