Rob Trujillo Reflects on Metallica’s 40th Anniversary Shows, Singles Out Most ‘Challenging’ Part

“We went up in the nosebleed seats and we watched all of the film content.”

Blabbermouth reports that during an appearance on Liquid Metal, Metallica bassist Rob Trujillo reflected on the band’s recent pair of 40th-anniversary concerts, held at San Francisco’s Chase Center on December 17 and December 19.

Asked what it was like to go on stage for the shows, Trujillo commented:

“Here’s something that’s very helpful, and a lot of people may not know this. But James [Hetfield] and I actually, before the show, a couple of hours before, we went up in the nosebleed seats and we watched all of the film content that was transitional into the songs for the evening.

“So we saw all the film content – it was like a half hour of content – and we were so excited by what we saw that when we got on the floor preceding the show, there was a certain feeling of confidence, I think, and a bit more of the right kind of relaxation.

“And what I usually do is all the fans that are kind of behind me in my area, I [give them] fistbumps and all that kind of stuff, so I’m getting their energy already and we’re already communicating with the crowd in that way.

“It’s kind of like an athletic event – you’re getting ready to take the pitch, getting ready to take the field – so you get that nervousness, but it’s a good nervousness.

“And fueled with the idea that we had seen the transitions on film and we knew what we were gonna celebrate was really, really cool, and that helped James and I immensely. We talked about it a little bit. We were kind of like, ‘Oh, this is cool.’

“‘Cause you see how it was put together and how well the edits are and the flow and the celebratory aspect of it was really, really cool.

“Now you’re excited, now you’re, like, ‘Yeah! Let’s do this.’ I think that helped us a lot. And then once we got up there, we were pretty confident in at least having a great time.”

Saying that the most “challenging” part of the event was “the sound,” Rob added:

“At least from where we are on stage, you get to certain pockets, like on the outer edges of the stage, some of those mics in the corner, the sound is bouncing around, so if you’re going to sing a backup part, you don’t hear your voice very well.

“So that was a little weird. There’s not time to find the sweet spots, so you’ve gotta kind of roll with it and just do the best you can and try and have a great time. And we did.”