Metallica, London O2 Arena, September 15th
Metallica's Death Magnetic is number one on both sides of the Atlantic
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Wednesday, 17, Sep 2008 04:32
inthenews.co.uk's Lewis Bazley is left with ringing ears after witnessing the metal gods in full flight.
"Are you with us??" James Hetfield asks the crowd encircling the stage in the cavernous east London arena, but when the audience is made up of fan club members, it's basically a given that they're on your side.
Still, in the case of Metallica, it's a little less certain, given the crushing disappointment of St Anger and fears of the band's stability since 2004 documentary Some Kind of Monster revealed they weren't the macho rock monsters we might have expected.
Thankfully, album nine Death Magnetic has quelled almost all the doubts with its fast and furious tone - To read the inthenews.co.uk review, click here - and as Hetfield, Kirk Hammett, Lars Ulrich and Rob Trujillo launch into opener That Was Just Your Life, it's clear that pre-show warnings to expect a stripped-down performance are irrelevant.
The End of the Line - one of the most plodding efforts on Death Magnetic - is enlivened in its live incarnation while Of Wolf and Man is a surprise - and welcome - inclusion in a set that seems dedicated to pandering to the Metallica faithful. Though the lack of pyros or any real smoke machines detracts from the impact of One, it's still one of their most moving moments.
Hetfield - also one of the most enjoyably anachronistic frontmen in rock - later insists that the crowd put their mobile phones and cameras away.
"Putting a two-minute video of Metallica on YouTube isn't going to make you famous," he explains. "Just enjoy the show."
Dutifully - and probably a little out of fear, as he's an imposing presence in person - electronica is duly pocketed before the brutal, defiantly-thrash Cyanide.
Prior to Frantic, Hetfield gets a laugh by heralding it as "from the very well-loved St Anger album," before adding: "Say what you will. this song kicks ass!"
Performed live, with that awful tinny drum sound removed, it's hard to disagree.
Old favourite Until It Sleeps is followed by an immense and savage Wherever I May Roam and though Master of Puppets feels a little early, it's as bone-crushing as ever.
The lights come up for a three-song encore of Stone Cold Crazy, Jump in the Fire and Seek and Destroy and as black beach balls tumble from the eaves, the ,lack of a number of classics - Enter Sandman, Sad But True, Nothing Else Matters, to name but three - is utterly unimportant. Your ears are ring, your neck aches from headbanging and you know you've just witnessed the best metal band in the world, back to their best.
Metallica's set list was:
That Was Just Your Life
The End Of The Line
The Thing That Should Not Be
Of Wolf and Man
One
Broken, Beat And Scarred
Cyanide
Frantic
Until It Sleeps
Wherever I May Roam
For Whom The Bell Tolls
The Day That Never Comes
Master Of Puppets
Blackened
Stone Cold Crazy
Jump In The Fire
Take a look at the video for The Day That Never Comes below:
Lewis Bazley