In 1988, metal band Queensrÿche opened for Metallica on their “Damaged Justice” tour. Things got tense during their stop in Finland, however, when a fan from the audience threw a glass bottle at Queensrÿche’s guitarist Michael Wilton.
In a recent interview with Southeast Wreck Metal, former Queensrÿche frontman Geoff Tate recalled the incident:
“[Guitarist Michael Wilton] did a really interesting thing [at that show]. I applaud him for his courage, really. But it was a giant bottle of vodka that came flying up on stage, and it hit the neck of his guitar as he was playing it and it shattered all the strings. So the guitar just made this horrible sound.
“And so he was kind of standing there for a second, and he just grabbed another guitar and he finished the solo that he was playing. That was amazing. He missed like — I don’t know — five or six notes, but he got back on it and played the whole solo through. And because he did that, the audience just went, ‘Yes!’ It was pretty amazing that he did that.
“Metallica had a huge presence in Finland at that time. And, yeah, we were the opening act. So a lot of people were just waiting for us to get off the stage. But we made them listen.”
Queensrÿche had a better experience with Metallica fans when they played at the 1991 Day on the Green Festival, which also featured performances by Soundgarden and Faith No More.
“I remember that was a very good day. We played very well, had great crowd reception, every band was just on fire that played, and there was a great feeling in the audience. It was heavy music, but it wasn’t like a violent sort of atmosphere – it was chill, really chill,” Tate told Let There Be Talk in an interview from 2022.
“I was very familiar with Metallica by that time, and it was just great to hear them just tearing it up in that venue at Day at the Green as we were leaving. ‘Go for it, guys.’ They were having a good show too.”
