Last night, I saw Metallica play at the Key Arena in Seattle, WA. It was a sold out show and there was a lot of hype and excitement about the show. I thought I'd give a short write up of what I thought. First, a brief story of how I ended up going. I have a two-fold philosophy when I buy tickets for concerts: I buy at least 2 so that I can sit next to the person I end up going with AND I figure I can always sell the tickets if I end up not going. Well, I decide about a month ago that I didn't want to go since it was on a Monday night and I wasn't a HUGE fan to begin with. Long story short, the tickets were lost which meant that only the person with the credit card used to buy the tickets originally would be able to get the replacement tickets at the will call window. So, I pretty much HAD to go. I ended up going with my friend, Drew, that I sing with in my a cappella quartet (we joked that we should start singing lovey-dovey barbershop songs amidst the metal fans). On with the review now:
The Sword (first opening band)These guys, whom I had never heard before, were already playing when we walked into the Key to find our seats. The description from their Myspace page was very fitting, "Sounds like: ...a bunch of bison being pushed over a cliff." They were very heavy (especially the electric guitars). The drummer was very active and they had some cool start/stop rhythms that kept you guessing. The overpowering low end was extremely boomy (it tightened up considerably by the time Metallica played...probably due to more bodies in the room) and there was very little definition in the low sounds. The vocalist was pretty good, he had the highs of Robert Plant but with more grit and roughness on his voice. It seemed that at least half of each song was instrumental (probably more than that) so there wasn't a lot of singing anyway. They played 30 minutes and it was decent, but everyone was there to see Metallica so people didn't get too excited for them.
Lamb of God (second opening band)This band I had some previous experience with. I had heard their first album and a couple of songs from their follow-up. They are QUITE heavy and have one of those vocalists who sounds like a chainsaw when he sings. Lots of grit and "heat" on his voice. LoG's lyrics are fairly dark and their name, "Lamb of God" is a parody of THE lamb of God, Jesus, and that is reflected in some of their lyrics. The band's look and sound is very menacing and the vocalist struts around with shoulder length black hair and looks around like "I DARE you not to get angry with me". He is a metalhead's dream front man. They dedicated a song to the United States' armed forces which I thought was cool and brave considering the position most bands take on that subject. They also did a new song from their upcoming album to be released in February. They played around 45 minutes and put on a better show than The Sword, but not as good as Metallica! :)
METALLICA
A few minutes after 9pm, the house lights went out and we began to hear slow, gloomy music though the massive line arrays. This was followed by a heartbeat which was our cue that their first song would also be the first track of their new album, "Death Magnetic".
It was a good 2-3 minutes before the band came out and the lights began to show them to us. The opening riff of the first song, "That Was Just Your Life" kicked off (tracked, not live) and the rest of the ban came in (live) once it got the first heavy riff. The jig was up, and lights/lasers/smoke/flames erupted. I was very impressed at the presentation part of the show. Great lighting effects with timed flashes and blasts that lined up with the music. The setlist was:
That Was Just Your Life
The End Of The Line
Creeping Death
Harvester Of Sorrow
One
Broken, Beat And Scarred
Cyanide
Sad But True
Welcome Home (Sanitarium)
Wherever I May Roam
The Day That Never Comes
Master Of Puppets
Blackened
Nothing Else Matters
Enter Sandman
- - - - - - - -
(ENCORE)- - - - - - - -
Die, Die My Darling
Motorbreath
Seek and Destroy
I went into the show saying that as long as I heard "Nothing Else Matters" and "Master of Puppets", I would be happy. It would have been nice to hear Battery or one of the Unforgiven's (the new one?? hmm??), but that's ok. One thing that struck me was that I immediately sensed the professionalism of the band as individuals. They are true seasoned pros: ridiculously comfortable on-stage and giving tons of energy to the crowd. I also got a sense of camaraderie among them, which I didn't from the other bands. The Sword and Lamb Of God were menacing and played heavy music, but they seemed concerned about getting everyone to go crazy and there wasn't a lot of connection between the band members. Not true with Metallica. Hetfield would pair up with Hammett for guitar duets or just to rock out, and sometimes one of them would go in front of Lars as if to rock out to the acoustic sound of his drumset. I guess the overall feeling I got was they immensely enjoyed what they were doing, and that they understood that the whole crowd wasn't there just to "go crazy at a metal show" but to hear songs some have loved their whole life. It was a very special thing to witness this interaction between musicians and fans.
I have heard a lot about James' voice changing and how their playing has gotten a bit sloppy. His voice is certainly different than it was on anything up to and including the black album, and there were a few mistakes on a few songs (not that you would know it while you're there, everything is so insanely loud....I've listened to the soundboard recording). However, I'm not going to see them live to hear them the way they sounded in 1986. They are a different band now and this phenomenon happens to all the great bands in the world...they get older and sometimes they are not able to keep up 100% with the music that made them famous. As fans, we can either cling to the sound we loved and cherish that or we can embrace that they are simply rock icons and it is awesome to hear them play the old songs to some degree of goodness still. I don't think there's anything wrong with either mindset. I have chosen to like their new sound mostly because I was very, very young when they were in their hay day and my first experience with them was not until the early 90's.
My final word: If you haven't seen Metallica live before, I suggest you see them before they stop touring which I imagine will happen in the next 5 years or so. These guys are one of the first thrash metal bands and they still sounds pretty decent live so go enjoy a piece of musical history!
