Watch Metallica play rarities and covers at ‘Helping Hands’ benefit show

Metallica played two sets full of hits, deep cuts and some unexpected covers during their annual Helping Hands benefit show last night (December 14) – check out footage below.

Taking place at the YouTube Theater in Los Angeles, the first half of the set was acoustic and saw the Four Horsemen dust off the ‘Reload’ deep cut ‘Low Man’s Lyric’ for the first time since 1998. They followed it up with covers of Diamond Head’s ‘Helpless’ – its first performance by Metallica since 2018 – and a never-before-played version of Bachman-Turner Overdrive’s ‘Away From Home.’

Metallica also performed ‘If Darkness Had A Son’ from last year’s ‘72 Seasons‘ acoustically for the first time and ‘Nothing Else Matters’, accompanied by a string section.

In the electric set, they performed ‘The Unforgiven II’ for the first time since 2015 and a reimagined version of their hit ‘Fuel’. ‘Orion’, ‘Until It Sleeps’ and ‘Screaming Suicide’ were also played, while Pearl Jam’s Jeff ament came out to join the band for ‘Hit The Lights’. Metallica then wrapped up the show with ‘Master of Puppets’.

The annual benefit show supports the band’s All With My Hands Foundation, which “aims to assist and enrich the lives of members of the communities who have supported the band for years, as well as encourage participation from fans and friends.”

Check out footage below:

The show – which was Metallica’s last of the year – will be uploaded to YouTube in full on December 19.

In other news,  The Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan has said that ‘Feel’ is “awfully close” to the Pumpkins’ song ‘Tales Of A Scorched Earth’.

“James has written some of the greatest, most amazing riffs, and he’s still writing them. But if you listen to ‘Tales Of A Scorched Earth’ and you listen to that Metallica song, ‘Give me fuel, give me fire, give me that which I desire.’ … Now, which song came first?”

He continued, outlining that he doesn’t harbour any frustration over the move as he doesn’t think it was done deliberately. “Now, I don’t think James would rip anything off from me, but the first time I heard [‘Fuel’], I was, like, ‘That’s awfully close’… But I love me some James.”

Recently, it emerged that Metallica and Linkin Park had been set to earn several million dollars apiece for their headline sets at Sick New World 2025, before the festival was cancelled.