"The last thing that will happen are big concerts…" says Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich of a potential post-COVID world.
Though Metallica are very much making the best of a bad situation with touring scrapped by airing their drive-in performance in August and doing a charity livestream this weekend, Lars Ulrich has stated that he thinks the band's usual stadium and arena performances are a long way off yet.
The drummer tells CNBC that it could be a year "at the earliest" before fans can make their return to huge rock and metal shows because of coronavirus, with that sense of normality likely signifying "the fact that COVID, as we know it, is over".
"As we unfortunately have to come to grips with, the last thing that will happen are big concerts, you know 20,000 people in an arena, 50,000 people in a stadium," he says.
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Looking across the pond from America, Lars adds that the European summer festival circuit had seemed like it could possibly go ahead, but with new lockdowns this autumn and winter, he's not so sure now.
"What we know now compared to three months ago, six months ago, is that the wait is unfortunately going to continue to be long," he ponders. "I would say… third quarter, fall of next year, at the earliest, is what we’re betting on right now."
In more promising news, Lars said back in September that Metallica have "lots of material to share with the world".
"We’ve spent a few of the summer months trading riffs, trading ideas, throwing creative thoughts back and forth through Zoom calls and through other technologies," he said. "And we’re looking forward to getting to it. [There is] lots of material to share with the world. And it’s just a matter of the practicals and being able to sort of figure out how to get it going as quick as possible.
"We are trying to find any possible ways to connect with our fans and with the Metallica family. And I think that a positive coming out of these five dark months is that it’s forcing you to just rethink what you know and what we’re so used to. So a new world order calls for new experimental times and shenanigans. So let’s see how it plays out."
