I saw Metallica live once. It was at the Toledo Sports Arena on November 15, 1988. I believe it was their first headlining gig in the U.S. on a major tour. It was the Justice album tour, Queensryche opened up for them. It was my first rock concert, and still the best I have ever seen. They came out for four encore performances, Unbelieveable! I had been a fan since 1984 when Lightning first came out.
Then they came out with the Black Album, which I never really liked as much as their previous stuff. I've never seen them live since, and haven't bought any of their albums. Heard some songs from the Load albums on the radio and laughed. The last I ever even heard anything from them was "Some Kind of Monster" movie on VH1. Compare this to the classic documentary "Cliff 'em All." What a joke...
I'll never buy their stupid crap again. Has nothing to do with Napster, cutting their hair, or anything else besides THEIR MUSIC SUCKS!!
About Mikael and Metallica, at the Prog Nation tour in Detroit, he was doing "guess this riff." He played "To live is to die" and commented that without that song Opeth would not exist. So it seems he is at least a fan of their eighties stuff.