In 2003, Metallica went through a tumultuous time. Frontman James Hetfield left the group to attend rehab for substance abuse issues. During the same year, the band was on tour in Europe, playing shows and headlining a variety of festivals across the continent.
At one gig in the UK, drummer Lars Ulrich was a no-show, leaving the band in a difficult position. Do they cancel the gig or get someone to fill in?
Metallica to Headline Download Festival
On June 6, 2004, Metallica was set to headline the Download Festival, which was the UK’s biggest metal musical festival.
The band had previously played Lisbon, Portugal and they were on their way to the UK when MTV News reported that the band’s drummer, Lars Ulrich was feeling under the weather. They wouldn’t disclose the cause or the symptoms he was experiencing at the time.
Lars Ulrich Takes Detour to Germany to Receive Medical Attention
Ulrich took a detour to Germany to receive medical attention while his bandmates headed to their gig in the UK. This wasn’t the first time Metallica dealt with illnesses or injuries that jeopardized their live shows.
In 2000, frontman James Hetfield suffered a slipped disc and 8 years prior to that, Hetfield suffered serious burns to his arms during the group’s co-headlining tour with Guns N’ Roses. John Marshall of Metal Church played rhythm guitar for a handful of gigs while Hetfield was limited to vocal duties.
The Download Festival organizer Andy Copping recalled Metallica’s infamous gig in 2004, writing on Instagram, “Download 2004, the year where there was a no-show from Metallica’s Lars Ulrich. I remember receiving a call telling me to go backstage where I was given the news. There was two choices: a) Do Metallica cancel? or b) Do Metallica convince other drummers on site to fill in? I suggested they cancel because I couldn’t see option b) happening, particularly as quite a few drummers that were asked, said ‘no’.”
Metallica weren’t going to let their fans down. To salvage the show, the band spent hours rehearsing with several drummers from bands who were opening that night for them, including Slayer and Slipknot. Even Lars’ own drum tech helped fill in for the night.
Slipknot’s Joey Jordison Saves the Performance
The idea was that different drummers would help Metallica make it through their live show. The band arrived an hour late to the gig and frontman James Hetfield informed the crowd of what had happened.
Slayer’s drummer, Dave Lombardo ended up performing “Battery” and “The Four Horsemen”. Slipknot’s Joey Jordison wore his slipknot mask during Metallica’s entire performance and played 8 of the 11 songs that were part of the set list that night, including “Creeping Death”, “Seek and Destroy”, and “For Whom the Bell Tolls”. Lars Ulrich’s drum tech Fleming Larsen sat in with the band to perform “Fade to Black”.
Jordison was hailed as the hero of the day. Lucky for him, he had spent time playing in a Metallica cover band prior to joining Slipknot.
“They would have probably kept him up there all night if they could have.” – Corey Taylor
Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor reflected back on the performance, telling Knotfest.com‘s Ryan J. Downey, “We were back there watching it. It was so surreal to watch Joey playing with Metallica because we all grew up listening to them and Joey was shitting bricks…
He had his mask on, but every time he’d come back, he would pull his mask off, he would be, like, ‘How am I doing? How am I doing?’ I’m, like, ‘You’re f–ing killing it.’ Me, Paul Gray, Clown – we were all standing there cheering him on. And they ended up throwing a lot of different songs at him that they hadn’t rehearsed. They threw all the Misfits shit at him, and he f–ing knew it. They would have probably kept him up there all night if they could have. He played the majority of the set.”
“It was one of the best experiences of my life.” – Joey Jordinson
Following the performance, Jordison issued a statement to the press stating, “It was an honor last night to play for a band I’ve looked up to for so long. Before this, I could not imagine getting into the seat of one of my heroes. It was one of the best experiences of my life.”
“They took some blood tests, and everything was normal physically — it was just everything caught up with me mentally.” – Lars Ulrich
Lars revealed a year after the gig to Metal Hammer what exactly happened, “We’d had a heavy touring schedule in Japan, Europe, America and Australia. In the midst of all that there were things that had come unraveled in my personal life – my family and my marriage and stuff.
I’d had a lot of late nights and early mornings. So I woke up in Copenhagen on the Sunday morning, had brunch with 14 in-laws and cousins, then I got on the plane. It was pretty scary to be in a little metal tube at 41,000 feet. I’ve never had anxiety attacks or any kind of stress attacks ever.
So we landed in Hamburg and went to the hospital. They took some blood tests, and everything was normal physically — it was just everything caught up with me mentally. It was the first-ever Metallica gig I’d ever missed.
You wanna try laying in a hospital in Germany while Dave Lombardo — the greatest drummer on the planet — is playing with your band? That’s not easy. Joey Jordison, too. I have a bit of an odd relationship with it — I still haven’t looked at the press or the pictures.”
“I got really, really sick with a horrible disease called transverse myelitis.” – Joey Jordison
Jordison left Slipknot in 2013 due to health issues, but he revealed in 2016, at the Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards that he was actually fired from the band. It was a bitter split that left Jordison fuming. “I got really, really sick with a horrible disease called transverse myelitis, I lost my legs. I couldn’t play anymore. It was a form of MS, which I couldn’t wish on my worst enemy. I got myself back up, and I got myself in the gym and I got myself back in therapy, to beat this.”
Jordison claimed that his bandmates mistook his health issues for substance abuse and he was unfairly fired from the band. Sadly, in July 2021, Jordison passed away in his sleep at the age of 46.
Following Jordison’s death, tributes poured in including Metallica frontman James Hetfield who posted a photo of the drummer performing with the band at the Download Festival in 2004 with a caption that read, “RIP Brother”.
Like this story? Check out Sublime: Bradley Nowell’s Tragic Death
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