Lars Ulrich is Pumped for Metallica’s S&M² Performances This Coming Weekend

The 20-year reprisal of Metallica’s performance with a symphony orchestra, S&M², will be taking over San Francisco for two shows this coming weekend. And while tickets are long since sold out, the band will be screening a film of the event in 3,000 movie theaters worldwide on October 9.

In a new chat with The Mercury News, Lars Ulrich enthused about the event:

“It’s a new group of people. It’s a new building. Robert Trujillo wasn’t involved 20 years ago. I like that (this production) extends a respectful nod to what it’s been in the past. But, at the same time, it’s an opportunity for new discoveries. And I think that is the Metallica spirit — of continuing this sort of quest forward rather than being tied down to the past.”

Ulrich went on to thank Michael Kamen, the conductor-composer-orchestrator-arranger of the original 1999 event, who died in 2003. San Francisco Symphony music director Michael Tilson Thomas will conduct this weekend. Asked about where the idea for the 20-year celebration came about, Ulrich said he wasn’t sure:

“If you look at all the things that get thrown around in our world, that is 110 percent a no-brainer. The whole (concept) came together fairly effortlessly. Everybody realized that this was the right thing to do for the greater celebration of this new arena and San Francisco and the Bay Area.”

An extended trailer for S&M² has also now made its way online, featuring footage from the original S&M and more recent shots from the band’s Worldwired tour. You can watch that below.