Metallica frontman James Hetfield requested the change ahead last weekend’s epic hard rock festival on the grounds of Coachella.
Did you know Metallica have their own official podcast? The weekly updates from The Metallica Report started less than three months ago. The podcast is a fascinating look behind the curtain for info on Metallica’s current goings-on and insights reaching back into their history.
Last weekend was a big one for Metallica both as artists and fans! Not only did they share a stage with AC/DC, Guns N’ Roses, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, and Tool at the Power Trip festival; but they changed their entire rehearsal routine just so they could enjoy the festival like anyone else!
Here’s what James had to say elsewhere in the podcast about preparing for Power Trip:
“So there was gonna be rehearsals [for Power Trip] down at HQ [METALLICA’s headquarters in San Rafael, California] for a couple days beforehand, and I said, ‘I’m not gonna show up guys. I would love it if we could find a rehearsal place here [closer to the Power Trip festival], ’cause I’d love to see all these other bands.’ And Robert got on board, and then we found a place over here in the polo grounds [at the Empire Polo Club] to rehearse. And I’m grateful that Lars was up for it. So they did their rehearsals down there and then we came up and we have rehearsals and get to watch these bands. It’s so frickin’ cool to have your own compound at a festival for all the days of the festival, you know? It’s like camping. We’re camping, we’re hanging out here. We show up, go rehearse and then go out there and watch IRON MAIDEN. I mean, how cool is that!
“So for me, there’s a lot of inspiration in every single band that’s played here. Just looking up ages — I know age is bullshit. I mean, there’s plenty of the guys in these bands that are [in their] early 70s, late 60s, and it’s inspiring. And the fact that they’re up there still kicking ass in this kind of heat was fantastic. But every single one of those bands have been a part of our childhood and our upbringing in our METALLICA adventure. So it’s really cool to be a part of this. And we used to hang out a bunch together in the early days, like at all the festivals we would go to and hang out. Yeah, we would play early on and then get to watch all the other bands after. We would hang out. It kind of felt like that again. Obviously, it was a different day, but we’re all here hanging out and it’s really fun. It’s really fun to see. I just kind of realized that we’re down in the very front looking up, Rob Halford riding out on a motorcycle and there’s fans behind us, looking at us, like they’re watching us enjoy that. How cool!?I guess that’s pretty cool. But we’re fans at the end of the day. We wanted to be in the mix and see it. So it’s been a fantastic weekend.”
To hear James express the same joy and love for his musical heroes, the same way regular fans like us do, is the best kind of heartwarming.
Want to hear what Kirk Hammett, Robert Trujillo, and Lars Ulrich thought of the Power Trip festival? Click the link in the Twitter/X embed above to hear the whole podcast.
