Watch: METALLICA's KIRK HAMMETT Botches 'Nothing Else Matters' Intro At POWER TRIP Festival, Laughs It Off

October 9, 2023

METALLICA closed out Sunday night (October 8) at the Power Trip festival in Indio, California with a 16-song set that spanned the band's entire career.

METALLICA kicked off the show with "Whiplash" from the 1983 album "Kill 'Em All" and followed it up with two tracks from its sophomore album, "Ride The Lightning", "Creeping Death" and "For Whom The Bell Tolls".

Elsewhere, METALLICA surprisingly performed one of its biggest hits, "Enter Sandman", as the fourth song of the set, before launching into two tracks from the band's latest album, "72 Seasons", "Lux Æterna" and "Too Far Gone?" Other tracks aired included "Fuel" from 1997's "Reload" and "Orion" from the 1986 album "Master Of Puppets".

Guitarist Kirk Hammett flubbed the intro to "Nothing Else Matters", telling the audience, "Sorry, guys. I did it again. I screwed it up again. I'm gonna play it again for you." After taking a couple of steps back, he returned to the mic and told the crowd, "You know, it's really hot in this fucking desert," before adding a forced laugh. (Hammett previously botched the intro to "Nothing Else Matters" at METALLICA's sold-out show at New Jersey's MetLife Stadium in early August, and before that at the Boston Calling festival in May 2022.)Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo also performed a jam that Trujillo said the pair wrote specifically for Power Trip called "Funk In The Desert".

METALLICA's setlist was as follows:

01. Whiplash
02. Creeping Death
03. For Whom The Bell Tolls
04. Enter Sandman
05. Lux Æterna
06. Too Far Gone?
07. Fade To Black
08. Fuel
09. Orion
10. Nothing Else Matters
11. Sad But True
12. The Day That Never Comes
13. Hardwired
14. Seek & Destroy
15. One
16. Master Of Puppets

The inaugural three-day Power Trip rock and heavy metal event began Friday (October 6) with sets from IRON MAIDEN and GUNS N' ROSES. Next up over the weekend were JUDAS PRIEST and AC/DC on Saturday, October 7 and TOOL and METALLICA on October 8.

No single-day tickets were sold to the event, which drew tens of thousands of attendees. Three-day general admission was $599 and three-day reserved seats were $999-$3,250.

METALLICA previously performed at the Empire Polo Grounds in 2011 as part of the West Coast installment of the "Big Four" event, also featuring ANTHRAX, MEGADETH and SLAYER.

The similarly named Desert Trip festival was held in 2016 and featured performances by THE ROLLING STONES, Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, Neil Young, Roger Waters and THE WHO. That event was reportedly the single most lucrative music festival in American history, having grossed $160 million.

Nothing Else Matters

Posted by Neal Hynes on Monday, October 9, 2023

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