Why Ghost And Bokassa Are Supporting Metallica In Europe

Lars Ulrich has spoken about Metallica's choice to enlist Ghost and Bokassa for their epic European stadium tour.

Chatting exclusively to Kerrang!, the drummer discusses why he and his bandmates chose some Swedish occultists and Norwegian stoner punks to support them on the biggest stages in Europe.

“To me, Tobias [Forge, Ghost frontman] is a super-cool dude," Lars tells Kerrang!. "I really like his energy and being around him. Everybody in our band is a huge fan of Ghost. It seems like the fans of our band love them too. With support bands, we always try to take out people we like to be around and get along with. We’re looking forward to our whole jaunt with them.

"And Bokassa are incredibly fucking good. The songs they write, their whole energy and vibe is such a breath of fresh air. When I heard their music a year ago, they blew my head off. Getting a chance to introduce them to a wider audience is going to be super cool."

Metallica's European stadium tour kicks off in Lisbon, Portugal, on May 1 and wraps up in mannheim, Germany, on August 25 – stopping on at stadiums in London and Manchester along the way.

“The shows will be more like the stadium run we did in America last summer," says Lars. "When we play indoors, we play in-the-round, but when we’re outdoors, the issue is there’s no roof on most of the places, so we can’t hang anything, which means it’s a different kind of set-up.”

Metallica's Helping Hands… Live & Acoustic At The Masonic is out on February 1.