Metallica Returns!

The premier San Francisco thrash band kicked off their newest US tour of their latest album, Hardwired…to Self-Destruct in Baltimore, Maryland, of all places, at M&T Bank Stadium (home of the Baltimore Ravens) of all places, attended by my brother and I, of all people.   Oh, and few thousand others, of which we knew only a college suitemate up in the ozone rafters, section 5 million something, with his teenage son (and we did not cross paths – too bad).

First off, thank the Almighty One Upstairs for giving us clear, decent weather – neither hot nor cold – for what was for everyone an outdoor event.   Gone are the days of Metallica playing basketball/hockey arenas indoors – in any case the tour is coinciding with the NBA Playoffs and the Stanley Cup.   Whether you got seats up in the ozone or some “Hetfield leans over to kiss you” pit tickets, you were outdoors.  And the weather, as previously noted, cooperated.  Hallelujah!

Second, I would like to thank my brother Matt for arranging this: not merely paying for my ticket, but also navigating the substantially complex minefield of options available when purchasing a ticket for a large venue for an established band, an endeavor considerably trickier than simply buying general admission tickets for a small club show.  Also, he drove us up to Baltimore in rush hour traffic (and back).  Over the years, since our first show together for either of us, AC/DC in October 1984, he has been my most consistent concert companion (always avoid alliteration).  That remains true even today, when I’m seeing more shows in the NYC area or concerts by jam bands and stoner rock bands, a taste Matt does not share.  Although I’d say it’s more accurate to say my tastes have expanded rather than changed, because Dead and SunnO))) shows are in addition to, not instead of, Metallica and Iron Maiden. 

Third, since this was the first stop on the tour, I’ll refrain from revealing the setlist, which is available on Setlist.fm anyway for those of you who are curious.  If Metallica has adopted its SF comrades the Grateful Dead’s policy of changing setlists from show to show, it would be news to me.  The only non-jam bands which do so are Clutch and Pearly Jam.  However, I can’t help sharing that the Spanish Civil War – Republicans with Mosin-Nagants, Fascists with Mausers – made its appearance, as did WWI, though the flat helmeted US doughboys got an unexpected upgrade, trudging past Mark IVs carrying M1 Garands, Thompson SMGs, and bazookas to blow apart the few A7Vs and captured Mark IVs they may have encountered in spring through fall of 1918.  Guess which songs these images relate to, and decide whether the answers surprise you.   Also, for those of you pining for Cliff Burton, there was a tribute of sorts to him.  It looks like Robert Trujillo understands he has big shoes to fill.  As Jason Newsted understood as well. 

Fourth, the opening acts.  I was busy trying to purchase a Baltimore-specific Metallica tour shirt (the one I managed to purchase, after much frustration and difficulty, was a Ravens-inspired variant) while Volbeat were playing, but we managed to catch Avenged Sevenfold.   Oddly, I have several of their albums, including the newest.  They sound like they decided to take Metallica as a startoff and add as much other stuff as their limited talent and imagination could produce, which is not a whole lot.  But it was the visual spectacle which sealed it for me:  mohawk, sleeve tattoos, skinny jeans, v-neck t-shirt, backwards baseball cap.  Like One Direction on steroids.  For an opening act, alleged sellouts Metallica picked a band that makes them look like an honest garage band on their first tour.  Bravo, James & Co.

Fifth: Metallica themselves.  Sadly at my age I’m often looking at my watch during concerts.  At a truly good show the watch on my wrist is forgotten.   As it was here.  Truth be told, James & Co. were a little rusty (particularly on the older songs they weren’t in the studio recently recording), but the mistakes show they’re not lip-syncing.  The energy and fun were definitely there.   Hetfield brings his modest but discernable wit and sincerity to the mix, but keeps the BS to a minimum as they let the music do the talking.  No remarkable surprises, but I think I speak for all veteran Metallica fans when I say the show was superb and well worth whatever you paid and whatever inconveniences you endured (again, thank God for the weather).

They had a huge stage with immense screens behind them, with a huge M on the left and an A on the right.  In addition to imagery from videos, it also showed the band members performing (including one past member, obviously not in real time absent some serious necromancy), which probably helped those too far away to see the band members on stage.   They had a middle ramp going forward through the crowd, like we’ve seen at a few AC/DC shows.  Despite the epic size and scale, it remained fairly simple, but the band couldn’t resist some FUEL & FIRE and eventually some fireworks.  There were a few other gimmicks I’ll decline to reveal.  Again, well done, impressive, a splendid time etc. etc. etc.

Here's another cool thing.  Towards the end of the set, Hetfield asked the audience whether they’d seen Metallica before or not.  Judging by the response, the mix was roughly 50/50 – which surprised Hetfield as well as me.  So half the crowd was seeing the band for the first time, although they’ve been around since 1983 (as I note below, our first show was in 1985).  

Previous shows.  Here I can share without spoiling the surprise.  In reverse order:

4/8/1997.   Load Tour, USAir Arena, Largo, MD.  Remarkably, it’s been 20 years since I’ve seen Metallica.  That tour I was working in Falls Church, we all had day jobs, and it was a weekday show, so Beltway traffic meant we missed the opening act, Corrosion of Conformity.   Towards the end of the set an “accident” occurred which doused the lights, and the band continued the show “in their garage” – though minus Dave Mustaine and Ron McGovney. 

7/17/1992.   Metallica (Black Album) Tour, RFK Stadium, DC.   Joint show with Guns N’Roses, Faith No More opening.   We were on the field, which was one huge mosh pit.  You had to fight nonstop with the entire audience.   Screw that.   We went up into the bleachers and watched the rest of the show from there.   We ended up leaving during the GNR set, before they played “Estranged”.   I’ll have to see about revisiting GNR to correct that.

4/1/1992.   Metallica (Black Album) Tour, Capital Centre, Largo, MD.  I don’t remember much about this, except that we had reserved seating and didn’t have a mosh scene to endure.

3/9/1990.   And Justice For All Tour, Capital Centre, Largo, MD.  I went to this show with Ken.  Shortly before the show, I got the single which had “Breadfan” (Budgie cover) as the b-side, and the band actually played it.  Ken was thrilled to be familiar with one song which must have baffled much of the audience.  I seem to recall a statue of justice crumbling as part of the stage spectacle.

6/10/1988.  $5.98 Garage Days Re-Revisited EP Tour, RFK Stadium, DC.  Van Halen’s Monsters of Rock.  Jason Newsted’s debut.  This was just months before And Justice For All came out.  The lineup was Kingdom Come, Metallica, Dokken, the Scorpions, and Van Halen, the latter with Sammy Hagar on their OU812 tour.  We arrived during Metallica’s set.  With the new album not out yet, their set was older songs and no previews, but “Last Caress” (Misfits) from the EP.  For me, it was the first show with Jason Newsted on bass.  The crowd got extremely rambunctious during Van Halen’s set, setting fires in the bleachers, leading Hagar to have the house lights turned on.  Crazy, man.

During the summer of 1986, Ozzy Osbourne toured the US, with Metallica opening on their Master of Puppets tour.  They played Merriweather Post Pavilion that August.  Our parents wouldn’t let us go.  However, the following February, 1987, Metallica toured Europe as a headliner with new bassist Jason Newsted taking over for Cliff Burton, who had died the prior September (famous bus accident).  I was in Maryland for my freshman year at University of Maryland, College Park, while Matt was finishing his senior year at ASP, our high school.  Matt not only saw the show on February 5, 1987, at the Zenith in Paris, he sent me a concert t-shirt.

8/17/1985.  Ride the Lightning Tour, Donington Monsters of Rock Festival, England, UK.  Our first show, and one of our first concerts.  We were in London in August 1985, and the festival was going on at that time.  The US Embassy had a group going, with a rented tour bus, leaving from the Navy Annex in downtown London at the crack of dawn that Saturday morning.  Our father got up very early, drove us from southwest London to the Annex in our hosts’ right hand drive car (fortunately streets deserted at that time) in time for the bus, and picked us up equally late when we returned.

Matt and I arrived around 11 a.m.  I bought the only Metallica shirt they had, “METAL UP YOUR ASS”, which horrified my parents (yes, knife sticking up from toilet) and which I only wore to school on the very last day, by accident.  More recently I bought an XL version since the Donington one no longer fits.  We listened to Magnum with modest interest, sincere interest for RATT.   Then was Metallica, easily the heaviest band on the bill that day, but none too popular, as the crowd threw bottles and cans at them, forcing the band to duck periodically as they played.  Even “Am I Evil” didn’t seem to help.  We certainly enjoyed James, Kirk, Cliff (!!!!) and Lars.  But a crowd which loves Fish & Marillion was unlikely to enjoy this brutal band from San Francisco.  

[Recently, a friend of mine from Ottawa, Canada provided me with bootlegs not only of Tool (10,000 Days tour) but also of Metallica on this tour (Ride the Lightning, Oakland Park 8/31/85), with the same setlist (Creeping Death, Ride the Lightning, For Whom The Bell Tolls, The Four Horsemen, Fade to Black, Seek and Destroy, Whiplash, Motorbreah, and Am I Evil).   Later, college suitemate Bill provided me with a bootleg of the Donington show itself.  Thanks, Diane & Bill!]

From then on it was Bon Jovi (ignored, I took a nap), Marillion – who are these guys?  As noted, they were much more popular at the festival than Metallica – though nowadays NOT playing M&T Bank Stadium with Steve Hogarth – and finally the headliner ZZTop, though by that time I was exhausted and resting in the tour bus waiting to go home.  It was one of our first shows, our first festival, and an experience we will never forget.  And thanks to blogs such as these, I can make sure my readers don’t forget either.