Watch Metallica honour Elton John with a badass cover of Funeral For A Friend / Love Lies Bleeding

There’s been a long-running and very wholesome mutual love and respect between Metallica and Elton John – from the Rocket Man appearing on 2021’s huge The Blacklist Album, to calling Nothing Else Matters “one of the best songs ever written” in an interview and making James Hetfield well up.

And now, ’Tallica are sharing their appreciation right back, honouring Elton and his equally legendary songwriting partner Bernie Taupin at a tribute concert in Washington, D.C. for the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song.

Papa Het and co. joined everyone from Joni Mitchell to Charlie Puth at the event, which celebrated a whopping 56 years of Elton and Bernie’s music. And they chose to cover 1973 two-song medley Funeral For A Friend / Love Lies Bleeding (taken from Elton’s iconic Goodbye Yellow Brick Road album) for their fantastic segment of the show.

Sharing a snippet of the performance, Metallica posted: “Sir Elton John helped cover Nothing Else Matters on The Metallica Blacklist in 2021, and tonight, you can see us return the favour! Tune in to PBS to catch our rendition of Funeral For A Friend / Love Lies Bleeding at this year’s Gershwin Prize for Popular Music, celebrating the achievements of Elton John and his writing partner, Bernie Taupin.”

Check it out below:

Catch Metallica back in Europe at the following dates this year:

May

24 Munich, DE – Olympiastadion
26 Munich, DE – Olympiastadion

June

7 Helsinki, FI – Olympic Stadium
9 Helsinki, FI – Olympic Stadium
14 Copenhagen, DK – Parken Stadium
16 Copenhagen, DK – Parken Stadium

July

5 Warsaw, PL – PGE Narodowy
7 Warsaw, PL – PGE Narodowy
12 Madrid, ES – Estadio Cívitas Metropolitano
14 Madrid, ES – Estadio Cívitas Metropolitano

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