
Thin Lizzy‘s founding guitarist Eric Bell has branded Metallica a “pack of bastards” after the heavy metal icons allegedly failed to pay him for a gig.

Bell was invited to play ‘Whiskey In The Jar’ with the legendary rockers as they played Dublin’s Point Theatre on July 5, 1999.

The band flew Eric on a return trip from the UK to Dublin in their private plane, but he says he was surprised when the band failed to pay him £2,000 after the show.


Despite reaching no agreement on the fee, he thought he was being paid when a member of Metallica’s crew came over to say goodbye at the private airfield.

“It was about half three in the morning. The transport was all lined up, and there was a car to take me home,” he told The Irish Sun.

“I was quietly expecting about two grand, which wouldn’t have meant a thing to them. But I got handed over a big ball of Metallica t-shirts, key rings and hats. I got paid fuck all. Then they all fucked off.

“It wasn’t until I was sitting in my car on the way home I realised they hadn’t paid me. I thought I’d get something in the post but not a dickie bird.

“Later somebody tried to get in touch with Metallica to get me something but they found it impossible and they gave up.

“They are a pack of bastards. I couldn’t believe what they did, especially as they are so well off. I should have been paid £2,000 but got fuck all”

“It’s pure ignorance really. I should have been paid £2,000 at least but I got fuck all from them.”

He added: “If Metallica ever asked me to guest with them again, I’d ask for five grand in advance. In cash so I’d know I had it in my pocket.”

Eric also says that he’d never heard Metallica’s version of the Irish folk song – which was also popularised in 1973 by Thin Lizzy’s cover and Eric’s striking guitar solo on the track.

“I’d heard that Metallica had been covering Whiskey in the Jar, when out of the blue I got a call from an American guy saying that he worked for Metallica who were on a world tour,” he said.

“He said they would really ­appreciate it if I would come and do Whiskey in the Jar with the boys in Dublin.

“I said, ‘OK, but can you tell me something about it?’ When I said I’d never heard Metallica covering Whiskey in the Jar, he asked what planet I was on.”

Metallica most recently returned to Ireland in June, when they played a huge show at Dublin’s Slane Castle. The metal icons will return for a string of US festival headline shows next summer, their first dates since frontman James Hetfield entered rehab in September for substance abuse.