Jason Bittner appeared in the latest episode of Troy Story: A Podcast For The Collar City and recalled Metallica’s first and only concert at the RPI Field House on March 15, 1989.
Reflecting on his impressions of Metallica and support act Queensrÿche at the show, Bittner shared: “I just thought [Queensrÿche] were great. I thought they were better than Metallica that night, that specific night,” he admitted. “And for me — I feel terrible saying this because I just got a message from Lars [Ulrich]; I just got a message from Lars from one of my bandmates a couple of weeks ago, sending me my best and he hadn’t seen me in a long time and he wanted to tell me, he said hello — but I am not the first person to say this, and we all know that Lars, even though we all know and love him, was not the most technically proficient technician night after night, let’s say, on the drums.”
“So, let’s just say that the 1989 version of myself thought that Lars might’ve had a couple too many beers before he hit the stage that night, because I didn’t hear all my favorite double-bass parts being played in the mix. Of course, the mix might’ve sucked anyways. I don’t know. It was still Metallica,” he added.
While Bittner thinks Metallica wasn’t at their best during that show, the drummer is no stranger to the thrash band. James Hetfield earlier said of Bittner’s band, Category 7: “Listening to the radio, I guess the newest thing that I was surprised by and really made me smile was Category 7, a band that’s kind of a collaboration of few people. I was listening to it, I’m going, ‘That voice is awesome. And it sounds very familiar.’ It was fricking John Bush, our singer that we never got,” he said during an appearance on The Metallica Report.
Metallica is done with touring for this year. Next year, they are getting back on stage with three shows in Germany, starting on February 14.
