Metallica Never Felt More Connected Says Lars

K. Wiggins | 09-11-2019

Metallica's Lars Ulrich says that he feels the band is more connected than they have even been and that helped make their European summer tour one of their best ever.

Ulrich spoke to the San Francisco Chronicle ahead of their S&M2 shows and said, "This may be the best tour we've ever done in Europe.

"It wasn't because of the numbers, even though the numbers are kind of crazy. The reason this is the best tour is because we feel more connected internally than we ever have before. We're connecting more with the audience and with the fans and the people who are there to share the experience. I can't quite put my finger on it.

"Over the course of a summer like this, you find yourself occasionally, over a late-night beverage or the right company, trying to intellectualize or get overly analytical about why it's working at the moment. It's very hard for me, at least in a sound bite, to clarify that or articulate it.

"There's some balances and boundaries that are in place that make everybody happy and make Metallica a better band in terms of the physical elements, the mental elements and all this. There seems to be an appreciation for these newer songs in the set that may not have been there on the same level on the last couple of tours we were doing new stuff. Social media has definitely helped engage a lot of newer, younger fans that are experiencing Metallica for the first time. There's so many 12-, 14-, 16-year-olds that are Coming to the show. When I'm looking out, it feels like it's at least 50 percent of the fans."