Chinese Concert Pianist Lang Lang Prepares for Grammy Performance with Metallica, Status as New Lou Reed
According to their website, Metallica are going to play at the upcoming Grammy Awards later this month, where they’ll “be celebrating the 25th anniversary of being the first hard rock band to ever perform on the show.” And although the mere phrasing of this announcement is surely going to send a lot IMNs into a tizzy (“Oh, so now they ADMIT they’re not a metal band???”), that’s actually not what’s interesting about this announcement.
No no, what’s interesting is with whom they’ll be playing:
“This will be one of the most unique performances of our career as we will be joined by renowned concert pianist Lang Lang, who has played on stages all over the world including the opening ceremonies at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, a White House state dinner, World Cup ceremonies, and the Nobel Prize concert in Stockholm, among many other acclaimed appearances.”
Okay, I admit it: I’m intrigued. Mostly because this has the makings of another Loutallica-sized car wreck (remember, that unholy alliance also began at some bullshit industry thing). But even if it doesn’t result in some sort of studio collaboration, it could be interesting. (Note: “interesting” and “good” are not synonymous.)
The question is, what will they be playing? Since the band is going to awards because the Through The Never soundtrack has been nominated (relax… it was nominated for “Best Recording Package,” not for the music it contains), I have to assume they’ll be playing something off of that, right? The only song on there that lends itself naturally to adding a concert pianist is “Nothing Else Matters,” which the band already been classied-up once before for the S&M thing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=im1vsfATR_k
But who knows? Maybe they’ll shock us all and do a rendition of “For Whom the Bell Tolls” with Lang Lang playing Cliff Burton’s part or something. Also, maybe Bob Rock is currently paying $750/month to reside in my bathroom. I’m just saying, MAYBE. It’s possible.
The Grammys air Sunday, January 26 on CBS at whatever time they begin.
