August 8, 1992
The first notes of “Fade to Black” were the softest Metallica played that night. James Hetfield picked the 12-string neck of an ESP double-neck while more than 50,000 people watched inside Montreal’s Olympic Stadium. Then a pyrotechnic charge hit his left side.
The guitar shielded part of his torso, but his hand and arm were badly burned. Heat popped the strings. Metallica stopped playing, and Hetfield was taken to the hospital.
Hours later, police were firing tear gas inside the stadium while people smashed windows, overturned vehicles, and set fires.
What turned an accident onstage into a riot around it?
The August 8, 1992, show joined two bands near the height of their reach. Metallica were touring the Black Album with Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett, and Jason Newsted. Guns N’ Roses were deep into the Use Your Illusion tour. Faith No More opened.
Metallica had completed nine songs before the accident. “Creeping Death” began the set with rapid downpicked rhythm guitar and its massed “Die” chant. “Harvester of Sorrow” pulled the tempo down around a dragging, stop-start riff. The newer material worked differently again: “Sad but True” rode a low-tuned stomp, while the sitar-colored opening of “Wherever I May Roam” led into a wide, rolling guitar figure.
By the time “Fade to Black” appeared in the tenth slot, Metallica had the stadium under control. The song lowered the volume with clean 12-string guitar before distorted chords and Kirk Hammett’s long closing solo took over. That full arc was never heard. Hetfield stepped into the flame during the song, and the set ended immediately. Ulrich, Hammett, and Newsted returned to explain what had happened and promised the band would come back.
The emergency had been explained. The delay that followed was harder to understand.
More than two hours passed before Guns N’ Roses appeared. In a stadium in 1992, information moved through announcements, staff, and rumor. Concern over Hetfield gradually mixed with frustration as the stage remained empty.
Guns opened with “It’s So Easy,” a song anchored by Duff McKagan’s bass and Rose’s low, controlled snarl. “Live and Let Die” and “Civil War” pushed him into the sharp upper range that had recently caused him trouble. Rose and Slash later described serious monitor and PA problems, while contemporary reports cited his voice. A singer already protecting an injury was trying to work through a sound system the band said it could not properly hear.
The performance ended after nine songs. From the seats, the details mattered less than the sequence: Metallica had stopped because Hetfield was burned, the changeover consumed more than two hours, and Guns N’ Roses then left early. When the house lights came on, part of the audience attacked concession and merchandise areas before the destruction spread outside.
Reports disagree sharply on how many people participated. Most of the crowd left without joining the riot. The violence belonged to the people who committed it; a shortened concert gave them no excuse.
Hetfield’s accident did not cause the Montreal riot. It created an emergency. The long wait left the audience with little reliable information; Guns N’ Roses could not finish its set, and a minority answered frustration with destruction. The timing answers the question: the crowd did not riot when Hetfield was burned. Violence began only after the music stopped a second time and the house lights declared the night over.
Written by Rob Joncas for DeadNoteMedia.
Artist information and music courtesy of the band.
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