METALLICA's LARS ULRICH On MOGWAI's GLASTONBURY Comments: 'Huh? What? Who Are You?'

METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich says that the band's isn't bothered by the negative feedback to its upcoming appearance at this year's Glastonbury, explaining that he and his bandmates are "respectful" of the fact that METALLICA is the first metal act to ever headline the event in the festival's 44-year history.

A petition was launched online last month calling for the removal of METALLICA as Glastonbury headliners after it was announced that frontman James Hetfield will be hosting a new series about bear hunting on the History channel. In addition, drummer Martin Bulloch of Scottish post-rock icons MOGWAI described METALLICA as "shite," while multi-instrumentalist Barry Burns added: "I can't wait to hear that guy [referring to Ulrich] play the drums again — unbelievably bad."

Ulrich tells U.K.'s Metal Hammer magazine that METALLICA is able to deflect negative comments from naysayers, explaining (see video below): "Glastonbury is like the Holy Grail in England, and we're respectful to that. But if somebody sits there and talks about petitions or what some other guy says, there's a point that it just becomes ridiculous.

"We're fairly thick-skinned. Obviously if Mick Jagger [of THE ROLLING STONES] has something to say, or Alex Turner [of ARCTIC MONKEYS], or the nice guys in KASABIAN, it's cool. But if some guy in some other band… it's like, 'Huh? What? Who are you?'"

METALLICA will close the show at Glastonbury on Saturday, June 28. Other headliners include ARCADE FIRE and KASABIAN.

During a recent interview with the BBC Radio 1's "Rock Show", Ulrich spoke further about the criticism METALLICA has received for its appearance at Glastonbury, saying: "The fact that everyone's got an opinion I'll take as a good thing because it means that people still care and are still interested and we still have one foot in relevance of some sort. It's comforting that 33 years into a career you can still manage to stir up a little bit.

"Glastonbury is the biggest, greatest festival on this planet and we're headlining Saturday night.

"Bring it on. We're going to show up and have fun, but all the hoopla is interesting."

According to The Pulse Of Radio, Glastonbury is a very laid-back type of festival, with more of a hippie/indie vibe than most, which is why there has been so much controversy over METALLICA playing the show in the first place.

Mick Jagger of THE ROLLING STONES — who headlined the festival last year — recently shared his opinion of METALLICA headlining Glastonbury, saying: "I've seen them live and they're going to be great." Jagger added that his band had a "great time" headlining the event.