‘Metallica Family’ invade Napa for BottleRock’s first night

The band’s fans, complete with wraparound sunglasses and foot-length beards, flocked to wine country for the first day of the festival on Friday to see the heavy metal headliners.

Throughout the day, bands like Scottish indie pop group CHVRCHES and Austin-based art rock band Spoon seemed to fit more naturally into the BottleRock mould. But there was no question who was the main attraction, since Metallica shirts outnumbered all other bands at least ten to one.

Many members of the audience I spoke to had seen the Bay Area rockers, who were just beginning their fifth decade of making music together, in concert more than 20 times.

A woman standing next to me was a relative newbie who had only attended four shows prior to this one, but she had seen the band in their heyday in the 80’s.

Despite being in their late 50s, the members of Metallica can still shred and headbang with the best of them.

Frontman James Hetfield came out shirtless and wearing just an open denim vest, but was able to pull off the look despite being old enough to be many of the fathers (or grandfathers) of his fellow BottleRock members. Meanwhile, lead guitarist Kirk Hammett’s iconic shoulder-length hair looks fuller and healthier than most guys half his age.

Metallica opened with “Hardwired,” and the band was so in sync with the crowd that Hetfield was able to step away from the mic for minutes while the crowd belted out the lyrics.

For all the Metallica fans, the audience was a bit older than many other artists – especially compared to the audience for Norwegian DJ Kygo, who was playing on a different stage at the same time.

One middle-aged fan I spoke to said this was his 21st concert and he wouldn’t have considered going to BottleRock — which includes a spa, wine tasting booth and silent disco on the festival grounds — if Metallica weren’t playing .

Another Metallica fan who’s been to 20+ shows told me, “It’s kind of crazy what good musicians they are.”

But it wasn’t just die-hard Metallica veterans. A young couple I spoke to said they drove over eight hours from San Diego to see the band for the first time.

“We’re only here for Metallica,” they told me confidently.

The adoration went both ways, with Hetfield telling the crowd, whom he referred to as the Metallica family, how he’s “extremely grateful to be here after 41 years.” He noted that even after all this time, it still “wows” that fans wanted to hear the band play.

Metallica played for just under two hours, playing a setlist made up almost entirely of their biggest hits from the ’80s and ’90s. On songs like “Seek & Destroy,” the band showed their metal goodness and managed to convey both the fury and charisma needed to write harsh lyrics like:

Our brain burns with the feeling of killing
And it won’t go away until our dreams are fulfilled

But they also showed they aren’t monotonous, as Hetfield and Hammett broke out acoustic guitars for the more contemplative “The Unforgiven.” They also didn’t shy away from the overindulgence that comes with being a headliner, playing “Master of Puppets” in its nearly 10-minute entirety.

Metallica closed with their two biggest songs, co-mega hits from their self-titled 1991 album (“Nothing Else Matters”, “Enter Sandman”), to which fans sang along, their voices stoned after two hours of screaming.

As Metallica fans headed out and walked past stations serving sparkling rosé and Tomales Bay oysters, one had the feeling many would not be back for days two and three of the festival.