Ahead of Metallica’s show on June 18th at Soldier Field in Chicago, Illinois, frontman James Hetfield spoke to WLS-TV about why he loves playing in Chicago and why he's still thrilled to connect with fans on tour after more than three decades of making music.

Asked if in 1981 he thought he’d still be touring all these later, Hetfield replies, “No. We didn’t think that far ahead at all. Tomorrow, maybe. But every little thing that we’ve done in our careers, anything that’s maybe got in our way or showed up in our pathway, we thought, ‘wow, this is great, this is the coolest, we’ve made it… we’re on tour, we have a bus, or we have a record, or we’re on someone else’s big tour’, there’s been so many great little successes along the whole way, and I’d say after 36 years, still loving and caring for what we do and seeing the great results from it, it’s more than any dream that we could have dreamt, that’s come true for us.”

Metallica are touring in support of their new album, Hardwired… To Self-Destruct. WorldWired live dates are listed below:

July
5 - Orlando, FL - Camping World Stadium*^
7 - Miami, FL - Hard Rock Stadium*^
9 - Atlanta, GA - Suntrust Park*^
12 - Detroit, MI - Comercia Park*^
14 - Quebec City, QC- Festival D'Ete
16 - Toronto, ON - Rogers Centre*^
19 - Montreal, QB - Parc Jean-Drapeau*^
29 - Los Angeles, CA - Rose Bowl*+

August
4 - Phoenix, AZ - University of Phoenix Stadium*+
6 - San Diego, CA - Petco Park*+
9 - Seattle, WA - Centurylink Field*+
11-13 - San Francisco, CA - Outside Lands
14 - Vancouver, BC - BC Place*+
16 - Edmonton, AB - Commonwealth Stadium*+

* With Avenged Sevenfold
^ With Volbeat
+ With Gojira
# With Local H