“If you’re putting all these Beavis and Butt-Heads in the parking lot, where are you going to park the cars?” What happened when Metallica battled the city of Philadelphia to perform in a car park

James Hetfield onstage in 1996.

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 heavy titans wanted to do something seismic to drum up hype. The band decided that putting on a free concert in celebration would be both public and popular enough for the task: 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 bullshit. Angry locals, political grumbles and even a lawsuit against a stadium surrounded the notorious Metallica car park gig of November 11, 27 years ago.