This might go down as my new favorite version of the “Star-Spangled Banner,” right up there with every time Chicago’s Jim Cornelison sings it. Legendary Bay Area rockers James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett, the singer and lead guitarist in Metallica, absolutely shredded the Star-Spangled Banner before Game Four of the Stanley Cup Finals. If you love the symphonic scream of a trashing guitar, it will give you chills.
Drummer Lars Ulrich and bassist Robert Trujillo were also present, hyping up the crowd before the Sharks took the ice. Badass move by the NHL to have them play their hometown. I thought it was a damn shame that the NFL didn’t invite Metallica play at the Super Bowl 50 half-time show down the road in Santa Clara — It would have been 900x better than Coldplay and whatever the hell Bruno Mars did.