The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame threw a 25th anniversary party for itself at NYC’s Madison Square Garden this fall, complete with performances by a slew of their famous friends/inductees (Bruce Springsteen, Eric Clapton, Stevie Wonder, et al.). Sounds like a good idea to me. A bad idea: Hey, let’s have Metallica perform with various guest singers, like Ozzy Osbourne, the Kinks’ Ray Davies, and Lou Reed.
A few shaky vids of balcony seat footage aside, I was blissfully unaware of what truly went down between Hetfield, Ulrich, Hammett, Trujillo, and their new legendary frontmen until the concert aired on television the other night. It’s now on the series of YouTubes, and I was just too curious to look away.
So we’re not really suggesting you watch James Hetfield holler “sweet Jaaaaneeyeah!” but feel free to rubberneck here or below if you’re curious and/or a masochist. Meanwhile, Elvis Costello and the Beastie Boysmake for a better 25th anniversary mashup, if you ask me.