Watch Metallica Play Epic National Anthem at NBA Finals

20 minutos, CC BY-SA 2.1 ES , via Wikimedia Commons
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Metallica guitarists James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett are no strangers to playing the U.S. national anthem, “The Star Spangled Banner.” In fact, they’ve made something of a habit of it over recent years, performing the patriotic song before San Francisco Giants baseball games and San Jose Sharks hockey games. Recently, on April 26th, the guitar duo shredded through the anthem during the seventh annual “Metallica Night” at Oracle Park in San Francisco preceding the Giants’ game against the New York Yankees. Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich also threw out the ceremonial first pitch — and did a waaay better job than 50 Cent did.

Last night (Wednesday, June 5th), Hetfield and Hammett performed “The Star Spangled Banner” once again, this time at Oracle Arena in Oakland, California, before tip-off for Game 3 of the NBA finals, which ultimately the Toronto Raptors beating the favored Golden State Warriors to take a two-games-to-one lead in the series. The Canadian national anthem was performed by Saskatchewan singer Tenille Arts.

Metallica are currently on the road in European on the latest leg of their WorldWired Tour, which kicked off on May 1st in Lisbon, Portugal, and is set to wrap in Mannheim, Germany, on August 25th. See the remaining dates below.

Metallica European tour dates:
June 8, 2019 – Dublin, Ireland at Slane Castle
June 11, 2019 – Amsterdam, Netherlands at Johan Cruijff Arena
June 13, 2019 – Cologne, Germany at Rhein Energie Stadion
June 16, 2019 – Brussels, Belgium at Koning Boudewijn Stadion
June 18, 2019 – Manchester, England at Etihad Stadium
June 20, 2019 – London, England at Twickenham Stadium
July 6, 2019 – Berlin, Germany at Olympia Stadion
July 9, 2019 – Gothenburg, Sweden at Ullevi
July 11, 2019 – Copenhagen, Denmark at Telia Parken
July 13, 2019 – Trondheim, Norway at Granasen
July 16, 2019 – Hameenlinna, Finland at Kantolan Tapahtumapuisto
July 18, 2019 – Tartu, Estonia at Raadi Airfield
July 21, 2019 – Moscow, Russia at Luzhniki Stadium
August 14, 2019 – Bucharest, Romania at Arena Nationala
August 16, 2019 – Vienna, Austria at Ernst-Happel-Stadion
August 18, 2019 – Prague, Czech Republic at Airport Letnany
August 21, 2019 – Warsaw, Poland at PGE Narodowy
August 23, 2019 – Munich, Germany at Olympia Stadion
August 25, 2019 – Mannheim, Germany at Palastzelt Maimarktgelande