Tuesday, September 15, 2009
The Spin Metallica at the Sommet Center, 9/14/09
Posted by The Spin on Tue, Sep 15, 2009 at 10:30 AM
See the slideshows for more photos: Metallica; Lamb of God.
Metal shows in arenas are a bit like WWE Raw or Smackdown. The air is rife with testosterone, and the audience eats up any cliche thrown its way. The undercard Monday night at the Sommet Center featured enviro-minded French metallers Gojira and the heavy Southern groove of Lamb of God, both charged with the task of amping up the crowd for the main event. Each asked us repeatedly if we were ready to see Metallica, then asked us to answer again louder, though we're pretty sure they heard us the first time. The stage moves were your standard fare for metal, but exaggerated more for the nosebleed sections, furthering the whole professional wrestling aesthetic even more. They even played on a stage in the middle of the room while entering and exiting on a catwalk to the side.
Considering they were fairly obscure about a year ago, it felt surreal to see Gojira in the Sommet Center. Visibly excited vocalist Jospeh Duplantier stated between songs, "We're opening for Metallica, fucking crazy." They utilized the massive stage to great effect, but the songs fell surprisingly flat. This is probably less the fault of the performance and more of our overestimating them in the first place. Equally surprising was Lamb of God's sounding fairly decent. But no matter how many Hank Williams or Chattanooga anecdotes singer Randy Blythe tells us, they still mostly sound like a Pantera knock-off to us.
After we were all asked one last time if we were pumped to see Metallica, the lights dropped and Ennio Morricone's "Ecstasy of Gold" blasted through the PA, meaning everybody was about to get some metal up their asses.
Having worked the crowd to a fever pitch, the biggest metal band in the history of the world opened with two songs from Death Magnetic--it was kinda like watching the big heavyweight title bout begin with 15 minutes of rolling around on the mat. Six songs from that album made it to the setlist, which is a bit more Magnetic-centric than we had hoped. We did get the high-flying acrobatics of "Creeping Death" and the pile-driving combo of "Master of Puppets" followed by "Battery." "One" and obligatory closer "Seek and Destroy" rounded out the pre-"Black Album" portion of the set with the curious juxtaposition of badass pyrotechnics during the former, and gigantic bouncy balls falling from the ceiling during the latter. We are also happy to report that nothing from Load, Reload or St. Anger found its way onto the setlist, though that terrible cover of "Turn the Page" did waste our time. And, just like a wrestler, James Hetfield will never be good at talking into a microphone.
If we can be allowed to mix metaphors here for a second, this wasn't Metallica's first rodeo. Packed arenas and 10,000-plus concerts comprise the majority of their touring career. What's surprising is how often a band that huge can screw up in the same way any disposable band playing 8 off 8th might. Their rather infamous weakest link was on full display Monday night: Drummer Lars Ulrich stumbled through changes more than once and fell out of pocket often, to the degree that Hetfield visited the drummer several times mid-song, drawn less by showmanship than ship-steering. That said, there's no other band on the planet that could pull off giant coffins suspended in air, shooting lasers, as part of their live show. Couple that with a guest appearance by Motorhead's Lemmy Kilmister during the encore, and you got what you paid per view.
Comments (34)
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Why the hell only 5 songs from the pre Black album days?
I agree... too much Death Magnetic and I could have lived without turn the page..
I was pleasantly surprised to hear "turn the page". I'm a 21 year old guy and I was VERY excited to see Lamb of God. Maybe your ears are messed up buddy but LOG sounds nowhere near the boring Pantera.
5 pre Black
+ 6 Death Magnetic
+ 1 Turn The Page
= 12 songs total?
Seems a bit short, even though One is like 12 minutes long.
They like Metallica covering turn the page! Now that is some funny shit!!!!!!!!!!!
A photograph of the entire set list is posted in this gallery: http://tinyurl.com/lll268
Tee-hee
Anyone want to take bets on what was left of the band's food rider after Byrd was finished with it?
Damn, that was really fucking mean. I hope that little comment you made, under the cloak of anonymity, made you feel better about yourself.
I was standing a couple people behind Wynonna Judd for the first few songs of the show - only in Nashville.
Maybe it depends where you sat, but Lamb of God was the most attrocious shit i've ever had to endure live. And here i thought Cage the Elephant would forever be the worst thing i'd heard. Lamb of God does a very good Pantera immitation and even has some decent songs of their own, but they were a wreck live. i cant count how many times the drummer fell out of time and sent the whole band flailing around to catch back up. Besides poor performance issues, the guitar tone was pathetic. From the 6th row slightly off of center, I couldn't even tell what song I was hearing due to the muddy sound, not to mention the complete lack of any bass in their mix. definitely the most amateurish crap i've seen in awhile. Gojira, on the other hand, had a completely crushing stage sound, despite their very bland songs. This being the first show of the tour, maybe they are still working out the kinks of their production. At least i hope that's LOG's excuse. I'll stab my eardrums out before having to sit through something that bad when I see this show again in a few weeks @ Atlanta's Phillips Arena. And lastly, someone please duct tape Lars to his freakin stool. Thanks.
I don't know shit about metal, but I know "Turn the Page" and remember the cover. I think it was even a single. That song is fucking boring no matter who's performing it.
Yeah when you start singing about how hard it is on the road in a million dollar tour bus you are fucking washed up.Especially covering a song about it!
This was the sixth time I saw Metallica--excellent show/sound. Funny how these writers/critics are experts on everything. Lars as the weak link-he's only the best drummer of the past two decades-and usually wins most drummer awards every year.
look i saw the show and lars is the reason i became a drummer but i saw he was having equipment issues not falling off so im going to say to whom it may concern the show was bad ass who ever wrote this artical is obviosly not a metallica fan you guys suck metallica rules and fuck all of you
Dave, they played 4 songs from the Black Album too, plus 2 Motorhead songs. 18 total.
OK. I was there... Up front with the action. I've been to a lot of shows and this one was the most entertaining. I also wanted to hear more old Metallica but listen people it's called the death magnetic tour!!! No one tricked you! I was there only for Metallica so I don't have much to say about the opening acts. Whoever wrote this article sux balls because metallica was not given credit where due. Everyone around me as I was leaving kept talking about how freaking awesome it was. So there, that's what people really thought. No thanks to "The Spin".
6th Metallica show for me too. Justice X 2, Black Album, Load and Reload. By far this was the best of the bunch.. albeit my heart still lives at Starwood.
I was 4 bodies deep on the side of the stage Lemmy faced, center stage and my goddamn ears are still ringing. I personally enjoyed the set list as I've seen For Whom the Bell Tolls played 5 times. The new album is the best Metallica Album since Justice and I was happy to see it live.
Didn't really think much either way about the openers, like the previous poster.. I was there for one reason and I got every penny worth. ohh... and I though Turn the page was great. Also thought Nothing Else Matters was an excellent.. HELL.. it all rocked!
Why do idiots that obviously don't like the band they are reviewing do these reviews in the first place??? Metallica as awesome as usual last night! And, as noted, it is the Death Magnetic tour! 99% of the audience loved every minute of it!
As a comment to "Bored" above, Why the hell didn't you leave?? Who forced you to stay??
I guess the reviewer became deaf because he obviously couldn't hear the response of the crowd to The Black Album songs (must of been blind as well as deaf and dumb)!!
Lars was having problems with the equipment which was pretty obvious and James always visits Lars during the set.
Metallica gave a really tight great performance and I wasn't a fan of Lamb of God before last night , but that has changed since seeing them live!
Also, if you look at the setlists for the European dates immediately preceding the Nashville one you'll see they were only playing about 3 Death Magnetic songs a night.
Ryan B. says:
I was standing a couple people behind Wynonna Judd for the first few songs of the show.
Then you moved to the other side of the arena so you could see the stage.
Matt S.
Truly sorry for the idiot comment. I usually don't resort to name calling.
However,
You're right about Sonisphere and the number of Death Magnetic songs, however;
Dublin - 4
Oslo - 6
Copenhagen #5 - 5
Copenhagen #4 - 5
Finland - 4
Copenhagen #3 - 5
Copenhagen #2 - 5
Copenhagen #1 - 5
I don't see where you get 3! I really don't understand where the surprise is that they played several from Death Magnetic considering the name of the tour and that it is their latest album!
Really am sorry about the name calling.
I looked at the Sonisphere set and another random one and arrived at the estimate of about 3. Even from your list, Oslo is the only city that got as much of the new album. The band has been touring on Death Magnetic for a long time now, and they're generally known to rely on their older material live anyhow. All of this is kinda of beside the point, though.
You're mostly kidding yourself if you think they played "tight." But at the same time, I found it comforting that one of the biggest bands in the world makes the same mistakes in front of 20,000 that bands I played in made in front of 20.
And for what it's worth, I stated at the end of the review that the show was worth the ticket price. Nuance and shit.
Metallica pre-black album=AWESOME!!!!!!!!
Metallica black album and beyond=SUCK!!!!!!!
Lars sucks, that's obvious to everyone. If you think he's a great drummer than you're clueless. He should have stuck to tennis.
Metallica had some issues after the black album but they never sucked. They are Metallica and the fans expect greatness all the time. They regained the greatness with Death Magnetic. Speaking for me and my friends who are all big fans, we think Death Magnetic ranks with Master of Puppets as their 2nd best album. I know that's strong words but you have to admit that it is really good. They all are awesome pre black album obviously. DM is really good. There is know way you can say that broken, beat, and scarred, cyanide, and the day that never comes didn't honestly rock. However, those 3 were plenty. we should have heard Fade to Black, Sanitarium, and Shortest straw or Harvester of sorrow. Nothing Else matters gave me an out of body experience it was so awesome. This was my 6x and I was disappointed in the lack of a big screen and thought the acoustics sucked. Still loved the show and my seats.
Steve....nice photos. looks like you got to see Metallica in front of the barriers. lucky bastard.
I really hope 'bored' does get to stab out his eardrums! And it goes all the way into his pea brain. he really should just stay home.
Death Magnetic is a decent album. You can't help but notice they are imitating a sound that Cliff Burton pioneered. The long acoustic intros/longer orchestrated songs.
Even the most starstruck Metallica fanboys know that Lars isn't a good drummer, and Mustaine can eat Kirk Hammet's lunch.
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