Last Monday, October 12, my friends and I took in the Metallica concert at the MTS centre in Winnipeg. What a blast! I think there was something like 16,000 people there; I heard it was an attendance record for a concert there. Here's my take on the show.......
Metallica hit the stage shortly after 8pm with the song "That Was Just Your Life" off their new "Death Magnetic" album. The band played the entire song while the arena was dark except for some laser lights that darted around and others that formed designs and shapes on the stage. Very cool, and very different for a Metallica show. Singer James Hetfield had a spotlight on him everytime he stepped up to a mike to sing. After the song, the house lights came on and there they were on stage for all to see.
"The End of the Line" also off Death Magnetic, was their second song before they finally launched into a classic Metallica tune; "For Whom the Bell Tolls" a song I am absolutely in love with due to the bass riff at the beginning, it was my first time hearing bassist Robert Trujillo play it and it rocked.
It became very clear to my friends and I that this concert was all about the new stuff, as they played no less than six songs off their new record.
Metallica's stage was in the middle of the arena, and was about as big as a hockey rink, maybe a little shorter. They had seven (I think) vocal mikes that James and the band alternated between while singing songs, James never sang one song from just one mike. They had four coffins floating above the stage with lights all over them, and as usual, lots of fire and explosions.
A highlight for me was "Master of Puppets" a song which the band played but let the crowd sing the choruses, pretty impressive to hear 16,000 souls singing along. When the band played "Bell Tolls" and "One" they were actually shorter versions of the originals, which we found interesting.
The rest of the set included the new songs, "The Day that Never Comes", "Cyanide", "All Nightmare Long", and a couple others, as well as the classics "Enter Sandman", "Sad But True", "The Unforgiven", and "Nothing Else Matters" all off their "Black" album.
Some surprises to us were "Damage Inc.", "Whiplash", and "Seek and Destroy", the latter two were played as encores.
I'd like to end my little review with this; folks, nobody engages a crowd live like Metallica. Even if you are not a fan, I would encourage you to see them if you can, a live Metallica concert is an amazing experience. Can't wait to see them again,
which should be "soon" according to drummer Lars Ulrich as he left the stage.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
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