Pearl Jam’s Jeff Ament Joins Metallica At Helping Hands Benefit Concert In Los Angeles

Metallica closed out their 2024 on Friday with the band’s fourth annual Helping Hands benefit concert at the YouTube Theater in Los Angeles. The metal icons treated attendees to performances of deep cuts, rare covers and staples with special guests emerging throughout including Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament.

The 13-song performance was split into acoustic and electric sets. San Francisco musicians Avi Vinocur and Henry Salvia augmented Metallica for their unplugged set at the YouTube Theater.

Metallica launched the benefit with their first “Low Man’s Lyric” performance since September 13, 1998. The band then broke out a cover of Diamond Head’s “Helpless,” which they’d last played back on April 7, 2018. Next came a debut performance of Bachman-Turner Overdrive’s “Away From Home.” SistaStrings then joined Metallica, Vinocur and Salvia for their first acoustic “If Darkness Had A Son” and the beloved “Nothing Else Matters.”

“Orion” got the call to open the electric set. Metallica then performed “The Shortest Straw,” “Until It Sleeps” and “Screaming Suicide.” Avi Vincour returned to the stage to accompany Metallica on the subsequent “The Unforgiven II,” which had been shelved since September 16, 2015. Vinocur stayed out and Salvia rejoined the fray for a new arrangement of fan-favorite “Fuel.”

Metallica brought out Jeff Ament for the ensuing “Hit The Lights.” Ament and Metallica’s Robert Trujillo shared bass duties on the Kill ‘Em All classic. The band then went it alone to punctuate the night with “Master Of Puppets.”

Watch fan-shot video from Metallica’s fourth annual Helping Hands benefit below:

Proceeds from Friday’s concert will benefit Metallica’s All Within My Hands Foundation. The organization “is dedicated to creating sustainable communities by supporting workforce education, the fight against hunger and other critical local services.” Official video of the benefit premieres on YouTube this Thursday, December 19.