Metallica Perform Entire Black Album At Prague Show

Metallica surprised fans in the Czech Republic on Monday (07May12) by playing all the songs from their top-selling 1991 LP, "Metallica", a.k.a. "the black album for the first time ever as the band kicked off its European tour at Prague's Synot Tip Arena.

A statement posted on the band's website, reads, "What a great show here in Prague to start off the 20th Anniversary of the Black Album! The band surprised everyone, and played it backwards! During and after Sandman, it was pyro, pyro, pyro, and pyro!!! Sandman had fireworks, Fuel had the big flames..."

The band's setlist was as follows:

01. Hit The Lights02. Master Of Puppets03. The Shortest Straw04. For Whom The Bell Tolls05. Blackened06. The Struggle Within07. My Friend Of Misery08. The God That Failed09. Of Wolf & Man10. Nothing Else Matters11. Through The Never12. Don't Tread On Me13. Wherever I May Roam14. The Unforgiven15. Holier Than Thou16. Sad But True17. Enter SandmanEncore:18. Fuel19. One20. Seek & Destroy

Asked why Metallica decided to play the "black" album in its entirety on the current tour, the band's drummer, Lars Ulrich, told Kerrang! magazine, "The people at Download [festival] asked. It wasn't our idea."

He added, "The thing is, although we haven't played at Donington for six years, we have been to the U.K. pretty much every single summer since then. So they wanted us to do something different, and that's what they came up with. I quite like the fact that come [this] summer it'll be the 21st anniversary of the 'black album,' not the 20th."

Metallica will be performing the record in its entirety throughout the tour, including a slot at Britain's Download Festival next month.