Watch Metallica Douse ‘Late Late Show’ With Riff-Monster ‘Fuel’
Metallica continued their week-long The Late Late Show residency on Tuesday with a blistering version of “Fuel,” their Grammy-nominated single from 1997’s ReLoad. James Hetfield delivered the pseudo-rapped intro (“Gimme fuel, gimme fire, gimme that which I desire”) with his usual intensity, while Kirk Hammett handled the heavy lifting on the bluesy, accelerating riff.
Craig Ferguson jokingly introduced the band as “a bunch of kids trying their luck in show business,” emphasizing their good hygiene. The metal legends were promoting the 10th anniversary Blu-Ray edition of their band documentary Some Kind of Monster, which is out November 24th.
Metallica will perform a song every night this week on The Late Late Show, as Ferguson winds down his tenure on the long-running program. (The host’s final broadcast will be on December 19th, with British actor-comedian James Corden then taking over.) “What better way to celebrate Craig’s awesome tenure at CBS than to come and shake the rafters for a whole week,” drummer Lars Ulrich told Rolling Stone. “Nothing to sell, nothing to promote (except a reissue DVD)…purely hanging at Craig’s personal request. Bring it!” On Monday, the band delivered an extra-heavy take on “Hit the Lights,” the first song they ever recorded.
In related news, on Black Friday, Metallica will release a vinyl pressing of their new track “Lords of Summer.” The band recently booked a slot at the first U.S. Rock in Rio festival, which will take place in Las Vegas next May and also feature acts like Taylor Swift and No Doubt. By the end of 2014, Metallica will release vinyl editions of 27 concert recordings from 2014. In the midst of all that activity, the quartet is also focused on writing a new studio album; back in April, Ulrich told Rolling Stone the band was roughly in the “fourth inning” of writing songs for the LP.