Metallica Played Its First Concert Exactly 40 Years Ago

The Radio City concert was held just months before METALLICA made its recording debut on the first “Metal Massacre” compilation (on which they were credited as METTALLICA) — and featured METALLICA‘s then-lineup of James Hetfield on vocals, Dave Mustaine on guitar, Ron McGovney on bass and Lars Ulrich on drums.

METALLICA‘s set included only two original tunes — “Hit The Lights” and “Jump In The Fire” — and was filled out by cover versions of SAVAGE‘s “Let It Loose”, BLITZKRIEG‘s “Blitzkrieg”, SWEET SAVAGE‘s “Killing Time” and four DIAMOND HEAD songs. At the time of the gig, Hetfield had not yet started playing rhythm guitar while singing, leaving Mustaine as the sole guitarist in the band.

The setlist was as follows:

01. Hit The Lights (Hetfield, Ulrich)
02. Blitzkrieg (BLITZKRIEG cover)
03. Helpless (DIAMOND HEAD cover)
04. Jump In The Fire (Hetfield, Ulrich, Mustaine)
05. Let It Loose (SAVAGE cover)
06. Sucking My Love (DIAMOND HEAD cover)
07. Am I Evil? (DIAMOND HEAD cover)
08. The Prince (DIAMOND HEAD cover)
09. Killing Time (SWEET SAVAGE cover)

Three years ago, Ulrich commemorated the 37th anniversary of the Radio City concert by noting on Instagram that METALLICA played “almost all NWOBHM covers” at the show, “most of which ended up being recorded later along the way and showing up on various ‘Garage’ releases.”

Hetfield spoke about METALLICA‘s first show during an interview with the U.K. magazine Kerrang! He said: “The first gig was at Radio City, and I was just singing. There were a lot of people there, maybe 200, because we had all my school friends and all Lars‘s and Ron‘s and Dave‘s buddies. I was really nervous and a little uncomfortable without a guitar, and then during the first song, Dave broke a string. It seemed to take him eternity to change it and I was standing there really embarrassed. We were really disappointed afterwards. But there were never as many people at the following shows as there were at that first one.”

This incarnation of the band recorded several demos, including the legendary “No Life ‘Til Leather” and “Power Metal” tapes. McGovney was replaced by Cliff Burton by the end of 1982, and Mustaine was dismissed in April 1983 before being replaced by EXODUS guitarist Kirk Hammett.

This past December, METALLICA played two 40th-anniversary concerts at Chase Center in San Francisco, California which featured different setlists. They were part of METALLICA‘s “San Francisco Takeover”, a four-day citywide celebration of the band’s 40th anniversary that also included a film festival, photo exhibit and curated lineup of smaller venue shows featuring other acts.