Metallica Release Special T-Shirt For Glastonbury
The controversy over Metallica's performance at the Glastonbury Festival will officially end when the final note of the concert fades out later tonight (June 28). However, those wishing to remember the six weeks of bickering between the band and its critics can purchase a special t-shirt made by the band to commemorate the concert.
NME's blog discovered that the merchandise stand at Glastonbury featured a (naturally) black t-shirt with negative quotes about the band emblazoned across it. This ranges from Alex Turner of the Arctic Monkeys, who said, "I’m not sure it adds up...could you have Metallica in the hippy nucleus?" to the Guardian's cry of "Whoopee-f---ing-doo." There's also, surprisingly, a quote from the Metal God himself, Rob Halford of Judas Priest, but upon further reading, he's merely upset that the organizers didn't choose a British act to be the first metal band to play Glastonbury.
When Metallica was first announced as the headliner in May, Lars Ulrich said, "Isn’t it wonderful, 33 years in, to be able to place yourself in situations where that’s even a distinct possibility that you actually have to go and, like you say, win people over...But obviously, playing to any people who may not be overly familiar with what you’re doing is always interesting.”
Even after weeks of debate, which also saw petitioners try to get them removed from the bill due to James Hetfield's involvement with a hunting documentary, Ulrich seemed to still be hanging on to that stance. “We basically have played every country in the world’s version of Glastonbury," he said. "And nobody bats an eye. It’s sort of what we do. Though obviously, having played Reading and Leeds many times, I understand and appreciate that Glastonbury is a different British institution. Not only did everybody survive when Jay-Z showed up a few years ago but they even enjoyed it. I see no reason why the same shouldn’t happen when Metallica takes the stage.”