See Inside Metallica’s HQ as Lars Ulrich Talks Historic Minneapolis Gig
As Metallica gear up for their upcoming Minneapolis gig, which they will be live-streaming via Pandora at 9 p.m. CST on Saturday, August 20th, Lars Ulrich has made a video in the band’s San Francisco headquarters, offering an intimate look at where they write and record.
He also discusses the group’s history with the Twin Cities, from a 1985 gig at First Avenue – the venue featured in Prince’s Purple Rain movie – when they were supporting Ride the Lighting up until now when they’re getting ready to be the first rock band to play the U.S. Bank Stadium, where the Vikings play football. In preparation, the drummer says he’s going over set lists from the last few times Metallica has stopped through to keep things fresh this time. “We haven’t been up in the Minneapolis area since, I believe, the Death Magnetic tour [in 2009] when we played indoors, so it’s long overdue,” Ulrich says. “It’s a great way to kick off our fall.”
Ulrich also ponders why Metallica are still able to sell 55,000 tickets to a concert like the one in Minneapolis. “We like to think that there are many different sides to what we do musically,” he says. “We never like to be pigeonholed or to be stuck in one particular thing. There are many different sides to Metallica.”
In other Metallica news, James Hetfield recently guested on Heart’s latest album and sang backup vocals on the single “Beautiful Broken.” He also recently performed the Kill ‘Em All thrash song “Motorbreath” as a countryish acoustic ballad. Meanwhile, Ulrich recently performed the honors of inducting one of his favorite bands, Deep Purple, into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The band has also announced that it will be co-headlining the Global Citizen festival, alongside Kendrick Lamar and Rihanna, in New York City in September.