Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich was interviewed by the 98 Rock radio station during the band’s stop in Baltimore, MD on May 10th. Ulrich spoke about the pressures of keeping the hardcore fan base happy saying:

“You've gotta keep your eyes open to what's going on around you, and all four of us are connected enough to reality to sort of… We're not aloof or detached to the point where we don't, obviously, know what's going on around us. But it's a fine line where you try to make sure that that doesn't influence the choices that you're making, both creative or in terms of the gigs you're playing or t-shirts or pricing or whatever.

"We appreciate it, we love it, we're obviously honored, blessed, humbled — all the rest of that — but at the same time, you also have to have just enough of a detachment away from it so it's not something that you become enslaved to," he continued. "Because you don't want the choices that you're making to end up being artificial because of trying to serve your fanbase, 'cause I believe ultimately… You serve your fanbase by having the best social media that you can, by showing up on time, by doing meet-and-greets, by doing interviews, by playing gigs and having cool shirts and all that, but you wanna make sure that the music, at least, is always as pure and organic and an honest extension of yourself, because that ultimately is what I believe they want, and that they want the music to be pure.

Metallica performed the Hardwired... To Self-Destruct album track, “Halo On Fire”, on May 14th in Rutherford, NJ. Pro-shot video is streaming below:

Metallica performed “Now That We’re Dead” on Monday night (May 15th) on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert on CBS. Watch the performance below:

WorldWired live dates:

May
17 - Uniondale, NY - New Coliseum^
19 - Boston, MA - Gillette Stadium ^#
21 - Columbus, OH - Rock On The Range Festival

June
4 - St. Louis, MO - Busch Stadium^#
7 - Denver, CO - Sports Authority Field*^
9 - Dayton, IA - Iowa Speedway
11 - Houston, TX - NRG Stadium*^
14 - San Antonio, TX - Alamodome*#
16 - Dallas, TX - AT&T Stadium*#
18 - Chicago, IL - Soldier Field*#

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