James Hetfield takes a swipe at “entertainers” with agendas at Metallica’s Sphere residency

Metallica frontman James Hetfield told the crowd at Saturday's show at the Sphere in Las Vegas that the band was not there to influence the audience, according to Stereogum and Consequence. The show is part of the “Life Burns Faster” residency.

After thanking fans for the travel, money and time they put in, Hetfield said Metallica was not there, “like some other entertainers”, to influence people with “bullshit”. He said the band wanted the audience to forget the outside world, and that Metallica's agenda is love, energy and heavy music.

Hetfield named no one. Stereogum ties the remark to the Macklemore and Ed Sheeran dispute: Macklemore reportedly spoke about a free Palestine during his opening sets at Sheeran's New Jersey shows and was then removed from the tour. Consequence adds that a week earlier Tom Morello staged the Power to the People festival. In 2017, asked by the Chilean paper La Tercera about Donald Trump, Hetfield said he would keep his opinion to himself.

According to Consequence, the residency runs to 24 dates, on Thursdays and Saturdays in select weeks through March 2027, and four have been played. In October mbuzz reported, citing Loudwire, that the second show had a set entirely different from the opener.

Metallica formed in Los Angeles in 1981 and play thrash and heavy metal. Their newest studio album, according to MusicBrainz, is “72 Seasons” (April 14, 2023).