Metallica Show Off Performance of 'Wherever I May Roam'

"Wherever I May Roam" was released as the fourth official single from Metallica's "Black Album." The single hit the streets on Oct. 19, 1992—over a year after the release of the "Black Album"—and it featured a live performance of "Fade to Black" as the B-Side. Though it's not one of Metallica's highest-charting songs, it did crack Billboard's Hot 100 and peaked at No. 82 in the United States.

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Since the band debuted it onstage on Oct. 12, 1991, at the Day on the Green festival in Oakland, Calif., Metallica have performed it live more than 800 times, including a few times this summer on their European trek. To celebrate the song's lasting impact on both the band and fans, Metallica have released it as their latest live video; check out their performance of "Wherever I May Roam" live at Download Germany on June 24 in the player below.

Watch Metallica Perform "Wherever I May Roam" Live in Germany

In 2021's deluxe box set of the "Black Album," there are some historic demos of "Wherever I May Roam," including a couple of tracks from the band's "Writing in Progress" tapes. Featured amongst those tracks is a demo that was recorded on Aug. 13, 1990, in Lars Ulrich's basement. About the demo, the band says:

One of our earliest demos, this track is distinguished by the fact that we all knew the song had to be called "Wherever I May Roam" 'cause those were the only lyrics James [Hetfield] had worked out! This is a typical example of how we work, with James only coming up with the vocal melodies and the rest of us having to continuously suffer through hearing about something or somebody named Wa-na-na...Once again, the only two Metallicas present were James and Lars...which means it's James playing the guitar 'solo.'

Metallica's final show in Europe is tonight (July 8) at NOS Alive in Lisbon, Portugal. Check out the official show poster, designed by Phillip Janta, below.

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Some of Our Favorite Live Photos of Lars Ulrich

As iconic as James Hetfield is, as much of a shredder as Kirk Hammett is and as crazy as Robert Trujillo is onstage, there might be no member more associated with Metallica than Lars Ulrich.

Afterall, he's the reason the band even exists. He's a major part of the songwriting process. He's the voice that stood up for Metallica and musicians across the globe in the wake of Napster.

After hours and hours of rifling through photos of Ulrich, we whittled this list down to just a few of our favorite live shots from the last 20 years. Of course, there's no way to encapsulate Ulrich in a mere photograph, but as you will no doubt be able to tell, you can get pretty close.