On May 5th, amid the closing dates of their Worldwired Tour's European leg, Metallica stormed into Stockholm, Sweden, for the first of two dates at the city's Ericsson Globe venue. Once again, the thrashers' performance featured a "doodle" — or short cover — from guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo, who've made it their tradition to honor a local artist during the band's mid-set break. This time, the pair paid tribute to Europe with a rugged rendition of the Swedish prog-pop group's 1986 smash "The Final Countdown" — no synths necessary.
Hammett and Trujillo's "The Final Countdown" arrives on the heels of their similarly left-of-center cover of A-ha's "Take on Me" from last week's stop-off in Oslo, Norway. Elsewhere on the jaunt, they've re-interpreted Celtic Frost's "Procreation (of the Wicked)" (in Switzerland), Black Sabbath's "War Pigs" (in Birmingham, England), and Oasis' "Don't Look Back in Anger" (in Manchester, England), just to name a few.
Metallica's European tour wraps up later this week in Helsinki, Finland. Come autumn, they'll set out on a North American arena tour. Find a full list of dates here.
Below, watch Kirk Hammett tour the Salem Witch Museum in spooky Salem, Massachusetts:
