METALLICA brought a heartfelt local surprise to Frankfurt on May 22, when guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo stepped into the spotlight for one of their famous "doodles" — performing a cover of "Schwarz-Weiß Wie Schnee" ("Black And White As Snow"), TANKARD's rendition of the official anthem of German football club Eintracht Frankfurt.
The stripped-down bass-and-guitar performance, with Trujillo handling lead vocals, has become a beloved ritual of METALLICA's live shows. The duo regularly selects songs with deep regional ties for each tour city, keeping the tradition fresh and intimately connected to local culture.
"We were noticing that we weren't getting the result we wanted" with conventional deep cuts, Trujillo explained, describing how the "doodle" concept evolved into something more personal and locally resonant.
The Frankfurt concert is part of METALLICA's massive M72 World Tour, which kicked off in Amsterdam in April 2023 and has since seen the band perform for approximately four million fans worldwide. The tour employs a "no repeat weekend" format, with each consecutive night at the same venue featuring an entirely different setlist.
METALLICA also continue to make an impact off the stage: through their All Within My Hands foundation, the band donates a portion of every ticket sold to local charities at each tour stop. The foundation has distributed over $20 million to communities worldwide since its founding in 2017.
For Frankfurt metalheads, the night carried extra weight — seeing METALLICA honor TANKARD, one of Germany's most iconic and enduring thrash metal bands active since 1982, was a genuine moment of cross-generational metal solidarity on home turf.