![\"Metallica](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Metallica-Glastobury-Festival-Far-Out-Magazine-1140x855.jpg\")
<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Credit: Far Out \/ YouTube Still<\/p>\n
Mon 12 October 2026 3:15, UK <\/p>\n
You may well go and see your favourite band and want them to play your favourite song of theirs, but don\u2019t necessarily waltz into a Metallica<\/a> set thinking that you\u2019re going to get everything you desire.<\/p>\n Ever since they emerged in the 1980s, their incendiary live shows have been hailed as some of the most powerful, not just in terms of the volume that they choose to play at, but in terms of the sheer rawness with which they choose to deliver said performances. There\u2019s a good reason as to why they\u2019re constantly referred to as one of the \u2018Big Four\u2019 in metal, particularly when it comes to the thrashy style that they\u2019ve become synonymous with since the 1980s.<\/p>\n That being said, there have been times where their musicianship has been called into question in a live environment, and some of their sloppiness has reared its head<\/a>. There are many different ways in which this can be interpreted; perhaps it\u2019s a case of under-rehearsing, or perhaps it\u2019s a case of them not wanting to perform certain songs, but either way, they\u2019re very much the sort of band who are fallible, and they\u2019ve hit several low moments on stage as a result of these slip-ups.<\/p>\n However, there is only one instance of a song that the band have flat out refused to perform, which is the exact case with one of the band\u2019s most beloved tracks. Despite featuring on their most universally acclaimed album, the Ride the Lightning track \u2018Escape\u2019 has only ever featured in one of the band\u2019s live sets, and this is because frontman James Hetfield has described it as being something of a nightmare to play.<\/p>\n During a 2017 interview with Loudwire, Hetfield admitted that Ride the Lightning, their second album, was the first occasion where the band had collectively written material in the studio rather than having it all fleshed out beforehand, and this led to \u2018Escape\u2019 being hashed out in a decisively hurried manner.<\/p>\n \u201cI remember we had all the songs and Lars [Ulrich] said, \u2018They want us to record one more, they need one more for the album,\u2019\u201d the frontman recalled. \u201cI was like, \u2018You didn\u2019t tell me that.\u2019 So we had to write and it was really last-minute. So \u2018Escape\u2019 was one of those songs that was written in the studio<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t until 2012, 38 years after the album\u2019s release, that the band finally relented and performed the song live for the first time, when they played the album in its entirety at their Orion Music and More Festival.<\/p>\n Further reading: From The Vault<\/p>\n At the show, Hetfield addressed the fact that the band were entering uncharted territory by performing it, especially as it was against their previously established will. \u201cThis is groundbreaking right here,\u201d he told the audience. \u201cThis is historical for those of you who might know what\u2019s coming up next. The song that we never wanted to play live ever is now on the setlist. We\u2019re not afraid, we just hope it is good. And we\u2019ll do our best. You can sing along if you want, all right? That might help.\u201d<\/p>\n For those who were there, it would have been a special moment to witness \u2018Escape\u2019 performed for the only time, not to mention Ride the Lightning in full. For Hetfield and the rest of the band, it sounds like they were subjecting themselves to hell, and one they have staunchly opted not to return to.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/faroutmagazine.co.uk\/wp-content\/themes\/far-out-magazine\/img\/google-discover.svg\")
<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Credit: Far Out \/ YouTube Still Mon 12 October 2026 3:15, UK You may well go and see…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":879355,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[20278,151914,88,25605,25498,25499,19854,216,46895],"class_list":["post-879354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-1980s","tag-151914","tag-entertainment","tag-heavy-metal","tag-james-hetfield","tag-lars-ulrich","tag-metallica","tag-music","tag-thrash-metal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/879354","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=879354"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/879354\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/879355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=879354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=879354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=879354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}