Metallica celebrate Hong Kong arrival with songs banned during China dates

Hong Kong metalheads showed up in their thousands to witness thrash titans Metallica’s first ever show in the city on Friday. After greeting a sea of devil’s horns with a hearty “lay ho!”, the US rockers blew the roof off the sold-out AsiaWorld-Expo with a lengthy setlist of classics, as well as songs from new album Hardwired ... to Self Destruct.

“We’re grateful to be here ... I can already tell this is the best show on the tour so far,” lead singer and guitarist James Hetfield told the crowd. That was unsurprising considering that censoring had sliced China shows down to barely more than an hour and rinsed them of several key hits.

Master of Puppets, One and Hardwired – all notably absent from dates this week in Beijing and Shanghai ­– were blasted out loud and proud as the band celebrated an uncensored setlist. That’s not to say the most provocative songs were vengefully spotlit, though; Hetfield emphasised his respect for mainland laws in an interview with the Post prior to the show.

The frontman stated he didn’t resent the mainland government for its censorship, and it certainly didn’t put him off playing in China. He said: “Why shouldn’t you respect their culture when you’re there as a guest and you’ve been invited to play? We want to be respectful, and just because we do things differently, it doesn’t mean it should be forced upon [others]. But hopefully we’ll keep coming back and they’ll realise we’re not a threat politically and we have no agenda except to cross boundaries with music and let people enjoy the songs. We’re not trying to bring a secret message to anybody.”

Instead, the metallers focused on giving Hongkongers the full experience of their legendary live show. Mayhem is guaranteed during the heaviest numbers, but even these seasoned stadium performers looked impressed when moshers tore at each other in an excited frenzy to the Master of Puppets intro’s familiar blasts.