Former Metallica bassist Jason Newsted recently took a trip down memory lane, recounting a bizarre and dangerous incident that forced the heavy metal legends to abruptly halt a live performance.
During a new episode of Rolling Stone‘s “Nashville Now” podcast, Newsted sat down alongside Blackberry Smoke frontman Charlie Starr to discuss their current joint tour. The conversation eventually steered toward the topic of unruly crowds throwing objects at the stage, prompting the bassist to share a wild story from his tenure with the thrash metal titans.
The dangerous situation unfolded in the late 1980s. Starr had mentioned catching a Metallica gig alongside The Cult following the release of their 1989 album, Sonic Temple. According to Newsted, the gig in question took place at a rural Canadian arena that hadn’t completely sold out. To adjust for the smaller crowd, the venue staff hung a curtain and pushed the stage forward, which placed the upper-level seating practically directly above the band.
“We’re playing a few songs and all of a sudden [points down], it’s a dart. I look over at James [Hetfield] and… another one. I go, ‘Dude,’ the no-words communication thing,” Newsted said (via Loudwire).
He noted that several more sharp darts flew past the musicians, with one narrowly missing Hetfield‘s shoe.
“So he stops it, [that was] maybe the fourth time I remember that we ever stopped a show and it was usually for something like this. When we saw too much blood or too much this or somebody’s arm getting pulled out, we’d stop the show for a second,” Newsted continued.
As soon as the frontman hit the brakes on the performance, the circle pits ground to a halt and the entire audience directed their attention toward the stage. Picking up one of the thrown projectiles, a furious Hetfield held it in the air and yelled: “What the f**k!”
Fortunately, the audience took matters into their own hands. The crowd and security guards immediately shined lasers and flashlights on the culprit, with several attendees tackling him before local sheriffs escorted him out of the building. Newsted expressed deep appreciation for the crowd’s “self-policing nature.”
“Anyway, stuff does get thrown on the stage for sure,” he concluded.
During the same interview, Newsted detailed the deep depression he faced during his recovery and how it ultimately motivated his summer return to the stage with his Americana project, The Chophouse Band.
The legendary musician, who famously anchored the low end for Metallica from 1986 to 2001, received his initial throat cancer diagnosis in 2025 and was only recently given a clean bill of health. Discussing the daunting aftermath of his intense medical procedures, Newsted explained his drive to push past his doctor’s recommended recovery timeline and get back out on the road.
“About a year ago, they found some throat cancer, and so I had some pretty serious procedure. And so I’m, yeah, 300 and whatever days out, nearing 400 days out. And I’ve got some healing to do. They told me to wait till about August or so to start trying to do anything, but I really want to bet on myself and have some incentive and all that kind of thing,” he said.
While the physical recovery was incredibly taxing, Newsted admitted that the psychological weight of the diagnosis pushed him into an uncharacteristically dark mindset. Overwhelmed by the terrifying reality of the situation, he described feeling entirely ready to give up before a renewed focus on his physical health and creative output pulled him out of the abyss.
“I had to claw back. I had to claw my way back,” he continued. “The depression, the level of depression was so severe that you just… A couple of times, I’d never been the kind of person that would say that or even had that kind of thinking, but [I felt], like, ‘Dude, f**k this.’ I done did what I did, been blessed very much. Great friends, a way to be still, just f**king let… Like, ‘Okay, man, just take me now, motherf**ker,’ that type of thing, for a couple weeks. And I started getting back out of it. I started swimming again, got back on my bike, doing my things, doing my things, getting some sun, playing some music, meeting some people, keeping my head out, writing some more songs, doing all the things. The planets started aligning. I thought, ‘I need to go out and play these songs for people.’ You felt so close to dead. How you go the exact opposite of that, all the f**king way over here like this, is to go out and play for people. Express. Let them hear your stories, your new songs. Tell your stories with your songs. F**k no, they ain’t perfect. No. No. Nope. They’re just what they are. I do what I can with what I got and what’s left, okay? So now stepping into new worlds, even though I’ve been where I’ve been, a bunch of new things for me, like starting over.”
