James Hetfield still has “nightmares” before going on tour with Metallica.
The 60-year-old singer – who has been part of the ‘Enter Sandman’ heavy metal legends since the group’s formation in 1981 – admitted that even now, he can “doubt himself” before going back on the road.
Speaking on ‘The Metallica Report’ podcast, he said: “Obviously before heading out on tour, sitting there trying to remember the myriad of pretty awesome songs we have and then just trusting that once we get together, it’s like, oh yeah, it’s muscle memory.
“But yeah, over the last month, I will say that the normal thing happens where I start to doubt myself.
“I start to feel insecure that, whoa, we’re old, we can’t do this and blah blah blah – all that bulls*** that everyone tells themselves before they go into something that they care about and is important.
“So having the nightmares of, you know, I’m the only one who cares about what we’re doing here. You know, where is everybody?”
Hetfield – who is part of the group with Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett and Robert Trujillo – has strange dreams in the lead up to tours, where everything is going wrong.
He revealed: “I show up at the gig, everyone’s goofing off or there’s 200 people backstage and where’s my stuff? You know, where’s the setlist? What songs are we doing?
“And then typical things like, the guitar neck is made of rubber and there’s only two strings on it and where’s my roadie? And the guitar cord won’t let me get to the microphone. Silly stuff like that.”
However, he has learned to let these anxious periods “happen”, rather than “freaking out over it”.
He added: “All you do is you practice and then you build – that comes back pretty quickly. It’s part of the cycle. It just is.
“You have anxiety build up, but don’t let it get the best of you because you have that balance of anxiety and faith. And as soon as you get up there, it’s all gonna be good.”