Breaking Sound Festival

Metallica played the first of two days at the Breaking Sound Festival at La Rotonde, Le Bourget, France, August 29, 1984. Other acts that day included Ozzy Osbourne, Gary Moore, Bullet, High Power, and Sortilège. Raphaël Mercier of Mass Hysteria was at the festival and remembered, "My first hard-rock concert was the Breaking Sound Festival in August '84. I was 13-14 years old, and I went there with the guys I played with, all my metal friends from the Château-Thierry area where I lived...On the atmosphere side, a completely drunk guy left on a stretcher crying because Mercyful Fate had not come...Among the bands I really wanted to see was Metallica. Kill 'Em All had been released a year earlier and it gave me one of those slaps…I never got over it. When we arrived at the festival, some guys in their cars were listening to Ride The Lightning...I think a lot of people were there for them...Hetfield already had a crazy charisma. What was nice is that it was quite easy to approach the groups. The guys from Metallica and High Power came to sign autographs, Vivian Campbell too, James Hetfield was walking around in the audience." ​

IMAGES:​
Postcard featuring James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Cliff Burton, and Kirk Hammett at the Breaking Sound Festival, backstage at La Rotonde, Le Bourget, France, August 29, 1984. From the Collection of Lars Ulrich​

Musicians and crew at the Breaking Sound Festival, backstage at La Rotonde, Le Bourget, France, August 29, 1984. From the Collection of James Hetfield​

Lars Ulrich's personal Kill 'Em All for One tour shirt. Lars is seen wearing this shirt in photos taken at the Breaking Sound Festival, Le Bourget, France, August 29, 1984. From the Collection of James Hetfield