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The biggest Bay Area concert event of 2019 was arguably Metallica and the San Francisco Symphony’s reunion show, which opened the Golden State Warriors’ sparkling new Chase Center.
Those sold-out “S&M2” shows — an encore to the two beloved Bay Area institutions’ initial “S&M” collaboration in 1999 — took place on Sept. 6 and 8, weeks before Steph Curry and his fellow Warriors would even play a game inside the building.
Fast forward nearly a year and the best-selling Bay Area band of all time still has yet to play another live show. Of course, it wasn’t supposed to be that way. The band had gigs on the itinerary for 2020. But when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the concert business came to an unprecedented standstill.
Metallica, however, has kept busy while regular live shows are on indefinite hiatus. The band is set to release the “S&M2” live album and concert film, which document those Chase shows with the symphony. The package will be available in various formats, ranging in price from $17 to $300, on Aug. 28 at metallica.com.
The next day — Aug. 29 — a special Metallica concert will screen at drive-in theaters across the U.S. and Canada, including San Jose’s Capitol Drive-In, Concord’s Solano Drive-In and Pleasanton’s Alameda County Fairgrounds. Tickets are $115 per vehicle (with up to six people permitted per vehicle); available at www.ticketmaster.com/encore-metallica.
I caught up recently with Kirk Hammett, the band’s mighty lead guitarist, to talk all things Metallica.
Q. How did the original collaboration with the San Francisco Symphony come about?
A. It was an idea from Michael Kamen, who added a string arrangement to “Nothing Else Matters” back in 1990, when we were recording it. Then about 1995-1996, he came to us with this concept about doing something with an orchestra and the band. And we said, “Yeah, sure.” But it actually took a couple of years for Michael to get the wheels turning. Orchestra schedules are done like two, three years in advance.
We were able to get all of our ducks in a row, so to speak, and pull off that first show. That’s how it all started.
Q. Was the prospect of collaborating with a symphony intimidating? I mean, it was a pretty novel idea at the time — especially for a hard rock/metal band. Maybe a brief moment where you thought: “Hey, this might go terribly wrong.”
A. Well, I have to say, going into it the first time around, we were all pretty nervous. (Laughs) There was no real precedent. I mean, there was the Deep Purple album with the orchestra, but that was with music written for an orchestra. It was a lot different than what we were doing, which was bringing two entities together and kind of merging them. We went forward with an open mind, ready for any situation.
Q. How important is it for the band to take chances and try different things?
A. We’re pretty restless musically. We’re pretty restless creatively. And as individuals, I think we get bored easily. I know that I am creatively hungry. I know that I share that with my own band members. If (something) sounds interesting to us, we’ll say yes.
We’ve said yes and then dealt with the outcome later. Usually, the outcome is our fans asking, “What the (expletive) are you guys doing?” And we’ll say, “We don’t know, but we like what we’re doing and we’re going in this direction because it’s somewhere we’ve never been before.”
At the end of the day, we want Metallica to be something that is not monochromatic. We don’t want it to be just black and white. We want a lot of colors in it.
Q. Not all of those creative expressions have been met with widespread approval. One that stands out is 2011’s “Lulu,” Metallica’s underrated collaboration with the great Lou Reed.
A. I have always been a big supporter of that album, even when all my friends are shaking their heads and looking at me going, “Bro, what were you thinking?”
It was a real accomplishment as far I was concerned. We were there to help Lou Reed fulfill his vision and I think we did that 100 percent. This was not a Metallica album and it was not a Lou Reed album. It was Lou Reed and Metallica together, doing something completely different.
It’s not for everyone. But “Junior Dad,” I think, is one of the best things we’ve ever been associated with, in terms of real art and literature and music coming together. That, to me, is a real accomplishment, just as much as “Ride the Lightning” is.
Q. Lou is one of my all-time favorite artists, so I just have to ask: What it was like playing guitar with him?
A. He’s a really, really good rhythm guitar player. He had a good, solid rhythm pulse to his playing. He was really not into lead guitar playing, and he was really, really not into wah-wah. In fact, one time during a rehearsal, I set the wah pedal and he just walked up to the microphone and said, “Noooooo. No guitar solos. No wah-wah.” And I was blown away. (Laughs)
He had his musical preferences. He had his musical boundaries. And he was not shy in letting us know what those preferences and boundaries were.
Q. Moving on to another collaborator, you certainly had the right partner in Michael Kamen on that first “S&M.” His orchestral compositions and arrangements just sound so groundbreaking.
A. He truly was the rock ‘n’ roll composer. He put strings on so many bands’ songs in the ‘80s and ‘90s. He was just everywhere at one point.
He was a bit of a rebel, coming over to the rock world and bringing all these very traditional, classical string arrangements and compositions — and he did it much to the chagrin of a lot of peers. But he was lauded by people on the other side: rock people. He was an innovator and a pioneer, for sure.
Q. Were you surprised at how this collaboration caught on? Within a few years of “S&M,” so many acts — from KISS and Yes to Rod Stewart and Meat Loaf — were releasing symphonic albums.
A. I was pleasantly surprised. It’s another dimension that can be added to bands with really, really great results. I love the fact that people started doing it. It’s a cool thing. The more, the merrier, for sure.
Q. What did you think when you first heard about collaborating with the symphony again for the opening of the Chase Center?
A. As a musician, I got excited. For a guy like me to walk onstage and hit a power chord, and then hear 70-plus instruments fall right into place and support that power chord and make that power chord that much bigger and heavier — who would not want that? That feeling alone is worth it. And to be able to play material like that over the course of a couple of hours? It’s like going to an amusement park. (Laughs)
It’s so much fun. I can feel the power. I can feel the glory.
Q. Take me back to those opening moments, as the band walks onto the arena floor to the regular entrance music of Ennio Morricone’s “The Ecstasy of Gold,” and 16,000 fans are screaming for the first time inside Chase Center. Did you feel like a heavyweight fighter walking into a championship bout?
A. It felt more like coming home. And the welcoming party was the symphony and the people who we played those shows for 20 years ago – and all their extended family. It just felt like we were coming home to something glorious – to relive it all together. That’s what it felt like.
Q. Those shows were Metallica’s last public performances before the pandemic brought the touring industry to a halt. Do those Chase shows feel like a lifetime ago?
A. They do. (But) last week, we filmed a special drive-in show that is going to be played Aug. 29 at drive-ins across the United States and Canada. It was the first time we played since those September shows and it felt so amazingly great and therapeutic. It felt just good to connect with the other guys — musically, physically, emotionally — in all the ways that we have been connecting over the years.
To be able to experience that again felt like we were maintaining some source of familiarity amidst all this unfamiliarity.
We are going to try to make sure to use the rest of the year in a constructive way, even though we can’t really tour and it’s difficult for us to get together with our crew.
