Metallica’s James Hetfield + Kirk Hammett Perform National Anthem at NBA Finals Game 5
Game 5 of the NBA Finals took place Sunday night (June 14), and Metallica’s James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett were on hand to perform the National Anthem before the Golden State Warriors hosted the Cleveland Cavaliers. Watch footage of their performance above to see Hetfield and Hammett rock out on their guitars in honor of America.
In a statement on their website before the performance titled "Go Warriors!," Metallica wrote that they were excited to support the Golden State team. "We're incredibly lucky to have another winning team here in the Bay Area as the Golden State Warriors took the NBA Western Conference title and are facing the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals." They continued. "By now we're guessing that you've noticed that we like to support our home sports teams, so to continue in that tradition James and Kirk will be on hand at Game 5 on Sunday, June 14th." The guys were also tweeting Sunday leading up to the gig, saying they were "gonna make it loud!"
As they mentioned above, Metallica have strong ties to the Bay Area and love to support the local sports teams. Last month, the San Francisco Giants baseball team held it’s third “Metallica Day,” where Hetfield and Hammett performed the National Anthem, Lars Ulrich threw out the first pitch and Robert Trujillo announced “Play Ball.” The MLB team even debuted black jerseys in honor of the group. Metallica was also in attendance earlier in the year when the San Jose Sharks hockey team had a "Metallica Night."
The Warriors ended up winning last night's game 104-91 and are leading the series three games to two. Metallica will be performing in Chicago's Grant Park as a part of this year's Lollapalooza on Aug. 1 before playing a string of shows in Europe and the U.K.
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