Bangalore headbangs to Metallica

Rock music frenzy swept the sprawling Palace Grounds in this garden city where heavy metal band Metallica gave its first ever live performance in India, putting the fiasco over Friday's cancelled Gurgaon concert behind.

Heavy metal fans in India finally got a taste of the four-member American band's performance today, chanting "Metallica" braving sharp showers that pounded the city for more than an hour in two spells.

The performance, which was to be the second for Metallica in India, turned out to be its maiden show following the abrupt cancellation of its concert at the Leisure Valley in Gurgaon on Friday over "security issues".

Four organisers from the event management company DNA Networks were arrested on charges of breach of trust and cheating, a day after the event was first deferred ostensibly due to technical hitches and then cancelled.

The sudden cancellation of the eagerly-awaited event provoked a section of 20,000 fans to vandalise the venue.

But there were no glitches in the band's performance here today, as guitarist Kirk Hammett, drummer Lars Ulrich, lead vocalist Jamesh Hetfeild and bassist Robert Trujillo regaled the packed audience.

The organisers of the Vladivar Rock 'N India took caution to ensure that the concert passed off without any glitch. More than 1,000 police personnel were deployed on security duty.

About 22,000 tickets were sold for the concert, according to organisers.

As music buffs poured into the venue and began to take vantage spots to witness the dazzling show of the popular band, clouds opened up in the sky.

To keep the large gathering engaged, two bands - Inner Spectrum from the city and Guillotine from New Delhi - did a opening act and glued the drenched fans to music for more than 90 minutes.

The crowd erupted in joy when Metallica took the stage to play some of their hits, much to the delight of their fans.