METALLICA Says Goodbye To Longtime Crew Member In Detroit

According to The Pulse of Radio, METALLICA said goodbye to one of its longtime crew members in Detroit last night (Tuesday, January 13). Before closing the concert with "Seek & Destroy", frontman James Hetfield told the nearly 21,000 fans at Joe Louis Arena it was the final show for monitor engineer Paul Owen, a 22-year METALLICA crew veteran who Hetfield estimated had worked on about 1,300 shows for the band. The group brought Owen on stage for a round of hugs and kisses, and Hetfield told him that "we will miss you so, so much." Owen, who's leaving the road to "get introduced to his family," declined an invitation to say a few words.

In a 2003 interview with Mix magazine, Paul Owen talked about how METALLICA's sound has evolved during the time he has worked with the band. "We've become older and wiser over the years," he said. "METALLICA is a really different entity than any other bands. When they do tour, they probably tour in a harder fashion than anybody else does. I mean, within any given week, you could be doing a stadium, a club date, a TV show and back into a stadium, and you have to be prepared to change with all of those different aspects of live venues.

"METALLICA is pretty unique in the point that instead of just your average format of a four-piece band — drums, guitars and a bass — they actually push the envelope quite a bit in what can be done with a band, with regards to configuration of where they play. They've probably done the most unique stage sets — arenas in the round — and even just playing with an orchestera. Just stepping up and giving you those challenges straightaway.

"The orchestra was an idea in the making for a long time. It was an interesting project to be involved with: from the recording to the two live shows we did in Madison Square Gardens and Berlin. That was the first time that Thunder Audio got involved — the first time I supplied a system — and now I've been involved all the way through."

METALLICA next performs Thursday (January 15) in Washington, D.C.