The Times Paul Peterson, who’s played drums around town for years, caught Metallica’s loquacious drummer Lars Ulrich on the phone in St. Louis in advance of Saturday’s show at Alltel.

Do you happen to recall a brief stop in a little Arkansas town called Bald Knob about 27 years ago?

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Oh yeah. It was a field full of moss and mosquitoes and large insects probably I’d never seen before. It was August of 1983 and it was about 140 degrees and 95 percent humidity and not a very fun place to wake up when you’re very hung over. I think we played to about 12 people on a big slab in the middle of the Balk Knob amphitheatre. Had a good time doing it and lived to talk about it.

So, one month into the tour. How’s it treating you?

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It’s going great. You know, we haven’t played the States in about four years so it’s good to be back. Nice to feel a little American love, a little American energy. We haven’t been indoors sine ’04, so it’s cool. We’re playing in the round, in the middle there, having some fun, kind of getting our chops. It’s a different energy, playing in the middle. We change the set list every night. We have a couple of great support acts out here. I’m happy. 

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