Craziest Metallica Show Ever Happened In Las Cruces

Metallica have been to El Paso a number of times and they have played Las Cruces twice. Their 1997 Cruces visit happened at the same time as something else.

READ MORE: Every Time Metallica Has Played The Borderland

KLAQ is kicking off the month of May-tallica with a block of Metallica songs in our weekly, Weekend Starter 6 Pack Friday at 5pm. We'll wrap up May-tallica the same way but, to get the ball rolling, here's the story of their weirdest visit to the Borderland.

January, 1997, Metallica were set to play their 3rd ... and, so far, last ... concert  in Las Cruces in the Pan Am Center with Korn opening but 2 things went wrong.

What Happened To Metallica In Las Cruces?

Nothing happened to Metallica but their fans had a helluva night. It was business as usual around the Borderland but we were getting one of those rare "winter moments". El Paso and Las Cruces don't see a lot of snow but we were in for some that night.

Blizzard In El Paso

Snow was in the forecast but nobody expected the snow-mageddon that hit. Conditions worsened throughout the day as the storm approached from the north, From Colorado to Las Cruces, highways were being closed one after another. A friend was coming from Grand Junction to meet us at the show and he had to lie to cops at roadblock after roadblock to get them to let him proceed. He kept telling them he only had 1 more exit to go so they'd let him pass.

I-10 Closed Between El Paso And Las Cruces

Yep. Completely. Whether you were in El Paso or Las Cruces; you weren't leaving. Backroads were the only option, my friend and I made it via Highway 28 with zero visibility. I had the passenger door cracked and was watching the white line between us and the irrigation ditches, telling my friend if he got to far over it or from it.

Metallica Had An Accident

This was before social media, cameras with video capability, etc so, there were no "leaks" as to what you could expect at a show. No spoilers at all so, we were all shocked when an equipment failure caused a couple of roadies to fall from the light truce, a pyro malfunction set off several explosions, (knocking band members to the floor), and some guy caught on fire.  The fun starts about 5:11 - language NSFW.

They even had the medics in on it so they were all rushing into action. At least, I think they were in on it. They may have been just as freaked out as the rest of us. In light of the natural disaster happening just outside, on that night, it was even easier to believe things were truly breaking down.  That trick's grown up too, by the way ...

It was crazy and, thanks to the freak winter storm, no exterior doors or windows were open so ventilation sucked and our eyes were stinging from all the pyro smoke.

Afterwards, many were forced to spend the night in the Pan Am Center as there were no hotel rooms to be had. The Red Cross even brought in food and water. A night to remember, for sure.

Here's the set list from that night.