Rob Trujillo Names the ‘Scariest Thing Ever’ About Metallica Shows: ‘At That Moment, We’re Really Nervous’

“That’s, I think, one of the great qualities and who we are as musicians and what we do within Metallica.”

Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo reflected on some of the most challenging aspects of the band’s live shows, explaining how “scary” things can get at some points.Although he’s an incredibly skilled and experienced bassist, building his reputation way before joining Metallica, Rob can still get the good old feeling of stage fright. Of course, that’s not a bad thing but just shows how much he, and other band members, care about delivering a great performance.What makes things even more challenging and exciting is Metallica’s ever-changing setlist. Speaking to Nikki Blakk in a new interview, Trujillo discussed these constant changes to the setlist and how they always want to keep things interesting to both the audience and themselves.”As Metallica, we keep ourselves on our toes,” he said (transcribed by Ultimate Guitar). “And we take a lot of pride in trying to keep a certain — how do you say — type of energy that really resonates with our fans, and they can have fun with it, and we can have fun with it as well, so nothing gets sort of jaded. It’s fun.”

To add to the excitement, Rob also does those “doodles” with Kirk Hammett while Lars Ulrich and James Hetfield take a breather. But as the bassist adds, these short bits, where he and Kirk do new original pieces or covers of someone else’s songs, can get a little frightening. He continued:”And also, for me, the duet moment with Kirk where he and I get up there and we’re really on our own — that can be very scary. But it’s also, again, challenging because we’re kind of stripped down.”

“And it’s just he and I, and what are we going to do? We’re going to present and play this song that we just wrote two hours ago, this instrumental for this audience in Montreal or whatever.”

On top of that, the duo will also pay tribute to some of the artists from the country that they’re performing in. Although an awesome way to get the audience going, it’s never an easy thing to do.”And then in Europe, we would cover songs that were sort of maybe classics in that city, in that country,” Robert said. “So we’d be like, in Warsaw or something, or in Moscow, we’re covering an artist who’s a huge icon in that country, and we’re covering that song and I’m singing it in their language.””That’s the scariest thing ever, but that’s what we do,” he added. “We try and keep things interesting.”

“In a crazy way, sometimes, we just push it to the limit. And that’s, I think, one of the great qualities and who we are as musicians and what we do within Metallica.”

“Again, Kirk and I get up there and, I’m not gonna lie — we’re nervous. At that moment, we’re really nervous. So [it] keeps us on our toes. And luckily… I don’t know, maybe lucky or not so lucky, I don’t know what you call it, but Kirk’s pretty reckless, so he’s willing to take some of the chances that I’m willing to take.”