Metallica frontman James Hetfield returns to the stage for first time since rehab

Metallica’s James Hetfield has made his first live appearance since leaving rehab.

The frontman appeared at tribute gig in Beverley Hills to late US singer Eddie Money, where he sang Money‘s 1977 hit Baby Hold On.

Fan-filmed footage shows a healthy-looking Hetfield telling the audience about his friendship with Money, who died in September 2019 after a battle with cancer. He explained how the pair met at an Oakland Raiders NFL game, where Money was singing the national anthem.

Said Hetfield: "I met him before he went out there, and he kinda blew me off," Hetfield recalled. "I thought, 'Who is this pompous ass?' And, if you spot it, you got it, is what I'm saying. So it was like two big dogs going in a circle around each other, which was kinda funny. I saw through it. I saw through that ego and he saw through mine, and we got to be friends, because I think our egos matched the size or our insecurities."

Metallica were forced to cancel their September 2019 tour of Australia and New Zealand after the singer checked into rehab for treatment relating to his ongoing struggles with addiction.

Hetfield made his first public appearance in early February to launch of Reclaimed Rust: The James Hetfield Collection exhibition, which features 10 of his classic cars.

Hetfield will rejoin his Metallica bandmates later this year for a series of US festival appearances, which will see there group perform two headline sets at each event.

Suspect208 release second single, All Black, following the November release of their debut, Long Awaited

(Image credit: S208RECORDS)

Suspect208, the LA rock band featuring vocalist Noah Weiland (son of late Stone Temple Pilots frontman Scott Weiland), guitarist Niko Tsangaris, bassist Tye Trujillo (son of Metallica’s Robert Trujillo) and London Hudson (son of Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash) have released their second single, All Black.

The song is the follow-up to the band’s well-received debut single, Long Awaited, which was released in November and already has over 880,000 plays on YouTube.

In a recent interview with Wall Of Sound, Tye Trujillo revealed that the quartet are currently priming an EP for release: “After that, our plan is to continue on writing new material until we have a solid selection of songs,” he added.

In the same interview, guitarist Niko Tsangaris emphasised that the quartet didn’t want to be compared to bands featuring their rock superstar fathers.

“We are all passionate musicians that want to be known for one thing- playing music,” he said. “We want to establish that this band is about energetic, raw, and powerful music, not anything else.”