I have a dark, dirty secret. It’s fairly scandalous.
For being the huge metal fan that I am, I am embarrassed to admit this very bizarre fact: I’ve never seen Metallica in concert. This isn’t really all that bizarre, when you look at their touring history as it coincides with my interest in metal. During the tours when I was the most interested in seeing them (Damaged Justice, Wherever We May Roam, Guns N’ Roses/Metallica Stadium Tour, I was either too young to attend, or wasn’t able to go. This has been a HUGE regret of mine over the years; as going to the GNR/Metallica show would have also allowed me to see one of my other favorite all time bands, Faith No More. Excuse me while I kick myself for a while.
When I saw that they were coming to the Target Center for the World Magnetic Tour, I jumped at the chance to get myself a ticket, with the odd caveat that I could only get a single seat. I’ve attended quite a few shows by myself, so I wasn’t too concerned. Besides, it’s a Metallica show. Everyone is family.
I met up with Orac, Rygar, his wife, and his sister at the Hard Rock Cafe for a few pre-show beers. I was not adequately prepared for the spectacle of that many Metallica fans waiting outside for the show. After conveniently missing both opening bands, we strolled into the Target Center and headed to our seats.
As the place was sold out, it was freaking PACKED, making this possibly the largest show I’ve been to; the Police at the Xcel may have been larger.* They had a relatively sparse stage set up, the only props being the casket shaped lighting rigs that moved about during the various songs, and a pretty awesome laser set up. They also had, which I was EXTREMELY surprised to see, a lot of curious grates on the floor, which I later discovered shot MASSIVE FREAKING FLAME TOWERS.
As I’ve mentioned previously, I find the mechanics behind putting on a show fascinating. It was very cool, with their stage setup, to be able to watch their techs and sound people madly at work during and between songs keeping the finely tuned machine that is a Metallica show rolling. I can’t even imagine how many crew they need to bring with to keep every aspect of the tour running. They probably have IT staff on hand.**
It was a great show. I was on cloud nine the entire time, screaming along and head banging. I was particularly impressed with Master of Puppets. An excellent setlist, although I would have loved to see a little more off of Justice.
That Was Just Your Life
The End Of The Line
Ride The Lightning
Holier Than Thou
One
Broken, Beat And Scarred
Cyanide
Sad But True -> Bass solo
Welcome Home (Sanitarium)
All Nightmare Long
Kirk Solo #1
The Day That Never Comes
Master of Puppets
Fight Fire With Fire
Kirk Solo #2
Nothing Else Matters
Enter Sandman
Encore:
Frayed Ends of Sanity tease
Die, Die My Darling (Misfits Cover)
Motorbreath
Seek & Destroy
Wasting My Hate tease
After the show, I met up with Orac for a few beers at the Hard Rock while the post show traffic dispersed. And the next day, being the nerd that I am, I bought the live show from their website. IT’S LIKE BEING THERE ALL OVER AGAIN.
* It turns out the Target Center holds 25,500 for center stage shows; the Xcel holds 14,400 for end-stage shows.
** BEST JOB EVAR.
Your pictures turned out a lot better than mine.
That laser show was wicked! Too bad they only used them on two songs.
I loved the flames that show up from between the speaker cabinets. Every time James went and stood on those things I kept thinking he was going to get his balls burned off. LOL
Did you steal a giant Metallica beach ball? LOL
No, I didn’t get a Metalliball, although one of the dudes behind me did. I also forgot to mention that I totally could see you guys across the arena. Reuben’s shirt stuck out like…. well, like a bright green REM shirt at a Metallica show.