This year sees Metallica turning 40 as a band, which will surprise some of our readers and will make others feel older than God. Now, in honor of this momentous occasion, the City of San Francisco has pulled a real Metalocalypse move by declaring yesterday, Thursday, December 16th, as ‘Metallica Day’ ahead of the band’s “citywide takeover” this weekend.
As reported by Blabbermouth, yesterday, San Francisco mayor London Breed proclaimed December 16th as ‘Metallica Day’ at a press event with drummer Lars Ulrich, bassist Robert Trujillo, and Another Planet Entertainment president Gregg Perloff.
“They’re part of the fabric of the community,” Breed said. “They have touched people’s lives for generations…When you talk about San Francisco, you talk about cable cars and then you talk about. And on behalf of the City and County of San Francisco, I want to officially declare today ‘Metallica Day’.”
“We have been so proud to shout from every rooftop all over the world, at every press conference, in every mic that’s been shoved in our faces for the better part of 40 years how much San Francisco gave us an identity and gave us, like I said, a sense of belonging,” said Ulrich. “And we fly the flag proud for San Francisco and the Bay Area all over the world on our t-shirts. But we are so proud of our connection to everything that San Francisco represents and to all the wonderful people, to, obviously, the great physical and geographical elements here and the history and the cable cars and the Giants and the Warriors and the list goes on.
“Those of you who know our story know that we’ve been fortunate enough to travel all over the world — we’ve played all seven continents — and there are many, many wonderful places on this planet where music, compared to when we started — Latin America, Southeast Asia, places that you wouldn’t expect 30, 40 years ago that you could bring rock and roll to — that have now also embraced us. But our hearts and our souls and our sense of belonging will always be San Francisco. And Metallica and San Francisco will always be two words which are synonymous with each other.”
Check out footage of the event below:
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Words by Chris Krovatin
