Won’t be getting any political rants at a Metallica concert.
There are plenty of artists who are more than willing to use their concerts to make their political views known at concerts these days.
Most recently the conversation has centered around Macklemore, who was kicked out of his spot opening for Ed Sheeran on his Loop Tour after comments he made on Palestine during a show at MetLife Stadium. During the show, the “Thrift Shop” rapper said that being able to voice his opinion on the conflict between Israel and Palestine was part of the reason he even agreed to do the tour in the first place:
“A big part of the reason why I wanted to do this tour in the first place is so I could stand up in stadiums like this and say two words that are very near and dear to my heart: ‘Free Palestine.’
I said, ‘Free Palestine!’ I want those words to be loud and clear so that people all the way in Gaza to the occupied West Bank know that we have not forgotten about them.”
And after he was kicked off the tour thanks to complaints from New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, Zach Bryan then took the stage during his two night run at Gillette Stadium wearing a “Free Palestine” shirt:
But Macklemore and Zach Bryan are far from the only artists who use the stage for political rants. From Bruce Springsteen and Hayley Williams to country artists like Jason Aldean and Kacey Musgraves, there are plenty of concerts that are anything but a “politics free zone.”
Metallica, though, wants to keep their concerts about the entertainment.
The legendary heavy metal band is currently in the middle of a 24-night Life Burns Faster residency at the Las Vegas Sphere (which looks incredible, from what I’ve seen). And during a recent show, frontman James Hetfield took some time to assure the crowd that they wouldn’t be getting any political rants from him during the show:
“Unless you live in Vegas, you’ve come a long way to spend some time with Metallica. We’re grateful for that. Your travels, the money you spend, the time it took, thanks for coming to celebrate with us.
And I just gotta say, Metallica is not here, like some other ‘entertainers,’ to influence you with their bulls–t. We are here to forget about all the outside sh-t. Metallica’s agenda is love, energy and heavy music, baby.”
@ronfutrell #Metallica at #Sphere #LasVegas #Vegas #JamesHetfield Oct 10, 2026
Hetfield has long stayed out of politics, and as far back as 2007 refused to give his opinion when asked about climate change:
“Politics drive me crazy, and I don’t like talking politics. Politics get in the way of things. They get in the way of getting things done, and getting our music across is what we wanna do – we don’t wanna cloud it with Democrat, Republican, whatever.”
Of course artists are free to spend time during their concerts talking about whatever they want. But it’s nice to be able to go to a show and not be lectured – by either side of the aisle – about politics for a few hours.
