Paranoia sets in at Luton airport – beware of beards!! James Hetfield, lead singer for Metallica, was held at Luton because of suspicions he might have been a terrorist.

James Hetfield, the frontman with US metal rockers Metallica, was apparently questioned by security officials at Luton airport when arriving for the Live Earth gig at Wembley. Friends put it down to his “Taliban-like beard”.

The Times

I initially thought this was amusing, and then I remembered that an email I sent to my sister-in-law, who lives in London, was blocked because I discussed the recent terror attacks with her. Since we’ve had no statement, for all we know he was detained because of the more usual rock star deviance of drugs?

Metallica were actually travelling to England to perform at Wembley Stadium for LiveEarth, followed by their own show the next night at the same venue.

Are we going crazy with anti-terror precautions? Maybe, but then, James Hetfield’s beard is perhaps crazy in its own right. Personally, I’m looking at it this way – we’ve had BandAid, WaveAid (Boxing-Day tsunami victims), Live8, and LiveEarth. Next, TaliAid, for those of us who are discriminated against and put down under suspicions of being a terrorist.

In other LiveEarth news, a group named Carbon Footprint have calculated that 100,000 trees will need to be planted to offset the pollution caused by the concerts. The Sydney show was marred by the fact that the queues for beer were too long – leading to people who had made it to the bar being offered as much as $AUD50 for a glass.

Header image is of Hetfield performing in Portugal on 6/28. Thanks to WENN for this image.