Metallica at Glastonbury: a triumph for metal or just desperate times?

It was recently announced that metal-giants Metallica would be one of the headliners at Glastonbury Festival. This surprising announcement has left both metal fans and Glastonbury-regulars stunned, but will this be a pinnacle moment in Metallica’s career or a festival washout?

Metallica are a heavy metal band from Los Angeles, California. Since forming in 1981, they have made a huge impact on the metal music scene, with ‘Master Of Puppets’ being regarded as one of the most important albums of the genre. They are part of ‘The Big Four’, which is a collective term for the four bands who are seen as the most inspirational and popular thrash metal giants of the eighties, alongside Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax. The lyrical content of their songs include war, death and religion. Metallica are renowned for their impressive live shows, but will they be able to impress both critics and festival-goers?

The 175,000 capacity festival has previously hosted bands such as Coldplay, REM and The Killers, which usually caters to the pop/indie needs of the crowd. The most obscure headliners previous to Metallica are probably The Cure and The Rolling Stones, who aren’t exactly heavy metal bands. This will be the first time that a metal band has headlined, let alone played, at the Somerset-based festival. However, in 2008 the media caused a riot over the announcement of Jay-Z at Glastonbury, yet when it came to the actual performance he blew everyone away. This goes to show that people shouldn’t be so judgemental when it comes to genre or style.

Only time will tell whether Metallica impress the crowd at Glastonbury, but it’s safe to say that the festival organisers are definitely trying to keep the line-ups both fresh and unique. Maybe there will be thousands more Metallica fans after Saturday 28^th of June? Who knows?