METALLICA's MICHAEL JACKSON Tribute At Germany's SONISPHERE; Video Available

METALLICA played a snippet of MICHAEL JACKSON's "Beat It" before going into QUEEN's "Stone Cold Crazy" during last night's (July 4) Sonisphere concert in Hockenheim, Germany. Frontman James Hetfield stated that "Beat It" features "a main influence" on METALLICA guitarist Kirk Hammett's playing, presumably referring to Eddie Van Halen, who is featured in the original version of the track.

Fan-filmed video footage of the performance can be viewed below.

The show was METALLICA's final German gig of 2009 and according to MetOnTour, drummer Lars Ulrich stated, "The best crowd was saved for last."

METALLICA's setlist was as follows:

01. Fight Fire With Fire
02. Ride The Lightning
03. Holier Than Thou
04. Fuel
05. Fade To Black
06. Broken, Beat And Scarred
07. Cyanide
08. Sad But True
09. One
10. All Nightmare Long
11. The Day That Never Comes
12. Master Of Puppets
13. My Apocalypse
14. Nothing Else Matters
15. Enter Sandman
- - - - - - - -
16. ["Beat It" snippet going into] Stone Cold Crazy
17. Trapped Under Ice
18. Seek and Destroy

Tonight's (July 5) METALLICA concert at the Rock Werchter festival in Werchter, Belgium will be available for listening and/or viewing via live radio and webcasts.

Here's how you can tune in:

On the web: www.rockwerchter.be

On the radio:

Belgian (Flemish speaking): Studio Brussel
French: Pure FM
German: BRF
Dutch: 3FM

As previously reported, METALLICA's July 7, 2009 concert in Nimes, France at Arènes de Nîmes will be professionally filmed for a forthcoming DVD release. The disc will be made available on October 19 through French music stores and online shops only, as well as via the band's official web site, Metallica.com.

WorMee will stream METALLICA's concert in Nimes from July 10 until July 13. You just need to register with the site to watch, and the stream is available to everyone around the world.

METALLICA's three concerts in Mexico City were also filmed for a separate DVD release. The band played Mexico City for the first time in a decade on June 4, June 6 and June 7, with the group keeping the shows on its schedule despite the recent outbreak of swine flu that originated in the area.

METALLICA has issued several DVDs in the past, including "Cliff 'Em All", "Cunning Stunts", "S&M With The San Francisco Symphony Orchestra" and "A Year And A Half".

The band, recently inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, continues to tour behind "Death Magnetic", which has sold 1.78 million copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. They'll play Europe throughout the summer before returning to North America in the fall.