Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich says frontman James Hetfield was “livid” after the band experienced sound problems during their performance with Lady Gaga at the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles on February 12.
The pairing suffered through a technical glitch by producers when Hetfield’s microphone failed to work during the first verse, forcing him to share Gaga’s as they played the second single from their No. 1 album, “Hardwired…To Self Destruct.”
At the end of the performance, a visibly frustrated Hetfield kicked over his mic stand and threw his guitar offstage.
"In the heat of the battle,” explained Ulrich to Grammys host James Corden on CBS-TV’s The Late Late Show with James Corden on Tuesday, “you're out there and you're playing, when it's a technical issue, you don't really know — 'Is it going to the house?' 'Is his vocals going to the truck? 'Maybe it's just the monitors.' — so you've just gotta keep playing.
“We get off stage, we get back there, and I haven't seen him [James] like that in twenty years. I mean, he was livid. He's aged really well and he's a pretty chill guy, but the first five or ten minutes in that dressing room was not a lot of fun.”
“But, like they say, the show must go on, and we fought through it,” Ulrich added. “And with the fire and Gaga in my lap for about a minute at one point, it was just, 'Keep going, keep going, keep going.' So we fought through it, and a lot of people said that at least it made for great television, which is really the point of doing the Grammys to begin with."
Metallica were on hand at the 59th annual event because their single, “Hardwired”, was nominated in the Best Rock Song category; it lost out to “Blackstar” by David Bowie.
Earlier this week, the veteran metal band announced a 25-show summer stadium tour of North America that will run from early May to mid-August.
Various presales are underway now, with general public tickets going on sale February 17 at 10:00 a.m. local time – for dates and details, click here.
See also:
Metallica announce North American stadium tour
VIDEO: Metallica perform with Lady Gaga at Grammy Awards
San Francisco Giants to host 5th annual Metallica Night
Metallica to perform with Lady Gaga at Grammy Awards
Search Metallica at hennemusic
