Ah, the Superbowl Halftime Show. Where an artist plays one or two songs to a backing track and lots of people to get up to pee. The height of musicality! Not that small shows are any less guilty of the former, but whatever. What I'm getting at here is that the Superbowl show isn't exactly about the music, and Metallica wants no part of that nonsense.
James Hetfield told Nikki Sixx on his radio show that Metallica's time to play the show is likely passed, and the band doesn't really fit the image anyway.
"I can't dance, I can't jump around, I'm not an acrobat, I'm not a variety show, you know? We are artists. We're a band. We love playing songs. We're not gonna fly through the air on a sparkly star with a unicorn.
"It's become less about music unfortunately and more about just the spectacle. When we played for the fiftieth anniversary of the NFL… right here in our hometown and they didn't have us do it… that would have been the time. Maybe that time has passed?”
Oh well. Not that there was a solid chance of a heavier band being asked in the first place? The band did get to play in San Francisco the night before the Superbowl this year, and they did it in a baseball stadium – at AT&T Park. Footage from that show can be seen here.
