28-12-2009Live reviews - Metallica
Five star review from the Sonisphere Festival
It had been a long 14 years since I had seen the juggernaut that is Metallica live due to a multitude of different reasons, mostly which revolved around the great personal disappointment I felt in their poor late 90's output coupled with me not actually being around much - their Donington Monsters of Rock 'Escape from the Studio' in 1995 being the last time I experienced the wonder of the live Metallica show.
2003's St Anger rekindled my interest in the band albeit tentatively, as that album could have been so much yet didn't deliver its true potential. Where however St Anger failed to fully pull my trigger, Death Magnetic effectively delivered rapid fire right onto the target. Kilimanjaro chief executive Stuart Galbraith (the man behind the Sonisphere entity) had announced in the Press conference earlier in the day that in the ten years he'd been working with the band, he hadn't seen them as good as they had been on the current 6 week summer festival tour and that they were absolutely 'at the top of their game'. I awaited their set like a giddy kid, my anticipation and enthusiasm bubbling right over. At 8.30pm, the Rocksnail crew got their kit on, left the tent and fought their way down to as close to the stage as they could. Bring it on.
The massive lights on the huge Sonisphere Main Stage rapidly dimmed in the fading summer sunlight, casting an eerie glow over the stage where they would soon be appearing. The crowd noise answered immediately, escalating from a fairly steady chatter to a monstrous roar, all natural lines of site to the stage blocked by raised manic thrashing arms and pumping fists. On the giant screens adorning stage left and right, the spaghetti western The Good the Bad and the Ugly graveyard scene with the lone figure of the bandit Tuco darting between the tombstones appeared, coinciding perfectly with Ennio Morricone's epic piece of music 'The Ecstasy of Gold'. When you hear that music, the hairs on your arms and the back of your neck immediately stand to attention and goose bumps rip through your flesh because it could only mean one thing " Metallica are coming.
Once Morricone's escalating piece had done its job, it gave way to the welcomingly familiar meandering whine taken straight from the start of the ...And Justice for All album, signalling the beginning of Blackened and suddenly, in massive plumes of flame from either side of the stage (thankfully nowhere near Hetfield ....) the band exploded into the bright lights and we were off. Welcome back boys.
Slightly behind the front line, the diminutive but very audible Lars Ulrich pounded out the formula one paced beat; flanked to his left by Kirk Hammett who was bent over his guitar furiously shredding like it was the last live performance of his life, to his right by the thick set throbbing rhythm section anchorman Rob Trujillo and of course, front and centre, the one and only crowd slayer himself, James Hetfield, viciously spitting out "Blackened is the end, winter it will send, throwing all you see, into obscurity". The sound was crystal clear and heavier than a Challenger II battle tank, the band themselves tighter than the UK Government's wallet and as they immediately crashed from Blackened straight into Creeping Death, the fanatical crowd needed no second telling from Hetfield to bellow out the "So let it be written, So let it be done" chorus, causing a massive grin to crack the snarling face of one of the biggest rock stars in the world.
A brief lull in the battle gave Hetfield a chance for some quick crowd interaction, requesting more signs and sounds of life from the swirling masses of outstretched arms and devil horns projected to him before demanding "So give me fuel, give me fire give me that which I desire" and they launched headlong into the song at twice the normal speed (Fuel being one of the very few highlights of the dark and shameful Load/Reload period where, in my humble opinion, the band became so geographically embarrassed in the wilderness of experimentation it wasn't funny). If only the whole of both albums contained so much raw, unbridled power and passion...
"Are you alive?" asked Hetfield as he stood under a spotlight, surveying his fiefdom with his natural larger than life charisma oozing through the Sonisphere site. "Metallica is here" he announced nodding his head and opening his arms to the crowd like a father welcoming home a prodigal son. He admitted to not feeling too good before the show but he was quick to let everyone know they had made him feel a lot better already.
"This one goes out to the animal in us all" he announced as he kicked off the staccato intro riff belonging to Of Wolf and Man and the crowd again exploded into life belting out the lyrics right the way through the song.
Bringing the energy levels right down, the surrounding lights dimmed, highlighting the lone figure of Hetfield as the opening notes of Fade to Black gently emanated across the site. As the song gained momentum, the man himself had little need to sing as the Sonisphere masses threw word after word to him and he acknowledged the fact by giving the crowd free reign to take over his vocal part. The bonding was progressing perfectly.
"Do you have the album Death Magnetic?" he enquired as he dedicated the next song to both the longstanding hardcore Metallica fan and the casual first time witness that made up the whole Metallica family present, hoping they would all take a part of the band away with them cos when they are together they are strong as "What don't kill ya, makes ya more strong" and the lurching intro of Broken, Beat and Scarred[i]kicked straight into the newest song in the set, followed in quick succession by next newie Cyanide.
Going back in time, the brooding Sad but True steamrollered its way through the crowd accompanied with another fine audience performance, after which the band disappeared from the stage and the lights went out.
After a brief interlude, the fine Knebworth countryside turned into the Southern Afghanistan frontline of Helmand Province as multiple bursts of automatic gunfire hammered out of the titanic PA, accompanied by a fine display of bangs, booms and flashes across the huge stage, culminating in dazzling fireworks snaking their way into the now dark night sky. It was time for One. Always a highlight of the set, I had seen the spectacle many times on previous tours, however at Sonisphere it just seemed a little extra special which was in keeping with the whole performance. As always, the ever faithful crowd screamed the 'Darkness imprisoning me' and 'Landmine has taken my sight' vocal passages right back at Hetfield.
One of my personal new faves All Nightmare Long kept things right up to date which then led into a brief solo spot for Kirk as he let fly with the trade mark widdling and noodling wizardry that has put him on the covers of guitar magazines across the world since the early 80's. Following nicely off the back of his guitar piece, The Day That Never Comes slipped nicely into the set, gathering its power and pace over the next eight minutes until it thrashed through to its end where Master of Puppets promptly crashed straight in. Yours truly was instantly mentally transported straight back to early 1986 when I originally dubbed their then brand new release the best album ever. A small few have come close to taking that title from ...Puppets in my eyes but for me, it still sits on its throne and I remain as passionate about it to this day as I was back then. It's a bone fide classic, and I sang my voice out accordingly.
After the final note of ...Puppets had died, the biggest surprise I'd witnessed at a live show for a long time hit me with enough force to rock me. Was I hearing right? Was that really the intro to Dyers Eve? Surely not!?! Never before had I even read about this particular song - one of my all time ultimate favourite Metallica tracks - being played, let alone had I ever actually heard it live first hand, yet here it was, its recorded intro thumping out across the site until the boys dived straight into it. The exceptionally tight riffing literally blew me away but my big question of 'can Lars still nail the double bass passages under the verses' was about to be answered and well, no he never even attempted it. But hey, he's Lars Ulrich; I suppose he's got nothing to prove to anyone and doesn't have to do that kind of stuff anymore so I wasn't about to let such a geeky trivial drumming thing stop me from absolutely freaking out to it. I'm from Rocksnail, not Rhythm or Modern Drummer Magazine!
Now into the final quarter of the set, Kirk stepped into the spotlight once again with another brief and gentle guitar passage which led into the upheld lighter scenario of Nothing Else Matters followed by possibly one of the biggest and most recognised metal riffs of all time in Enter Sandman with Hetfield asking "Sonisphere, are you still here?" squeezing yet more energy and 'Exit light, Enter night take my hand, Its off to Never Neverland' vocals from the crowd.
"This is the part of the show where we pay tribute to some of the great bands that have influenced Metallica through the years" said the blonde bomber next. Would it be a Misfits tune? Maybe one of the time-honoured Diamond Head covers or even Motorhead I wondered, but no it wasn't to be, as we were treated to an absolutely storming rendition of Queen's Stone Cold Crazy, one of the most audacious covers that the band had made their own, long before their Garage Inc. hotch potch of tunes.
The song finished, the lights went down and the band exited the stage via the openings in the backline, leaving the crowd frothing at the mouth for more.
On returning to the stage, Hetfield opened his heart and proceeded to tell us just how important the solidarity of a Metallica show was, not only to him, but to the band and the whole Metallica family and how it should be respected and embraced by all involved, much to the rapturous applause to all in front of him. The underlying family theme has obviously grown to become a big part of the man, the fact illustrated by the amount of times he touched upon it throughout the set. The previous incarnation of Hetfield included stage banter of alcohol consumption and profanity littered riot provoking which these days seemed a million miles away from the now heavily tattooed, reflective, deep and meaningful father figure that stood in front of us tonight. He could, however, still hold the attention of every single member of the audience with Caesar-like authority and power effortlessly.
With the guitars turned back up, Hit the Lights screamed out of the PA, seemingly with more pace and passion than is evident in the studio recording on their 1983 debut Kill 'em All and following closely behind it, the final set closer and band of brothers sing along Seek and Destroy which well and truly finished off the first UK based Sonisphere weekend in amazing style.
There was however, one more final surprise.
Just as the music finished and all the lights came up, Hetfield was immediately set upon and mobbed onstage by band, crew and actual family (his kids, complete with big blue ear defenders led the charge), who then proceeded to silly string and pie him to oblivion until all that was visible was a mainly white and slightly multi coloured walking Egyptian Mummy lookalike but with a massive grin shining through from beneath it all. "Guess whose birthday it is today" said Kirk which straight away sparked a hug rendition of "Happy Birthday to James", sung from everyone present.
It was a special moment shared by thousands upon thousands of adoring fans which was then compounded by the final goodbyes from the individual band members (and never without a final word from Lars by way of "Sonisphere, London, Knebworth, wherever the fuck we are, we obviously saved the best one till last") once and for all the nights' proceedings were brought to an end.
It was a truly inspired performance by a band that definitely is at the top of their game. Witnessing and being part of a show of that magnitude and quality is like a right of passage. I turned to my mate, who was witnessing the band for the first time, put my hand on his shoulder, put my tongue slightly in my cheek and said, "Son, you're a man now...."
Metallica can seemingly turn boys into men. That's the effect their powerful spell can have.
Scott G Aug '09
