METALLICA Bassist: It Was Important For LARS And JAMES To Reconnect With DAVE MUSTAINE

METALLICA, SLAYER, MEGADETH and ANTHRAX — the so-called "Big Four" of 1980s thrash metal — played together for the first time in history this past Wednesday night (June 16) in front of 81,000 fans at the Sonisphere festival at Bemowo Airport in Warsaw, Poland.

A video interview with METALLICA bassist Robert Trujillo conducted by NME TV prior to the band taking the stage in Warsaw can be viewed below.

"[I asked the other guys] When's the last time METALLICA shared the stage with SLAYER, MEGADETH and ANTHRAX?' Robert said. "And they were, like, we've actually never played the same gig together. And, obviously, [METALLICA] has done shows with each of these bands separately on different occasions.

"Time went on, and it was brought up again, I guess, around the completion of [METALLICA's 2008 album] 'Death Magnetic'. And then James [Hetfield, METALLICA guitarist/vocalist] kind of took the torch and ran with it and started planting the seed with some of the people from management and Lars [Ulrich, METALLICA drummer]...

"Once Lars gets his head wrapped around it, then the wheels start moving.

"All the bands were well into it, the timing seemed right, everyone's got new releases, and the momentum is strong... strong, actually, for metal in general.

"This is the right time. Who knows?! Maybe a year or two from now, it wouldn't mean as much. Maybe it wouldn't have meant as much a couple of years back.

"Last night [Tuesday, June 15], we had dinner with the other three bands [in Warsaw, Poland], and it was great. Only bandmembers. It was kind of a setup to where we were in a smaller environment, it was a smaller restaurant. The tables were even smaller — maybe four per table. [Laughs] So we really had to kind of unite and bond.

"I hadn't seen Tom [Araya, SLAYER bassist/vocalist] in, it seems like, eight years. Dave Lombardo [SLAYER drummer] I've seen recently, Kerry [King, SLAYER guitarist] I've seen. [Dave] Mustaine [MEGADETH frontman and former METALLICA guitarist], I hadn't seen him in, it feels like, 12 years. Maybe it was 10 years. But I know more than anything, for Lars and James, to reconnect with Dave Mustaine was a really big deal — it was important to them.

"Once you get into it, there's just no shortage of conversation. The difficult part is kind of making your way to the next guy. There's always something great to talk about."

Several more "Big Four" shows will take place across Europe, with a June 22 concert in Bulgaria to be beamed to U.S. movie theatres. There are still no plans for a U.S. run.

June 15, 2010 (dinner in Warsaw):

June 16, 2010 (pre-show photo call in Warsaw):

Photos below by Andrew Stuart/Future Grandpa