Metallica's first Arkansas gig was in Bald Knob

​​​​​Metallica — James Hetfield (from left), Lars Ullrich, Kirk Hammett and Robert Trujillo — brings its heavy metal to Verizon Arena on Jan. 20.
​​​​​Metallica — James Hetfield (from left), Lars Ullrich, Kirk Hammett and Robert Trujillo — brings its heavy metal to Verizon Arena on Jan. 20.

On Jan. 20, Metallica will perform at Verizon Arena in North Little Rock in front of thousands of head-banging, fist-pumping, black-T-shirt-wearing, devil-horn waving fans.

The band became one of the biggest in the world by parlaying its brand of thrash-based heavy metal into a commercially palatable sound, selling more than 100 million copies of its 10 studio albums, a soundtrack, an EP of cover songs and various collections.

Every group has to pay its dues, though, and Metallica is no different. Long before they were traveling first class and selling out stadiums and arenas, the quartet played anywhere that would have them, like the North Central Arkansas Amphitheater at Bald Knob, the site of Metallica's very first Arkansas appearance on Aug. 16, 1983.

The band -- which then consisted of singer-guitarist James Hetfield, drummer Lars Ullrich, bassist Cliff Burton and guitarist Kirk Hammett -- was on the road in support of its blistering debut album, Kill 'Em All, released July 25, less than a month before the Bald Knob show. Called the Kill 'Em All for One tour, it was a two-month, co-headlining jaunt with British metal band Raven that also stopped at the Pine Bluff Convention Center on Aug. 17 and Tucker Coliseum in Russellville on Aug. 19. Included on the bill at Bald Knob was Oklahoma group Hammer.

(Raven is still around and toured Europe and the United States in 2017. A quick Google search offers nothing on the status of Oklahoma's Hammer.)

Concert promoter Barth Grayson opened the amphitheater, off Prince Cemetery Road, in 1982. But he wasn't the promoter behind the show. Instead, he'd been contacted by a now-defunct Fort Smith company.

"Wildflower Productions had heard about the amphitheater and called to see if they could bring this band that was really going to make it big to play here," says Grayson, who is now Bald Knob's mayor and who got $1,000 to lease out his venue for the show.

"To this day, people refer to it as a Strawberry Jam show," Grayson says, referring to the annual rock festival he promoted at the amphitheater.

The gig -- which pulled a crowd of about 375, Grayson says -- was simply a one-off heavy metal concert on a Tuesday night in rural White County, albeit a show in which one of the groups would eventually become rock 'n' roll icons.

Not that they looked it at the time.

"I pulled up to the gate on the day of the show and there was a box truck there," Grayson remembers. "I went through the gate and there were these long-haired kids. I thought they were the sound crew. I asked them when the band would be here. A couple of them jumped up and said, 'We are the band! We're Metallica!' I'll never forget that."

The venue didn't have running water at the time, and the Fort Smith promoter rented a room at a Bald Knob hotel where band members could clean up after sound check, Grayson says.

At least one Metallica member declined when he found out there was a well on the amphitheater property.

"I got him a rope and a bucket and showed him how to get water out of it and he washed his hair," Grayson says. "I think it was Lars, but I'm not positive. I wish I'd had a camera."

Denny Price drove up from Little Rock for the show.

"I was 31 years old then," says Price, who grew up in Bald Knob and is a longtime friend of Grayson's. "It was on a Tuesday and I knew it was going to be a tough day at work the next day. My ears were still ringing."

Price wasn't exactly a Metallica fan yet -- Kill 'Em All, released on the small Megaforce label, hadn't had time to make a real dent -- but he played guitar and was into hard rock.

"I was backstage and saw a fella walking across the field with a [Gibson] Flying V [guitar]," he remembers. It was the 20-year-old Hammett, who had replaced Dave Mustain as Metallica's lead guitarist right before the recording of Kill 'Em All. "I went over and [talked] with him for a little bit."

Price said Metallica, which headlined the evening, played a heavy set.

"You could feel the music. It was crazy. They were definitely the loudest and brightest. The crowd was just jamming with Metallica. They didn't play a whole lot of songs, but Metallica songs aren't your typical 3 or 4 minutes long."

A search at setlist.fm shows a nine-song set for the Bald Knob gig that included nine of Kill 'Em All's 10 tracks (the lone exclusion was "Motorbreath"). The band opened, appropriately, with the album's first song, "Hit the Lights," and ended with "Metal Militia," the furious speed metal thrasher that closes the record.

The set also included the nearly 7-minute long bruiser "Seek & Destroy" and "(Anesthesia) -- Pulling Teeth," Burton's inventive, stoner-friendly instrumental that featured his thunderous bass.

In 1983, Metallica was just beginning its unlikely ascent. Formed by Hetfield and the Danish-born Ullrich two years earlier in the Los Angeles metal underground and inspired by bands like Judas Priest, Motorhead, the Misfits and Diamond Head, they were the antithesis to that city's blossoming hair metal scene, not only in sound but in their look as well. It's no surprise Grayson mistook them for the road crew. Metallica, which eventually left L.A. for San Francisco to be near Burton, dressed like the kids who came to their shows, in jeans and T-shirts.

(In 1986, while on tour in Sweden, Burton was killed when the band's bus slid off an icy road and crashed. He was replaced by Jason Newsted, who left in 2001. Current bassist Rob Trujillo joined in 2003.)

Hetfield, Hammett and Ullrich declined through their press representative to be interviewed for this story, but Ullrich and Hetfield have spoken about the gig in the past.

Hetfield told Rolling Stone in 2008 that his favorite piece of Metallica memorabilia is the poster advertising the Bald Knob appearance.

"The show was basically on a slab of cement in the middle of a field filled with insects. There was a guy on the side selling catfish sandwiches," he said. "The poster itself says, 'Raven: Number One Metal Band in Europe.' Which was not exactly true. Then below, it says, 'Metallica: Potential to Become U.S. Metal Gods.'"

Ullrich, speaking with the Arkansas Times in 2008, shared his memories of the concert: "It was a field full of moss and mosquitoes and large insects probably I'd never seen before. It was August of 1983 and it was about 140 degrees and 95 percent humidity and not a very fun place to wake up when you're very hung over. I think we played to about 12 people on a big slab in the middle of the Bald Knob amphitheatre. Had a good time doing it and lived to talk about it."

In contrast, Sunday's Worldwired Tour stop at Verizon Arena is an in-the-round presentation, similar to the band's 2008 appearance at the venue, the last time Metallica performed in Arkansas. Comedian Jim Breuer will open the night.

It has been 35 years since Price last saw the group, when they were fresh-faced metalheads in their early 20s, playing fast and hard and not planning for much beyond the next gig.

"I think it would be pretty awesome to see them again, but I might have to wear some ear plugs," he says with a chuckle. "If I have an opportunity to go, I might go see them. I could talk to ol' Kirk and see if he remembers talking to an ol' boy in the pasture at Bald Knob."

Style on 01/13/2019

Metallica

Light it Up Preshow with comedian Jim Breuer

7:30 p.m. Jan. 20, Verizon Arena, 1 Verizon Arena Way, North Little Rock

Admission: $42.50, $65, $135

(501) 975-9000

verizonarena.com

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