I met Metallica's James Hetfield at Rock am Ring festival this weekend where they performed in front of 80,000 fans. He didn't tell me whether he will go to any of the games but drummer Lars Ulrich took a cup of beer and kicked it into the enthusiasticly cheering crowd remarking that Denmark is not in the final round. Ulrich was born in Gentofte/Denmark but has been living in the USA since 1979. I had a great time at the festival but am suffering from a severe sore throat and lack of sleep: "Exit light, enter night." PS: Guns N' Roses performed at Rock am Ring as well. It was disappointing, by far not as sleazy and dirty as they used to be. Axl Rose has a complete new band (except for old tour keyboarder Dizzy Reed) gathered around him. No Slash, no Izzy Stradlin, no Duff McKagan and no Steven Adler. And Axl has become slow. His movements on the stage all seemed like slo-mo to me. At least he tried. The old songs were extended to epic lengths with painfully long solo parts. And they performed new songs as well who, honestly, I think hardly anyone cared about.