Watch: NICKELBACK's CHAD KROEGER Sings METALLICA's 'Enter Sandman' At SAMMY HAGAR's Birthday Bash

October 14, 2025

Sammy Hagar's annual Birthday Bash brought a wild mix of rock royalty, surprise guests, and tequila-fueled fun to Cabo Wabo Cantina over a series of concerts on October 7, October 9, October 11 and October 13, as the Red Rocker continued his long-standing tradition of celebrating with fans in Cabo San Lucas.

On Monday, October 13, NICKELBACK frontman Chad Kroeger took the stage for a rendition of the METALLICA classic "Enter Sandman", backed by Hagar's powerhouse band — Vic Johnson on guitar, Kenny Aronoff on drums, and Hagar's longtime bandmate, "brother," and fellow Rock And Roll Hall Of Famer Michael Anthony on bass. Check out fan-filmed video of the performance below.

Back in November 2022, Chad picked METALLICA's James Hetfield as his "Rock God", telling BBC's "The Rock Show With Johnnie Walker" about his choice: "I mean, have you seen METALLICA play? There's something about James live that just makes me wanna grit my teeth and scream along.

"I was lucky enough to be sidestage and see them play in Paris in front of 70 thousand people and then get a chance to go back and hang out with James afterwards. And he's not only talented — amazing singer, songwriter, guitar player — but he's also one of the sweetest people you could ever meet. So, that's gotta be my choice."

In a 2014 interview with Finland's Radio Nova, Chad said that his brother, NICKELBACK bassist Mike Kroeger, used to "hang out a lot" with Hetfield in Maui. He added: "And right when you think that you're the only one who gets it — the backlash — Mike's, like, 'Oh no. James pretty much thinks the entire world hates him.' I'm, like, 'Really?' Suddenly I don't feel so bad anymore."

Seven years ago, footage of NICKELBACK covering METALLICA's "Sad But True" at the 2004 edition of the Rock Am Ring festival in Germany went viral after it was posted to a Facebook page where it was viewed more than four million times before being removed for copyright reasons. A YouTube version of the video was uploaded 10 years ago and has been viewed nearly four million times.

More than a decade ago, Kroeger used METALLICA as an example of great songwriting. He told Men's Health magazine: "Music works on a lot of different levels. There's a lot of melody in a great metal song. If you listen to METALLICA songs, anything on 'Master Of Puppets' or '...And Justice For All', the songs move through these beautiful parts, and then they progress back into very aggressive territory, and the riffs are constantly changing and developing, and it stays very interesting."

NICKELBACK's tenth studio album and first release in five years, "Get Rollin'", arrived in November 2022 via BMG.

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