Throughout their M72 Australian tour, Metallica have paid tribute to local acts during lead guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Rob Trujillo’s “doodle” segment.

In Perth, they played a snippet of the John Butler Trio’s Zebra, which led to Butler sharing a cover of Enter Sandman last week. In Adelaide, they honoured The Angels by playing Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again. So, fans in Melbourne waited with bated breath to hear which local band they’d pay tribute to.

On Saturday (8 November), Hammett and Trujillo kicked off their doodle with a teaser of INXS’s Don’t Change, before revealing the local act they’d honour in Melbourne: The Living End. The pair launched into the punk rock classic; the bass and guitar interplay was thrilling, and Trujillo got the crowd shouting when he started singing the lyrics.

While The Living End shared footage of the cover on their Instagram Stories on Saturday and Sunday, fans were likely waiting for a cover in return, like John Butler, or a reaction. Lead singer Chris Cheney satisfied fans’ wishes.

Taking to social media, he shared a story about when The Living End lost a Battle of the Bands competition to a group that played Metallica’s Enter Sandman and expressed how funny life turns out. Cheney wrote:

What even??? 1992 Wheelers Hill High School held a battle of the bands. The newly formed Runaway Boys entered and played (naturally) Rock this town by The Stray Cats. It was pretty good; I thought we might even have it in the bag. The band after us had other ideas.

They were called Texas Rose and proceeded to play a super version of ‘enter sandman’ by @metallica which was far more appealing to the audience and judges than our happy days get up and rockabilly licks! They simply stole the show and won.

If I wasn’t bummed enough already, the bass player came up to me afterwards with a big grin and said “hehe we beat you!” Ouch! Well guess what mother fucker, Metallica are now covering our song in front of 50,000 people! Stick that in your pipe and smoke it! Funny old life innit.  @thelivingendaus 🤘⚡️⚡️

You can watch the cover and check out Chris Cheney’s reaction below.

The Living End began their I Only Trust Rock ‘n’ Roll Australian tour on Saturday. For the shows, the band are highlighting their new album of the same name, as well as honouring their self-titled debut album by playing it in its entirety.

Metallica continue their Australian tour in Brisbane (Wednesday, 12 November) and Sydney (Saturday, 15 November). The tour marks their first shows in Australia since headlining Soundwave Festival in 2013 and sees the American metal icons joined by special guests Evanescence and Suicidal Tendencies.

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