Since the Black Album days, Metallica concerts have featured a “snake pit” section — a limited capacity, enclosed area right near the stage reserved for the luckiest of fans. As drummer Lars Ulrich tells Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, Metallica wanted the “snake pit” to feel like an exclusive experience at a great restaurant.
“One of our managers back in New York in the late ’80s/early ’90s [had] the idea that when you would go to a restaurant, that the best seat in the restaurant was actually not in the house, but the best seat was in the kitchen,” Ulrich explains in a clip posted by RollingStone.com. “So in crazy, cool restaurants, if you could somehow get into the kitchen and eat in the kitchen, you were in there where all the action was.”
The interview took place as Ulrich walked Lowe through the empty stadium in Amsterdam where Metallica kicked off their M72 world tour in April.
“This is the most pristine large-scale concert production I’ve ever seen,” Lowe remarks. “This makes U2 look sloppy.”
The M72 tour, which supports Metallica’s new 72 Seasons album, comes to the U.S. in August.
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