The first time Metallica faced a crowd in the Twin Cities was in a room about 1/1,000th the size of the one where the band will perform Saturday: Northern Lights record store in east St. Paul's Hillcrest Shopping Center, between the old Best Steak House and the salon where my grandmother gets her hair done to this day.
"There were all four members behind the counter and a bunch of metal kids there to see them," recounted Bill Lindsey, frontman of St. Paul's own institutional metal band, Impaler. Lindsey especially recalls his exchange with bassist Cliff Burton at the autograph session on Feb. 6, 1985, a few hours before Metallica's First Avenue concert.
"I remember he looked at the picture I had and said, 'I hate this picture of me. Why would they make this a promo?!' And then he signed right across his face."
Except for Burton — who died in a bus accident the following year — the rest of Metallica would continue to face their Twin Cities fans every year or two after that. They were as reliable as mosquitoes and summer road detours in Minnesota, it seemed, always making it to town on their U.S. tours.
They hit the Orpheum Theatre a year later, the Metrodome the year after that on the Monsters of Rock Tour with Van Hagar, then the Met Center for their first arena headlining show in 1989. And so on.
Even up through the 2000s — after their heavy inner-band baggage was unpacked in the documentary "Some Kind of Monster" — they kept coming back. They delivered everything from the final Dome concert (2003) to another autograph session back at First Avenue's 7th Street Entry (2004) to some of the highest-attended events ever at both Xcel Energy Center and Target Center (2004 and 2009, each with in-the-round stages).
Then came the 2010s, and … nothing.
Metallica has a knack for stop-on-the-dime moments in its songs to contrast all the thundering roar — or bludgeoning snore in the case of a few recent albums (2008's "Death Magnetic" was semi-redemptive). But rarely has it come to a halt in its career the way it has this decade, going eight years and counting between albums and seven years between local concert dates.
At least fans here know they're not alone. Last year, the Rock and Roll Hall of Famers only played 15 shows. This year, they've only done one, a VIP pre-party for the Super Bowl in their native San Francisco. And there's only one more on the books after Saturday's sold-out U.S. Bank Stadium concert, an appearance next month at the Global Citizen Festival in New York's Central Park.
The scarcity of Metallica gigs is one reason Saturday's concert at the new Vikings stadium sold out in 10 minutes. Metallicats from all over are coming to town for this one. StubHub representatives even told the Star Tribune it's the biggest-selling concert of the summer nationwide, in terms of the number of tickets being sold (or, more specifically, resold) on their site.
So why the long wait, when there's clearly still plenty of demand? Even the most die-hard Metallica fans have been a bit perplexed over the extended lull in the action.
Here's a look at what the band has been up to in the long interim.
*Working on an album. The group that wham-bammed us with three of the greatest metal albums of all time over a four-year span (1983-86) has been at work for at least three years on what will be its 10th studio record. Sessions reportedly continued up until this month, and a release date and title were finally announced Thursday: The double-LP "Hardwired ... To Self-Destruct" is due Nov. 18.
Among the reasons reported for the delay: Guitarist Kirk Hammett lost a phone that purportedly contained about 250 musical parts; "Death Magnetic" producer Rick Rubin was initially involved but left it up to his engineer Greg Fidelman to serve as producer; and there was simply a lot of songs to nail down (hence the double-LP). But mostly it's been chalked up to perfectionism.
Describing the recording sessions to the Metallica fan magazine So What!, bassist Rob Trujillo said, "The thing about Metallica is everything is top-notch. There's always gonna be a focus on detail, whether it's stage production or preparing a song. I think that quality separates Metallica from a lot of other bands."
*Spending time with family. All four band members have school-age children at home these days. In a recent interview with Citizens of Humanity magazine, drummer Lars Ulrich said, "I think what's happened is our families and our domestic responsibilities are so important to us now, so we just have a new model. We're sort of constantly doing something, but never to the point of the needle going in the red."
*Focusing on outside projects. You haven't forgotten "Lulu" already, have you? The band collaborated with Lou Reed on the 2011 concept album of that name, which became Reed's final studio effort and wasn't well-liked by most of his or Metallica's fans. A few select musicÂheads swear by it, though.
More recently, Trujillo produced a well-received music documentary, "Jaco," about the late jazz bassist Jaco Pastorius. He also reunited with the all-star band Infectious Grooves for some dates in 2013. Always a film buff, Ulrich acted opposite Nicole Kidman and Clive Owen in the HBO biopic "Hemingway & Gellhorn" and made a cameo in the Jonah Hill comedy "Get Him to the Greek." Hammett published a book of his horror-movie memorabilia in 2012, titled "Too Much Horror Business," and he launched the Fear FestEvil for collectors in 2014.
*Being more selective about performances. Many of Metallica's live sets this decade have been at the biggest of the big festivals worldwide, including Rock in Rio in Brazil, Lollapalooza in Chicago, and the Leeds and Reading fests in England, with sporadic other appearances around those dates but no conventional touring. Since there's no such festival in our vicinity, the chance to open a new NFL stadium in Minneapolis was deemed a big enough deal by the band to warrant a return.
"Obviously, Metallica is very proud to be a part of that opening experience," Ulrich said in an interview with Pandora to promote the live stream of Saturday's concert. "Minneapolis, Minn., is home to many great Metallica experiences going all the way back to 1985 when we played on the 'Ride the Lightning Tour' at First Avenue. It's long overdue. [There's] a lot of Metallica love in that part of the country."
The band probably won't be able to sign autographs for everyone this time, however.
Chris Riemenschneider • 612-673-4658
@ChrisRstrib
