On Sunday, February 12, the Grammys went off without a hitch — okay, there were maybe a couple of hitches. Adele stopped her tribute to George Michael after one verse to start all over and get it just right, and Metallica had dual mishaps: first, presenter Laverne Cox forgot to announce the name of the band, who were performing alongside Lady Gaga (that very night Cox apologized profusely on Twitter). Then frontman James Hetfield‘s microphone didn’t work during the first verse of their song “Moth into Flame.”
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“In the heat of the battle, you’re out there and you’re playing,” explained Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich to Grammys host James Corden when he visited Corden’s “Late Late Show” on Tuesday night (watch above). “When it’s a technical issue you don’t really know [where the source of the problem is] so you just gotta keep playing.”
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But one thing’s for sure: Hetfield wasn’t happy. “We get off stage, we get back there, and I haven’t seen him like that in 20 years. He was livid,” said Ulrich. “He’s aged really well, and he’s a pretty chill guy, but the first 5 or 10 minutes in that dressing room were not a lot of fun. But like they say, the show must go on. We fought through it. And with the fire and Gaga in my lap for about a minute at one point … a lot of people said it at least made for great television.”
