METALLICA frontman James Hetfield spoke to the Mexican radio station Ibero 90.9 last month prior to the band’s eight-night run at Palacio de los Deportes (Sports Palace) in Mexico City. You can watch the chat below.

“To play anywhere in the world for eight shows is unbelievable,” Hetfield said. “I don’t think we could do it anywhere else. Mexico City stepped up, and every [concert] we put on sale, there was another one [that was added] and another and it kept going. It was crazy! We probably could have kept going, as the passion here is unbelievable.”

METALLICA‘s July 28 show in Mexico City marked the debut of a new 140-foot-by-50-foot stage that features “colossal components and striking visual elements spanning METALLICA‘s entire 30-year career.”

“The stage that we’re doing — the kind of the ‘best-of’ stage — is pretty dangerous and pretty unpredictable,” Hetfield said. “There’s a lot of things that can go wrong. [laughs] Pyro and fire and things falling and… I don’t wanna give away too much, but there’s a lot going on. A lot. So every show will be different of these eight, I think, just because of the fact that things will be working differently. We haven’t really rehearsed a lot on this stage — maybe a week, production rehearsals — so it’s gonna be crazy. It’s gonna be a lot of fun.”

A nine-minute montage of the “best effects” in METALLICA‘s new stage show — captured during the July 28 opening gig of the band’s eight-night run in Mexico City — can be seen below. A post at the group’s web site said, “What an amazing first show with the new mind blowing stage. During ‘Puppetz’, lighted crosses came up from the stage, ‘Battery’ saw pyro and coffins, then we had Nothing. ‘Enter Sandman’ was up next, and that’s when shit really hit the fan! Loud bangs, random fireworks, falling towers, falling spot light guy, falling scaffolding, guy was caught on fire, then a complete blackout.”

Video footage taken at the gig initially made it seem as if a malfunctioning pyro launcher caused two road crew members to be engulfed in flames during the song “Enter Sandman”.

The show was stopped and the men carried out on stretchers, after which METALLICA resumed playing. A spokesperson for the promoter said it was “all part of the show.”

METALLICA performed at the Outside Lands festival in San Francisco this past weekend and is scheduled to play two shows in late August in Vancouver, which will be filmed for the band’s upcoming 3D movie.

Interview:

“Best effects” montage:

Source: Blabbermouth.net 

Video footage and photos of METALLICA frontman James Hetfield getting covered in cream pies for his 49th birthday at the conclusion of the band’s August 2 concert in Mexico City can be seen below. This was the fourth show of the band’s eight-date run at Palacio de los Deportes (Sports Palace) .

METALLICA‘s setlist for the August 2 concert:

01. Creeping Death
02. For Whom The Bell Tolls
03. Fuel
04. Ride The Lightning
05. One
06. Cyanide
07. The Memory Remains
08. The Four Horsemen
09. Sad But True
10. Welcome Home (Sanitarium)
11. …And Justice For All
12. Fade To Black
13. Master Of Puppets
14. Battery
15. Nothing Else Matters
16. Enter Sandman

Encore:

17. Helpless
18. Seek & Destroy

Two members of METALLICA‘s road crew caught fire during each of the first four Mexico concerts, as the two stagehands were seen struggling with a malfunctioning pyro launcher during “Enter Sandman” when both were suddenly engulfed in flame. As James Hetfield called for the band to stop playing, other crew members doused the men with fire extinguishers and took them off the stage in stretchers, with the band resuming its show a few minutes later.

A spokesperson for the promoter said the stunt was “all part of the show,” and in fact METALLICA has staged this type of “accident” before during its 1997 tour, on which the show ended with the stage seemingly collapsing around the band as one crew member caught fire and another dangled upside down from the fallen lighting rig. The effect was caught on the band’s “Cunning Stunts” DVD.

The show on July 28 marked the debut of a new 140-foot-by-50-foot stage that features “colossal components and striking visual elements spanning METALLICA‘s entire 30-year career,” meaning that the “accident” stunt could be back for an encore.

At a press conference before the show, frontman James Hetfield said that the band was focused on “staying alive” while performing alongside the “dangerous elements” of the new production, with bassist Robert Trujillo adding, “Like James said, it’s very dangerous — we’ve got stuff flying every which way.”

A post in the “Tour Journal” section of METALLICA‘s official web site related that “shit really hit the fan (during ‘Enter Sandman’ with) loud bangs, random fireworks, falling towers, falling spot light guy, falling scaffolding, guy was caught on fire . . . then a complete blackout.”

Following its Mexico City stand, METALLICA next plays the Outside Lands festival in San Francisco and then two shows in late August in Vancouver, which will be filmed for the band’s upcoming 3D movie.

Photos and video footage below courtesy of Metallica.com.

Source: Blabbermouth.net