Concert Review: Metallica

Metallica w/Down and The Sword
Alltel Arena, North Little Rock
Nov 22nd, 2008

So for the first time since May 2004 and the 7th time in their history, Metallica came roaring back into Arkansas with a couple of heavy pals in tow. I'd like to tell you I got to my seat and rocked out to the smooth, sexy sounds of The Sword, Austin's doom/stoner metal powerhouse, but by the time we battled the lines for weapons search and lines for the restrooms and the lines for beer and the wristbands for the beer etc and so forth... we caught 1 song from the seats. I've got one of their CDs and like it, but they're a band I think that gets their point hammered across much better in-your-face in a smaller venue. A big arena doesn't do justice to their bong-rattling dungeons and dragons doom. Cool band, maybe another night I'll be able to tell you more when I catch them in a club.

Down then came blasting up pretty quickly following The Sword and put on a great set. If you want to know a bit more about them and what I think, follow this link from when I saw them back in January in a much more intimate setting. Phil sounded great again I thought, but sonically I just didn't feel like their distorted rhythm would go over that well in the round setting, and I was surprised to hear how wrong I was. The sound was great and they didn't suffer at all from the bigger, in-the-round stage. There will never be a moment in my life when my head doesn't automatically bang to "Bury Me In Smoke", unless I'm comatose. Phil definitely works the audience as well, regardless of the size of the setting.

But everybody really came to see heavyweight Metallica of course. Within 20 minutes of Down's last chords and me making a frantic run though all the lines mentioned above again (minus the search), we were in our seats with beers in hand and bladders drained as the house lights dropped, fog began pumping in around the stage and "Ecstasy of Gold" began playing. The stage is huge and right in the middle of the arena floor, with the drum set in the direct center and plenty of room for all the guys to circle it and get face-to-face to any section of the arena. There were no video screens, a slight disappointment, but the way the stage was laid out it's pretty easy to feel connected as the old cliche "not a bad seat in the house" certainly applies.

They started with 2 songs off the new CD, "That Was Just Your Life" and "The End of the Line", probably just to let everybody know this wasn't just some greatest hits nostalgia trip. Lasers danced all over the place during the opening and the crowd was very receptive to the new tracks as James barked and growled while the other members got introduced to their new settings. The floor was probably at about 80% full and only the upper levels had empty seats, I'd guess the arena to be at about 75% full overall.

After the new tracks and words from James, the place exploded as they played "Creeping Death", "Ride The Lighting" and a 10-minute version of "One". A lot of their light rigs all around the top of the stage were in the shape of 30-foot silver coffins, and they were lowered and raised at various points adding to the show as with the stage as big as it was, the guys weren't always standing on our side of the arena. They were pretty active on stage, especially Robert who seems to have the energy of a 16-year-old with A.D.D. as he stomps/stalks around, long black hair flying and hanging over his face. Throughout the show at various points there were lots of pyro, and it was big-ass pyro. Flames would blast up and I'd have to check to see if my sexy eyebrows were still in place and I was a good 100 feet from the stage.

Kirk sounded sharp and probably as good as I've heard him in my half-dozen times seeing this band. He's not flashy but his playing is very fluid, which is most necessary while at times the band in mashing through some song at rib-cracking volume, his technical ability is in complete contrast. Maybe you have to see them live for that to make sense, but it did to me again that night. I do know it seems like he's actually getting better.

Next was a couple of more songs off of Death Magnetic, "Broken, Beat & Scarred" and "Cyanide". On the latter, Robert really kicked ass as his bass line seemed to be punching everyone in the face. All the while Lars was doing a steady job on the drums, with he and Robert seeming like they'd been keeping the thunderous rhythm of this band for decades instead of just years. More oldies with "Sad But True" getting the crowd going, followed by "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)" and "Wherever I May Roam" before Kirk noodled around a bit with a solo as the guys took a bit of a break for about a minute. It didn't take long though before they were all back out and blasting through their final new song of the night, the well received "The Day That Never Comes". The song starts off a bit slow, in trademark fashion, but by the end it was just a massive live song and one of my favorites of the night. That brought the total of songs from the new CD to 5, or half the CD. That's a lot for a band to keep an audience's interest I think, especially when you have such a great catalog of old tracks as these guys do and your songs are so long. A lot of the new songs clock in over 7 or 8 minutes.

Just when I think they might lose people though they dig out something to blow everybody right back up, this time it was the brutal 1-2 punch of "Master of Puppets" and "Blackened", and I wondered where everybody, band included, suddenly found all this frenetic energy. The place was alive or as the kids say, "blowin' up". Kirk settled it down again with some more noddling on a solo before the lighters broke out for the sing-a-long (as if everybody wasn't singing everything already) "Nothing Else Matters". That songs ends upbeat and heavy, so it's a perfect time for that little riff everybody knows that kicks off "Enter Sandman", and the place came unglued.

They took a very short little encore break while most of the audience tried to figure out how to chant the 4-syllables of their name, before finishing off Little Rock with the cover "Die Die My Darling", followed by "Whiplash" and closing with "Seek and Destroy". During this time they dropped these huge black beach balls with the Metallica logo on them and it would have been cool to see the hundreds of them bouncing all over the place, but mostly people were just trying to grab them so they could keep them. Not sure what I'd do with a black Metallica beach ball, but maybe on some goth beach these people go to it's a cool thing. It must be where the mullets roam free and guys like Kenny Chesney and Jimmy Buffet get beat up.

They stayed around after the house lights came on for a good 10 minutes or so shaking hands and taking turns talking on the mic and thanking everybody for coming out and supporting them etc. I think it was Lars though who finally said the groan-inducing "nothing little about Little Rock", which we hear in some shape-or-form from every band who comes through, usually by being called "Big Rock".

All-in-all another outstanding show. Complaints? With any band I like this much and know as much of their music I'll miss a few songs. This time I wasn't that thrilled to hear "Die Die My Darling" (don't really care for it) and perhaps they could play only 4 new tracks instead of half the album, although I enjoyed all the new ones and don't know which to drop. How about they just add 2 or 3 songs to the set? I know they change it up every night but c'mon, it's been 4 years since they were here and I didn't get to hear "For Whom The Bell Tolls", "Battery" or "Hit The Lights". Also not 1 track off the hated (by most) St. Anger CD, and personally I'm a fan of "Some Kind of Monster" and "Frantic". Nothing from Load or Reload ("Fuel" anybody?). But hell, they've got so many songs I love a 4 hour set might not totally satisfy me. That's a good problem to have a guess.

This isn't the speed metal, dangerous Metallica that tore up the industry once upon a time. It's the arena rock version of an older, wiser Metallica. It still loud, mean and rocks like hell though.

What don’t kill ya, make ya more strong.

Setlist:

* That Was Just Your Life (Death Magnetic)
* The End of the Line (Death Magnetic)
* Creeping Death (Ride The Lightning)
* Ride The Lightning (Ride The Lightning)
* One (... And Justice For All)
* Broken, Beat & Scarred (Death Magnetic)
* Cyanide (Death Magnetic)
* Sad But True (Black Album)
* Welcome Home (Sanitarium) (Master of Puppets)
* Wherever I May Roam (Black Album)
* The Day That Never Comes (Death Magnetic)
* Master Of Puppets (Master of Puppets)
* Blackened (... And Justice For All)
* Nothing Else Matters (Black Album)
* Enter Sandman (Black Album)

*** encore break ***

* Die Die My Darling (Garage Inc)
* Whiplash (Kill 'em All)
* Seek and Destroy (Kill 'em All)