How Lars Ulrich Is Preparing For Metallica’s Two-Year Long Tour | Conan O'Brien Needs A Friend

the first thing I wanted to mention is I. believe you and I are the same age uh. born the same year 63 6 I'm 77. okay now. I was born in 1963. yeah me too so we're. both the same age and you guys are. headed out on a tour uh the M72 tour and. you guys are leaving this is going to. come out pretty soon this tour you've. got this this new album 72 seasons and. I've been listening to this one tracks. at this one track Lux at Turner on it. which. doesn't just track and I'm thinking.

these guys have not lost a step well. thank you no but I mean this could have. been 1981. it's stunning to me you you guys uh you. know what you're doing you know exactly. what you're doing and uh here it is all. these years later you're headed out on. this massive year this massive tour. that's going to last two years if. someone told me I was going out for two. weeks on a tour right now I would find. the nearest chair and beat them with it. run over to Jack's house yeah yes yeah I.

would hide under all his CDs I don't. know how how do you I mean at this point. in your life the physicality the amount. of determination it takes uh it's it. just blows my mind. the easy answer is that it doesn't get. any easier whatsoever and and I as I've. been explaining this in the last week or. two as I've started hearing myself do. interviews again about this around this. new project it it takes.

twice the effort or more just to reach. the same level just to Plateau so it's. not you know I'm on the Peloton an hour. and a half a day and I'm working out and. I'm watching what I'm eating and I'm. being healthy and all that to get better. it's just to stay the same at this age. but um you know I take it seriously all. of us in our own ways take it seriously. all of us have different routines on. unique ways of approaching it and the. main thing is that when we get up on.

that stage we want to be there for the. other guys in the band and obviously for. the audience and and be the best we can. be I do find myself uh. often at a sort of Crossroads in my mind. where it's like I I eat the same. for breakfast every day I eat the same. for lunch every day I more or less. the same thing for dinner every day I'm. very very routine based and I really. like to be in that routine but as soon. as I'm out of that routine it's like.

I Need My Tofu for dinner and I need my. protein and I need this and that and. then I kind of sit there and go really. you can't just go to a restaurant with. your friends and have like what's on the. menu you gotta be that rigid so so there. is that that kind of rigid thing that. you really feel that that's how you get. to the place where you can be your best. every day at those shows. the other side of that if you could sit. here with your 22 year old and go really.

that's what you've become so it's sort. of it's like it's a constant it's a. constant battle between those two. approaches but somebody said a couple. weeks ago when I was explaining these. new lifestyle choices as we call them he. said um uh you know it sounds like you. you you if it feels good to feel good. yeah and I like that I I still. occasionally drink it but it's like it's. like once a month now and I eat my.

protein and my yogurt and my egg whites. and My Tofu you know you're describing. the rock and roll dream that's right you. know. people want to keep doing this there are. so many kids. there's so many kids since like 1981. that'd be like I I want to be James. Hetfield I want to be Lars Ulrich you. know that's my dream and uh to find out. later on that it's well okay tell. everyone egg whites nine hours of sleep.

a night hydrate avoid the sun. um check your stool every day to make. sure there's no corn in there. um just. this is but you know it's the way life. goes this is the way girls you know the. best this is a my favorite analogy uh my. favorite analogy for life and aging and. it's not funny but it's very profound. and it's something that I think about a. lot is that when you're born you're.

dropped into a fast current and so you. don't even have to do anything and you. just start growing taller you start. getting muscle you start you know. everything and and then the current. starts to slow down in your late 20s. early 30s and then 40 and then the. current kind of stands still so in order. to make any progress you need to kind of. but then the current starts moving. against you so that in order to just. stay in the same place you need to start. doing butterfly strokes and working hard.

and what you're describing makes sense. which is. um what we were just doing in uh. Norway shooting uh this this TV project. I had to I did the same thing as you. yeah I was my weight and I was working. out I was I was eating right and. everything just so I could run around. and be the jackass that I was 25 years. exactly yeah uh doing nothing and and. you know what uh I mean as as easy it is.

to make fun of and we can sit here and. blah blah blah but I I like when I'm up. on stage and I feel strong and I'm in. that moment and the four of us are. connecting and we're connecting with an. audience whatever the size is all of. it's worth it yeah all of it's worth it. and I do actually. um I'm 20 pounds lighter now than I was. at the peak or the bottom however you. look at it of the pandemic and I. actually feel good and you know.

proactive and we get done and we. move forward and it's it's kind of. cool and it's not you can't do what you. do you cannot do those shows and and you. just cannot do it I mean I to think. about what it takes you know the caloric. burn but also the concentration it's. also the mental element of it if you. feel good. like the analogy for instance with. alcohol is that if I have a couple. glasses of wine a couple glasses of. champagne it's not really going to.

affect the show the next day but a. couple of glasses of wine will affect my. sleep because then I gotta go up and go. to the bathroom two three times or. whatever and then the Sleep effects the. mood the next day and then the mood and. the sleep and all that then affects. the two and a half hours on stage so. there's a domino effect at play here. that you have to be respectful to but. listen. um who would have thought that you know. coming up on 41 years later that. Metallica would still be functioning.

would still be. relevant enough to be you know sitting. here with you guys thank you very much. still welcome you know uh you know going. out going out there and playing um you. know. going out there and playing a two-year. tour and and putting records out that. still uh connect with people and you. know even in the wake of something like. strangers things last summer I know that. was crazy reaching more and more people.

who the would have thought that. 40 years ago or even if even if we were. sitting even if we were sitting 20 years. ago and going. in 23 you know the biggest rock bands in. the world would be the chili peppers and. guns and roses and AC DC and Metallica. or whatever you would be going no. there'll be a whole new younger. generation coming in and dethroning. everybody you know who was big 20 years. ago and we'll all be you know in.

retirement homes somewhere and we're. still out here doing it and guns are. still out here doing it and AC DC is out. here and so on and so forth that's a. crazy thing and who would again thought. you know if you take it a step further. and say you know McCartney just turned. 80. he's still out there yeah jackers. doing all those sexy bum Wiggles better. than he's ever done and connected but I. mean he's doing it against his own he. can't stop you know now it's involuntary. nobody. was always that way it's a spasm it's.

but I mean it's it's certainly uh it's. inspiring and I think that as long as. the shoulders and the necks and their. knees and the backs and all of if they. keep functioning on the four uh. Metallica guys we'll keep doing this. hopefully for another 20 years egg. whites and tofu included.