The first of Metallica’s four 30th anniversary concerts took place last night at their hometown San Francisco’s Fillmore, and on top of a 20-song set that spanned the heavy metal gods’ entire catalog — except, thankfully, Lulu — the biggest surprise of the evening came when the band welcomed former bassist Jason Newsted onstage. Newsted, who abruptly left Metallica in 2001 to pursue other musical projects, previously rejoined his former bandmates when they were all inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2009, but last night was the first time in a decade that the bassist performed with the group at an actual Metallica gig.
According to Rolling Stone, James Hetfield told the packed crowd that they about to be joined by “someone who lived with us, and toured with us, and did stuff with us for 14 years.” Then Newsted emerged to perform …And Justice for All‘s “Harvester of Sorrow” alongside the band and current bassist Robert Trujillo. Hetfield coaxed Newsted to stay on for one more song — Master of Puppets‘ “Damage, Inc.” — before Metallica invited Saxon’s Bif Byford and Diamond Head’s Sean Harris and Brian Tatler up for a five-song medley of those influential metal band’s songs. Newsted did make one more appearance though, during the concert’s encore of “Seek & Destroy.”
Metallica have three more 30th anniversary fan club-only shows scheduled at the Fillmore, and then they’ll take a break before a series of European festival performance next May and June. Check out “Hate Train,” an unreleased track from the Death Magnetic sessions that Metallica performed live for the first time last night:
