In a recent chat with Full Metal Jackie, Gojira’s Joe Duplantier reflected on the unfair treatment that Metallica faces.
“Oh my God, if we’re going to talk about Super Bowl, they need to put Metallica on,” the singer said about which metal band he would like to see perform at a big event.
Duplantier finds it surprising they’ve never been invited as he continued, “I think Metallica belongs in the Halftime performance of the Super Bowl. It’s a shame that they were never invited. That would make sense. I hope we will get to see that.”
“Playing ‘Master of Puppets’ and ‘Enter Sandman.’ Imagine that! Metallica is known in the sports world,” he added. “A lot of pitchers walk to the mound with ‘Enter Sandman’ or at football games, I hear a lot, their music is very present. They just deserve to do the halftime. It would be a total success.”
Metallica had a big concert at AT&T Park in San Francisco the night before Super Bowl 50 in February 2016. The concert was called ‘too heavy for halftime.’ The Super Bowl happened at Levi’s Stadium, but Coldplay performed at halftime instead of Metallica.
Gojira performed at the Olympic Games opening ceremony on July 26. The band played the French Revolutionary song ‘Ah! Ça Ira’ with opera singer Marina Viotti and featured beheaded figures to represent Queen Marie Antoinette.
This upset some Christians online, who called it ‘satanic,’ and even Andrew Tate made similar comments. Duplantier addressed these accusations in an interview with Rolling Stone, saying, “It’s none of that. It’s French history. It’s French charm, you know, beheaded people, red wine, and blood all over the place — it’s romantic, it’s normal. There’s nothing satanic [Laughs].”
He went on, “France is a country that made a separation between the state and religion during the revolution. And it’s something very important, very dear to the foundation of republican France. We call it laïcité. It’s when the state is not religious anymore, so therefore it’s free in terms of expression and symbolism. It’s all about history and facts. We don’t look too close closely at symbolism in terms of religion.”
Kendrick Lamar is set to headline the Super Bowl LIX halftime show on February 9, but there’s always the chance for 2026 for Metallica. They are busy touring and performing at festivals next year.
