"God bless America’s judicial system. It proves that even Metallica can get a fair hearing!" How the world's biggest metal band put on a chaotic gig in a car park - and infuriated politicians, a stadium and half a city in the process

James Hetfield on stage in 1997.

It should have been so easy. Towards the end of 1997, Metallica were steamrolling towards the release of their seventh studio album, Reload, and the metal titans wanted to do something big to celebrate. They decided that putting on a free concert would do the trick: a seemingly simple prospect that any metal fan would pole-vault over their dying grandmother to attend.

However, the road to that ostensibly breezy gig was strewn with fracas and issues. Angry locals, political grumbles and even a lawsuit against a stadium surrounded the notorious Metallica car park gig of November 11, 29 years ago.