“METALLICA Day” is proclaimed in San Francisco during the band’s 40th anniversary
San Francisco Mayor London Breed proclaimed Thursday (December 16) as “Metallica Day” in the city, ahead of the band’s “inauguration” across the city this weekend for its 40th. anniversary.
Just today, METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich and bassist Robert Trujillo appeared with Breed and Another Planet Entertainment president Gregg Perloff at a press event where an official proclamation was made to commemorate the first 40 years of the legendary heavy metal band.
Mayor Breed praised the band for its importance to San Francisco and the Bay Area, calling the METALLICA members “extraordinary musicians and people.”
“They are part of the fabric of the community,” Breed said. “They have touched people’s lives for generations.”
“When you talk about San Francisco, you talk about cable cars and then you talk about METALLICA,” he said. “And on behalf of the city and county of San Francisco, I want to officially declare this day ‘Metallica Day.’
To commemorate its 40th anniversary, METALLICA has hosted a series of events throughout San Francisco, culminating in two previously announced concerts at the Chase Center. The celebration will feature performances by TAIPEI HOUSTON, which features Ulrich’s sons, and THE WEDDING BAND, a side project by Trujillo and METALLICA guitarist Kirk Hammett.
“Part of this experience and takeover of METALLICA includes supporting the small business and cleaning up the beach,” said Mayor Breed.
Ulrich and Trujillo spoke of the acceptance and feeling of home that San Francisco offered to METALLICA after the band first relocated to the Bay Area from Los Angeles in 1982.
“We didn’t start in San Francisco,” said Lars (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). “We started in Southern California. And we came to San Francisco, the first time, in 1982, in September, and we played at the Stone and later we played at the Old Waldorf a couple of times… And we had done six, nine months in Los Angeles, and we didn’t belong.
“The reason we all wanted to be in a band was to fit in something bigger than ourselves, and we didn’t fit in at all in Los Angeles, the Sunset Strip, Hollywood, nothing like that. We felt like complete intruders, “he explains. “When we got here in September 1982 and started playing, we gave four shows that fall – as I said, at the Stone, the Old Waldorf and the Mabuhay Gardens – and we were welcomed and felt very well received and much loved here. . There was a sense of musical community for people like us who felt like outsiders, who liked things that weren’t in the mainstream, and that has obviously been an important part of San Francisco history. So when we arrived here in 1982, on the shoulders of cultural history, the Beat poets and the hippie movement and music and Bill Graham and everything that San Francisco stood for, we were instantly welcomed. We felt so welcomed, so loved and finally felt that we belonged somewhere. And it’s been 39 years of feeling that sense of belonging, not just to a geographic place – San Francisco, the Bay Area, Northern California, whatever you want to call it – but also to a state of mind. You belong to what Saint Francis represents.
“We have been very proud to shout from all the rooftops of the world, in all the press conferences, in all the microphones that have been put in our faces for almost 40 years how much San Francisco gave us an identity and gave us, as I said, a sense of belonging, “he added. “And on our T-shirts we proudly wave the flag of San Francisco and the Bay Area around the world. But we’re so proud of our connection to all that San Francisco stands for and all the wonderful people, with obviously the great physical and geographic elements here and the history and the cable cars and the Giants and the Warriors and the list goes on.
«Those who know our history know that we have been fortunate to travel all over the world – we have played on all seven continents – and there are many, many wonderful places on this planet where music, compared to when we started – Latin America, the Southeast Asia, places that you would not expect 30, 40 years ago that you could take rock and roll – that have now also welcomed us. But our hearts and our souls and our sense of belonging will always be Saint Francis. And METALLICA and San Francisco will always be two words that are synonymous with each other. “
METALLICA’s massive 40th anniversary celebration will include two unique live shows with two different setlists on December 17th and 19th at the Chase Center. Tickets for these shows were made available only to registered members of the METALLICA Fifth Member fan club.
The 40th anniversary shows see METALLICA return to the Chase Center for the first time since the September 2019 “S & M²” concerts that also served as the venue’s grand opening.
Formed in 1981 by Ulrich and guitarist / vocalist James Hetfield, METALLICA has become one of the most influential and successful rock bands in history, having sold over 120 million albums worldwide and generating more than 2.5 billion. of streams as they play to millions of fans on literally seven continents. The band’s various multi-platinum albums include “Kill ‘Em All,” “Ride The Lightning,” “Master Of Puppets,” “… And Justice For All,” “Metallica” (commonly known as The Black Album), ” Load “,” Reload “,” St. Anger ”,“ Death Magnetic ”and“ Hardwired… To Self-Destruct ”, released in November 2016 and which reached number 1 in 32 countries.
METALLICA’s awards and accolades include nine Grammy Awards, two American Music Awards, multiple MTV Video Music Awards, and its 2009 induction into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. In June 2018, the band was awarded one of the most prestigious musical honors in the world: The Polar Music Prize from Sweden.
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Happy METALLICA Day! the band already has its official day – Rock and Blog