LOUISVILLE, Ky. — September 26, 2021 — The final day of Louder Than Life 2021 already had plenty going for it. Judas Priest was celebrating 50 years of heavy metal, Metallica was returning for its second headlining set of the weekend, and the Highland Festival Grounds were packed for one last day of music.
By the time Sunday night was over, considerably more had happened than anyone standing in the crowd realized.
Barrelassin’ was there for the final day, with Judas Priest and Metallica at the top of the list. Beyond the stages, the festival grounds offered plenty to explore between sets, including a guitar tent where instruments were already plugged in and festivalgoers could sit down, pick one up and play. Eddie Van Halen’s image on the outside made the stop particularly hard to miss.
Judas Priest, Kirk Hammett and Greeny
Judas Priest arrived in Louisville in the middle of its 50 Heavy Metal Years tour, reaching across decades of material with songs including “You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’,” “Turbo Lover,” “Victim of Changes” and “Hell Bent for Leather.”
Then came a collaboration that connected several generations of rock history.
Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett joined Judas Priest onstage for “The Green Manalishi (With the Two Prong Crown),” a song originally written by Fleetwood Mac’s Peter Green and later made a longtime part of the Judas Priest catalog.
Hammett brought an especially appropriate guitar with him: Greeny, his famed 1959 Gibson Les Paul that once belonged to Peter Green.
For a few minutes at Louder Than Life, Kirk Hammett was playing Peter Green’s guitar on a Peter Green song alongside Judas Priest.
What happened later in the set was considerably more serious, although virtually no one watching knew it at the time.
What the Crowd Couldn’t See
Judas Priest’s set ended with “Painkiller.”
From the audience, there was no indication of the full extent of what was happening onstage. We were actually left wondering why “Breaking the Law,” one of the band’s signature songs, hadn’t made an appearance.
Only afterward did the significance of those final minutes become clear.
During “Painkiller,” guitarist Richie Faulkner suffered a catastrophic medical emergency. Faulkner later described feeling something go wrong in his chest while performing, but he continued playing and finished the song.
What had happened wasn’t simply a heart attack. Faulkner suffered an aortic aneurysm and complete aortic dissection — an immediately life-threatening condition.
After leaving the stage, Faulkner was rushed to a nearby Louisville hospital, where he underwent emergency open-heart surgery lasting roughly 10 hours.
For those of us standing in the crowd, none of that was apparent. Judas Priest’s performance had simply ended.
Looking back, that may be the most remarkable part of the story: while thousands of people had just watched Faulkner finish “Painkiller,” almost none of us knew what he had managed to play through.
And there was still one enormous performance ahead.
Metallica Had a Surprise
Metallica had already headlined Louder Than Life two nights earlier, on Friday, with the festival promising two unique sets from the band.
Sunday was different.
After opening with “Hardwired,” “The Four Horsemen” and “Welcome Home (Sanitarium),” Metallica revealed what was coming next.
2021 marked the 30th anniversary of the band’s 1991 self-titled album, universally known as The Black Album. Rather than simply pulling a few anniversary favorites into the set, Metallica played the album.
The whole thing.
And they played it backward.
Beginning with the album’s final track, “The Struggle Within,” Metallica worked in reverse through all 12 songs — “My Friend of Misery,” “The God That Failed,” “Of Wolf and Man,” “Nothing Else Matters,” “Through the Never,” “Don’t Tread on Me,” “Wherever I May Roam,” “The Unforgiven,” “Holier Than Thou” and “Sad but True” — until eventually arriving at the album’s opening track, “Enter Sandman.”
It was the first time since 2012 that Metallica had performed The Black Album in its entirety and only the second time the band had ever performed the complete album in the United States.
The night wasn’t quite finished. Metallica returned for “Blackened” and “Creeping Death,” closing both the set and the 2021 Louder Than Life weekend.
One Day That Looks Different in Hindsight
September 26 already felt like a major festival day while it was happening. Looking back, the pieces make it considerably more remarkable.
Kirk Hammett joined Judas Priest and played Peter Green’s own guitar on “The Green Manalishi.” Richie Faulkner somehow completed “Painkiller” while experiencing a medical emergency that would send him directly into hours of life-saving surgery. Then Metallica closed the festival by celebrating 30 years of The Black Album with a complete, back-to-front performance.
Some concert memories become more interesting with time because of what happens afterward.
This one became more remarkable because of what was happening while we were standing there — and didn’t even know.
