Where and when: Pyramid stage 9:45pm, Saturday.
Dress code: More metal T-shirts than the naysayers would have you believe.
What happened: Clearly a controversial booking for Glastonbury, Metallica kick off by addressing at least one bone of contention regarding their appearance at Worthy Farm: their arrival on stage is preceded by a video featuring a lot of old footage of fox hunters – set to the Hitler-has-only-got-one-ball version of Colonel Bogey – who are eventually offed by gun-toting bears who reveal themselves to be Metallica. The exact point they’re trying to make remains a bit unclear, but the doomy voices that suggested Metallica would end up playing to a largely empty field are proved wildly incorrect.
The band appear to have turned up with their own supporters – the back of the stage is thronged with flag-waving fans – but they scarcely need them: curiously, at least some of the 120,000,000 people who’ve bought Metallica albums appear to be present tonight. Even if you’re not a fan, you can't deny the sheer heft of their sound – it would take a concerted effort not to be moved by the ferocity with which they perform Fade to Black – and something hugely appealing about the way they work to win over the detractors.
After announcing that they’re here “to represent the heavier side of music, shall we say”, James Hetfield makes a sweet speech regarding how bands of their ilk are never allowed to perform at festivals such as Glastonbury. Understandably, given how often Metallica have played to crowds this size, their efforts seem to work: by the time they perform a cover of Whiskey in the Jar, the audience are singing along gleefully. With the best will in the world, it doesn’t feel like the dawning of a new era for Glastonbury, in which metal bands take their place alongside the panoply of genres on offer, but nor is it anything approaching the disaster carping voices had suggested it might be.
High point: Fade to Black.
Low point: Hetfield makes a hippyish speech about making the world a better place: a nice sentiment, but not, perhaps, one entirely befitting introducing a song called Cyanide.
