METALLICA’S KIRK & JAMES ON THE STREETS OF BRUSSELS, BELGIUM [VIDEO+PHOTOS]

Everything in this post is courtesy of The Power Age

On the afternoon of August 30, 1991, during the Monsters of Rock Tour with AC/DC, Mötley Crüe, and Queensrÿche,... Kirk and I made plans to explore Brussels together.

As I was chatting with Kirk in the hotel lobby, James joined us. We decided to drive around downtown Brussels in my car, a vintage custom Citroën CX with hydropneumatic suspension. When James saw my car in the hotel garage, he asked if he could drive it. I readily agreed, but once he was in the driver's seat, he realized it was a manual transmission, which he wasn't familiar with at the time. He opted not to drive, so I took the wheel.

Both James and Kirk were keen to visit record shops in search of rare bootleg records. I drove them to several stores, but I only took two photos during these 3 hours (in front of Discomania, where they purchased a few records). I also filmed a few short clips, asking Kirk and James to "pretend I'm not there" while recording. Having known James and Kirk for eight years at the time and having spent time with them in numerous cities, they were comfortable letting me drive them around without security or management, even though they were set to perform for thousands later that day. However, they needed to be back at the hotel by 5 PM to catch the coach to the concert venue.

The final minute of this video was not filmed on that day; it was actually shot in Istanbul the following year. I continue to include it because, while I've lived that moment many times over the years, it was the only time I managed to film it. My biggest regret is that when I was filming Lars (and Tony, the tour manager, who was speaking to me), James leaned into my camera with his legendary "Bollocks Fuck" and made a face for me. Unfortunately, he was in my blind spot, and I turned my camera to follow Tony, missing James's moment. Nevertheless, walking with Metallica towards the stage during "The Ecstasy of Gold" is always a fantastic moment to relive.