‘Crushing Metal': Watch Metallica Perform ‘Phantom Lord’ In Honor of the Zazulas
On the heels of releasing the full download of their recent old-school show in Florida, Metallica have started to unleash pro-shot videos of their performance, too, starting with the epic "Phantom Lord."
As he was introducing the classic Kill 'Em All track to the crowd, James Hetfield said, "The title of this song came from a band I was in before Metallica ... it was a pretend band. It was me and my buddy, you know how that goes." Hetfield's comment references the band he and Hugh Turner started prior to forming Leather Charm.
Fans can watch the full video of "Phantom Lord," live at Hard Rock Live in Hollywood, Fla., in the player below.
Watch Metallica Perform "Phantom Lord" Live in Florida
"Phantom Lord" isn't a song that Metallica play often. Though they debuted it on June 26, 1982, they've only performed it a total of 159 times over the last 40 years. With a few exceptions, it has basically sat on the shelf since they last played it at their 30th-anniversary shows in San Francisco in 2011.
Because of the song's rare presence on Metallica's setlists, there was some confusion as to how the song started (and ended). As Lars Ulrich counted things off, Hetfield started playing a bit early.
"It's an eight count," Hetfield told the audience with a grin. "We used to do it in four, so that's confusing."
In the background, Ulrich gave his bandmate some friendly guidance: "Seven plus one."
The realness of all of this only added to the intensity of the full performance, as you can no doubt see—and hear—in the video.
Metallica's concert at Hard Rock Live was a special tribute show in honor of Jon and Marsha Zazula, the two co-founders of Megaforce Records who also served as the band's first-ever managers. Along with "Phantom Lord," Metallica only performed songs from Kill 'Em All and Ride the Lightning; they also played the two covers on the B-side of their "Creeping Death" single: "Blitzkrieg" and "Am I Evil?". You can read our full recap here.