When the mosh pit is replaced by couches, you know you’re in for a different kind of Metallica concert.
But the big donors’ comfy seats are only one detail that made the band’s semi-annual benefit concert, Helping Hands, so unique when it returned to Los Angeles at the YouTube Theater on Friday, December 13. This show was also an opportunity for Metallica and their fans to give back, as 100% of the money raised will go to the band’s charity, All Within My Hands. Across its seven years, their non-profit has raised over $10 million to help with workforce education, food insecurity, and disaster relief. As vocalist James Hetfield framed it: “Tonight, we are not celebrities. We are just dudes up here doing the right thing.”
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It was also a rare chance to see these stadium titans in a more intimate (for them) 6,000-cap theater, and to enjoy a softer (for them) acoustic performance. “The acoustic set is a different mindset altogether,” shared guitarist Kirk Hammett beforehand on the event’s black—not red—carpet. Adding, “We’re like cavemen out on stage, so having to go from caveman mode to delicate mode, that’s challenging for us. But it’s a beautiful thing, too. It’s good for us.”
And good for the fans, including the event’s returning host Jimmy Kimmel, in an appropriately metal black Santa hat. Metallica’s acoustic set saw them joined by Bay Area musicians Avi Vinocur and Henry Salvia to play rarities (“Low Man’s Lyric,” making its first live appearance since 1998), covers (from Diamond Head and, yes, Bachman Turner Overdrive), and signature songs like “Nothing Else Matters.” However, even those were re-imagined as the band was joined by SistaStrings, a cello and violin duo who blend classical music with R&B. The cumulative effect was haunting, as the strings and Hetfield’s stripped-down guitar brought out a raw, cathartic pain, transforming songs we all know into something fresh.
Hetfield ended that set with, “We shall return with louder guitars.” After a brief intermission—where Kimmel and special guests RZA, Billie Eilish, and Finneas highlighted the charitable work of Homeboy Industries and Support And Feed—Metallica superfan Jason Momoa brought the band back out with a heartfelt, personal introduction. If the first set highlighted how emotional Metallica’s music can be, this second reminded fans that they are still mighty rock gods not to be fucked with. Even up in the 300-level seats, you could feel every kick of Lars Ulrich’s drums. This setlist also contained surprises, from opening with fan-favorites “Orion” and “The Shortest Straw” to dusting off “The Unforgiven II,” which Hetfield quipped they hadn’t played “in 134 years” (or, more accurately, since 2015). Reload’s furious rocker “Fuel” was given new life via a dirty, blues arrangement, while Pearl Jam bassist and fellow activist Jeff Ament joined the band for an intense take on Kill ’Em All’s iconic opening track, “Hit the Lights.”
Earlier in the night, opener SistaStrings played an invigorating instrumental set, followed by the supergroup that could be called Chickenfoot 2.0: Sammy Hagar, Van Halen’s Michael Anthony, guitar god Joe Satriani, and drumming virtuoso Kenny Aronoff. They played a raucous collection of numbers from across Hagar’s career. The veteran frontman also shared hilarious anecdotes from his long friendship with Metallica, going back to the 1988 Monsters of Rock tour where, “I bet them a hundred bucks each that their next album would go platinum. I won, but only Kirk Hammet ever paid up.”
Ultimately, Helping Hands demonstrated how the heavy metal legends are using their still-formidable musical powers to make their fans take action. Need proof? By the time Metallica closed out the night with a thunderous “Master of Puppets,” what about all of those couches in the pit? Empty, as every donor was on their feet, up at the stage, fists pumping.
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