Jack White Covers Metallica at Glastonbury Festival
Jack White weighed in on Metallica's controversial headlining spot at this weekend's Glastonbury festival in the coolest possible way -- by playing a snippet of 'Enter Sandman' during his own set that same night.
Metallica have been catching quite a bit of heat for their presence at the renowned English music festival over the past few weeks. But while the British press hasn’t been too keen to roll out the red carpet for the metal legends, White seemed keen to make them feel welcome by covering one of their most famous songs.
The former White Stripes star took the Glastonbury stage on Saturday evening and delivered a powerful 16-song showcase of new cuts and old favorites. Midway through his set while busting out a version of the White Stripes tune ‘Cannon’ he began incorporating snippets of ‘Enter Sandman’ into the song to the delight of all those present.
Metallica had come under fire prior to the performance on Saturday night for a variety of reasons ranging from their heavy metal sound to singer James Hetfield’s predilection for big game hunting. Alex Turner of the Arctic Monkeys basically summed up the ensuing identity crisis when he stated, “I’m not sure it adds up…could you have Metallica in the hippy nucleus?” For their part, the group remained respectful as they attempted to stay above the fray, although they did release t-shirts mocking the whole ordeal.
While it remains unknown if White was actively trying to weigh in the recent stir through his performance, he has gone on record about how he feels about music festivals in general. "They're a necessary evil in the business,” he told the BBC. “I don't get excited about festivals -- they're not my favorite place to play. A lot of people come to them and there's all these pros to them. You get exposure to people who would never come and see you and the organizers offer bands a lot of money so they can't say no, but they're not my first choice to perform music."