Metallica's appearance at Download 2004 was an especially memorable one given the disappearance of drummer Lars Ulrich. The show went on anyway, with Ulrich's seat being filled by then-Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo for the first two songs, and then ex-Slipknot drummer Joey Jordison filling in the rest sans one song done by Ulrich drum tech Flemming Larsen.
In an interview with Speak N' Destroy, Lombardo recalls playing both "Battery" and "The Four Horsemen" with the band.
"I remember being approached by Slayer's manager, and he just basically said, 'Hey Dave, we have a bit of a crisis – Lars can't make it to the show.' And I was like, 'OK, what's going on?' And they asked if I'd be interested. I don't know if he said if I'm interested in doing the set or a few songs or whatever, but I took one look at the setlist, and I wasn't very familiar with their later material, so I agreed to the two opening songs.
"I met up with the guys and we hung out in their little like rehearsal room, dressing room, and we jammed on two songs that I was familiar with, and then shortly after that, we went on stage. We had a great time in the room, loved those guys. I've never had any beef with them or anything, they've always been great towards me, and I – likewise. So, you know, we had a great time.
"And I've known Robert Trujilo since the Suicidal days, and I actually performed with Trujilo on a cover of 'Battery.' Yeah, that's out there. "We played that, and then of course 'The Four Horsemen', we did that as well. It was a lot of fun, it was a moment in history, it was a moment in time, and I loved it – it was amazing.
"Especially when I went into the double bass section in 'Battery' at the end, and James was like, 'Fuck!'"
If you've never seen that footage, you really need to. It's fucking insane.
