METALLICA frontman James Hetfield took the time to make a congratulatory phone call to the woman who gave birth during the band’s concert in Brazil last weekend.
Tattoo artist and METALLICA fan Joice M. Figueiró was 39 weeks pregnant when she attended the concert on Saturday night (May 7) at the Estádio Couto Pereira in Curitiba.
After contractions started during METALLICA‘s set, Figueiro’s water broke on the way to the event’s outpatient clinic leaving no time to take her to the maternity hospital.
“Luan Figueiró came into the world on 05/07/2022 at 23:15 shaking all the metal structures”, she wrote on Instagram.
According to Figueiró, the band were ripping through “Enter Sandman“, at the moment of the child’s birth.
On Tuesday (May 10), Figueiró shared a short video on social media in which she and her husband, Jaime Figueiró, can be seen receiving a phone call from James Hetfield.
“This is James from METALLICA. Congratulations, you guys,” Hetfield says. “Oh my God. Hi,” Joice responds. “I cry.”
Joice relayed to her Instagram followers that the phone call went on for seven minutes and that she recorded all of it. “I have no more words,” she added.
Speaking with The Washington Post, Joice said about the experience of giving birth at a METALLICA concert: “It was a mix of emotions. Since it wasn’t planned, I was scared that the medical team wouldn’t be ready. But there’s also the feeling of being able to tell people that this happened because METALLICA is one of the bands we love the most.”
After hundreds of fellow fans asked her whether METALLICA would be honored in her baby’s name, she told The Washington Post: “I joked that his name would be James Ulrich” — a mash-up of Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich. “But really, since this name question has brought up great appeal and we haven’t registered him, we’re thinking of maybe adding a [middle] name and putting some homage in there.”
The name “Sandman” was ultimately ruled out.
“Remember, this is the name he’ll carry throughout his whole life,” she said. “He’ll get bullied with the name ‘Sandman.’ He already has enough of a story to tell.”
You can check out the video for yourself below.