Metallica’s Grammys performance with Lady Gaga rocked everyone’s socks off on Sunday. Sadly, it could have been much better if it weren’t for the slight technical difficulties that plagued the first half of the set.
Gaga, however, pretty much picked up the slack as she sang her parts with abandon. Hetfield would later join Gaga at her mic, and the performance ran smoothly from that point forward.
There were reports claiming that a stagehand inadvertently unplugged Hetfield’s microphone just before the performance.
“There was a slight technical snafu, but that’s not really something you can do much about,” Ulrich said. “You just learn to live with that side of it. It happened to Adele last year; I guess this year it was our turn.”
Lady Gaga and Metallica powered through the set in spite of the “slight technical snafu.” While the performance wasn’t without its flaws, a big majority of viewers said on social media that they enjoyed it immensely.
Still, no one can blame James Hetfield for looking visibly angry as he knocked down his microphone stand and threw his guitar offstage after the performance.
Lars Ulrich revealed on The Late Late Show with James Corden how Hetfield became livid as the band left the stage, saying that he hasn’t seen him that angry in 20 years, as reported by Entertainment Tonight .
“I haven’t seen him like that in 20 years,” Ulrich said. “I mean he was livid. I mean, he’s aged really well and he’s a pretty chill guy, but the first five or 10 minutes in that dressing room was not a lot of fun.”
“He was livid. He’s a pretty chill guy, but the first 5 or 10 minutes in that dressing room was not a lot of fun.” https://t.co/31UaNTmCVD
— 102.1 The Edge (@the_edge) February 15, 2017
Technical difficulties notwithstanding, Metallica’s drummer Lars Ulrich thinks that their live collaboration with Lady Gaga was a success. In an interview with Rolling Stone , Ulrich commended Lady Gaga for her “effortless and organic” performance, even calling the singer the “quintessential perfect fifth member of the band.” To top it off, Ulrich hinted that Metallica may collaborate with Lady Gaga again sometime in the near future, as previously reported by Rolling Stone .
“Her voice, her attitude, her outlook on everything is so awesome,” Ulrich said. “[The performance] was so effortless and organic and she just has the spirit of hard rock and metal flowing through her veins. It comes really easy for her. There’s nothing contrived; she just has this super warm, easy energy.”
In a recent interview, Lady Gaga recounted to Apple Music how the collaboration with Metallica came about.
“I was at Bradley [Cooper’s] house with Lars and we were just hanging out. He’s amazing. I went to see them live. I saw them recently and we were watching the show; those guys play better than they’ve played in their whole lives,” she said.
If the next collaboration between Metallica and Lady Gaga ever comes to fruition, it surely won’t happen during the summer, as both acts will be busy with their recently announced tour dates by then. Metallica is priming for the North American leg of their WorldWired tour while Gaga is preparing for her Joanne world tour. But Ulrich is optimistic that it’s going to happen sometime in the future.
“We already started fast-forwarding to the next chapter when we can do more of this,” he said. “It’s not one of those ’20 lawyers, strategists and managers trying to force two people from two different worlds to figure out how to spend four minutes together on a national telecast.’ Of any of these undertakings, this is about as organic and authentic as there’s ever been one. We’re just getting started.”
. @Metallica ‘s Lars Ulrich Ready to Fast Forward to Next Chapter of Working With @ladygaga : https://t.co/0CXD6beSpf
— Loudwire (@Loudwire) February 14, 2017
Metallica’s band members are now in their 50s, but old age is not stopping them from delivering hard-hitting heavy metal music with their new album Hardwired… To Self Destruct , which sold over 100 million albums.
[Featured Image by Kevin Winter/Getty Images]