Metallica Make Fun Of Glasto-Haters In Hunter-Killing Film

Metallica have struck back at their Glastonbury detractors in a very big way.

As previously reported by The Inquisitr, Metallica had to endure a barrage of negativity from fans and bands who thought that Glastonbury was not a venue at which Metallica should play. Throughout the attacks, Metallica — a band that’s no stranger to controversy — seemed to shrug off most of the attacks. Even when Glasto fans started up a petition to get Metallica removed from the festival, citing Metallica frontman James Hetfield’s narration of a bear hunting documentary on the History Channel in the U.S., Metallica remained relatively quiet.

Then came the concert… and all that changed.

For the uninitiated, Metallica has started every show they’ve done for the majority of their career with Ennio Morricone’s “The Ecstasy of Gold” from the Sergio Leone masterpiece, The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. For the last few decades, Metallica has used the video from the film as well, something that they did at Glastonbury.

But this time, Metallica’s intro music video was a bit different.

For one thing, a nod to recent passing of actor Eli Wallach started the film. A nice nod to one of the stars of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, and a brilliant actor.

From there, the Metallica video looked very familiar. Clint Eastwood fires off the cannon, and Tuco — played by Eli Wallach — starts searching through the cemetery.

About 90 seconds in, however, Metallica’s intro got stranger. The video from Sergio Leone’s film goes to static and is replaced by a definitively British hunter blowing a horn, assembling the other hunters for the fox hunt.

What follows is a very large Metallica middle finger to any and all that said they didn’t belong at the Glastonbury Festival.

The film, assembled and shot by Julien Temple, trades shots between frightened foxes and a collection of other timid woodland animals, and shots of the hunters — dressed to the nines in red coats and white pants — on horseback, chasing their barking hounds across the English Countryside. As viewers, we follow it all to the whistled tune of a familiar march, until — as the hounds are about to close in on a stranded fox — the music changes not to Metallica, but to no less than Sweet’s “Fox on the Run.”

The coup de grace of the seven-and-a-half minute film is when four bears step out of the woods. Each is carrying a rifle, and each one begins shooting the hunters in systematic, gory fashion, while the fox gets away, running through the hills.

After the carnage calms down, the bears remove their heads, revealing the members of Metallica. Lars Ulrich, Metallica’s drummer, holds a paw up at the camera, and it’s more than clear what the implication is.

By the majority of accounts, the ensuing set that Metallica performed following the intro video was a wild success. According to the BBC, the Metallica experience was sensational.

You can watch the Metallica intro video — Glastallica — below:

And here is Metallica’s full Glastonbury performance: