James Hetfield doesn’t seem very interested in turning a Metallica concert into a political lecture.
During the band’s Las Vegas Sphere residency, the heavy metal frontman took a second to thank fans for traveling to see the group before making one thing clear: Metallica isn’t there to push an agenda.
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“Unless you live in Vegas, you’ve come a long way to spend some time with Metallica,” Hetfield told the audience during the band’s Oct. 10 show. “And I just gotta say: Metallica is not here, like some other entertainers, to influence you with their bullsh–.”
Instead, the singer and guitarist said the band wants fans to leave their outside worries at the door.
“We are here to forget about all the outside sh–,” he continued. “Metallica’s agenda is love, energy and heavy music, baby!”
Hetfield didn’t name any specific entertainers he had in mind, leaving his comments open to interpretation. Still, his message was unmistakable: When fans show up for Metallica, he wants the music to take center stage.
And the band’s staying power speaks for itself. Metallica’s ReLoad returned to the Billboard charts following an expanded reissue, landing at No. 1 on the Top Hard Rock Albums chart. The achievement was the band’s sixth leader on the ranking, following the success of its 2023 album 72 Seasons.
The remarks came during Metallica’s Life Burns Faster residency at Sphere, the immersive Las Vegas venue that has become known for its enormous wraparound screen and elaborate visual productions. The band kicked off the run in October, becoming the first heavy metal act to headline the venue. The residency features a series of performances scheduled through March 2027.
While Metallica doesn’t want to get political onstage, that doesn’t mean the band has refrained from being outspoken throughout their decades-long career. Over the years, they’ve addressed subjects ranging from war and addiction to social alienation in their music and they were on the frontlines of the fight against Napster, becoming the first musicians to sue the controversial music-sharing service in 2020.