The move prompted protest from a few hundred Metallica fans, so the BBC issued an apology and explanation for this decision. According to the Guardian "The BBC was at pains to point out that the decision was not taken out of 'prejudice about heavy metal music or any other music'."

"We received complaints from some viewers that the Metalica [sic] set was not shown in full," BBC said in a statement on their complaint site. "This was a global event and we were keen to reflect the other concerts as well as the one in UK.