|
Last night, Friday July 17th - I had a chance to catch Metallica live in
concert at Giants Stadium in NJ. I guess the theme of the night was "the
times they are a changin'".
Despite a good performance from Metallica (if you're into ReLoad, Load and the self titled cd), when a band that used to be badass and hardcore takes a song like Last Caress OR The Four Horseman - sits on a stool and turns it into an acoustical hillbilly jam, it makes you wonder is those 4 guys are still the same dudes who used to rip shit up. Although, they kinda did a good justice to Master of Puppets when they played it, as well Fight Fire with Fire, other songs from Load and ReLoad make you think it might have been wiser to catch Culture Club on tour for a harder show. So Sad. The pyro's were great, not top of the line, but pretty good. The stage setup wasn't that good at all, just basically the background picture from Load and Reload and a couple of screens on both sides of the stage. What was on the screens was pretty wack, no video cuts, no cool footage, just a "follow Lars around and watch him smile" shot over and over again. Noticable ommissions from the set included Fade to Black, Sanitarium, Whiplash, For Whom the Bells Toll and Seek and Destroy. I think the set reached its highest point when the machine guns and helicopters signaled the arrival of "One", then it rocked for the 4 minutes the song was played and then back in Load and ReLoad stuff. Overall, the show was ok, but most of the crowd did not seem to impressed if you ask me. The reaction was like night and day when a song like Nothing Else Matters plays compared to Master of Puppets. Too bad they can't keep the crowd in the same form all night long anymore cuz they sold out and turned lame. I just thank the good Lord that they left out the Unforgiven and Unforgiven 2 or I would have went running for cover. The openers, Days of the New/Jerry Cantrell Band were also ok. Cantrell picked it up when he started playing Alice in Chain songs like Them Bones, among others. Overall, good show - the Iron Maiden/DIO show I caught last week puts it to shame though, and I am sure Maiden will do it again on 8/2 when I catch them in NJ again. Up the Irons
Tom G. (HOEK@aol.com)
|