My cousin Troy writes in with a review of what seems to be an excellent Metallica show in Toronto! I am looking forward to the Ottawa show next week (although I have misplaced my tickets!)
What a show!!! Cousin Rick and I arrived downtown with enough time to spare to grab a quick submarine sandwich in Union Station . We then got in the “Metallica Clubbers” line outside the Air Canada Centre which allowed us to enter the venue 30 minutes prior to the rest of the fans being admitted (Membership has it’s privileges being a member of the Metallica Fan Club!). Rick said he felt like we were VIP’s as we were escorted through a fancy area where we could partake of some beverages then out on to the floor. We were mighty thirsty, but we thought better of guzzling beer as we knew we would be standing for a long time to secure our spots for the duration of the show. Going to the bathroom would have resulted in us losing our spots, so it was out of the question. In hindsight it was the right choice as we were standing there for over six hours.
The stage set up for the gig, known as “In The Round” was a large oval stage located in the centre of the arena as opposed to being on an end. Fans are able to encircle the stage from all sides, while the band members constantly move around to interact with the fans. Once out on the floor we managed to get a spot dead centre pretty much right on the rail. There was only one person in front of us. Rick and I couldn’t believe how close we were to the stage, literally an arms length away. This was shaping up to be one hell of a musical experience! It was quite odd to be down “on the ice” of the ACC with most of the arena empty of people. Looking around from ice level you really get a feel for how big the ACC really is. Soon enough, the rest of the crazy concert goers started to pour in, and you could feel a sense of anticipation and excitement in the air.
Opening the show was a band called Volbeat from Denmark. I have never had the chance to listen to any of their material, but their music sounded pretty good. Apparently it was their first night on the tour, so I’m sure they were quite excited and nervous to be there. The crowd response was fairly luke warm….the arena was only half full at that time and most of the concert goers weren’t really into them. It must be tough opening for Metallica. I don’t have anything bad to say about Volbeat, but then again they didn’t really excite me.
Next up…….metal juggernauts Lamb of God. I was expecting the energy to be ramped up once they took the stage and I wasn’t disappointed. The guttural vocals of the lead singer, matched with the fury of the dual guitar attack and the thundering bass and drums whipped some fans into a fury. The difference was like night and day between Volbeat and Lamb of God. Though I did notice that some fans were still fairly reserved. It didn’t take long for a mosh pit to start to the left side of Rick. I didn’t notice it was occurring until Rick was shoved into me. When I turned my head to look there was a mass of approximately 20 or so people slamming into each other with fists, elbows and bodies. The look on Rick’s face was priceless as I believe he thought he was in for some punishment. He asked me if I “had his back” and I said I would step in if needed. I did move my large carcass in their direction with the expectation of keeping them at bay, and managed to shove a few guys away before they moved on to another area of the floor. All in all Lamb of God delivered their brutal form of metal to the delight of many fans, and in the process raised the energy level up for Metallica to take the stage.
Some observations that may interest only me:
- An unusual amount of towels and bottles of water brought out by the roadies and distributed at various spots of the stage prior to Lamb of God performing. My initial thought was either they are really thirsty, or we are going to get wet. It turns out the singer has a habit of dumping bottles of water on his head then flailing his great mane of hair around causing water to spray in every direction.
- Security guy standing with his back to the stage between us and the stage getting soaked with water by Lamb of God singer as he whipped his head around. The security guy didn’t look impressed. I believe the singer was doing it on purpose. He would pour a bottle of water over his head, walk right up to the edge directly behind the security guy then let loose. Poor bastard must have endured the shower at least 6 or more different times.
- Interesting interaction between lead guitarist Mark Morton and his guitar tech who was standing to my right in the gap between stage and fans. After every song the guitar tech would hold up a bottle of water in one hand and a red plastic cup filled with what I believe to be beer in the other. Mark Morton would walk over and 9 times out of ten take a pull off of the red cup.
- During a guitar solo, Mark Morton having a conversation with his guitar tech that looked like it was entertaining as they were both talking and laughing. Two things that strike me odd about this is: a) Mark was performing the intricate solo while looking at his guitar tech, not the guitar. b) How the hell could they hear each other? I was less then four feet away and the music was bloody loud. I could barely hear Rick standing right next to me.
- Rick commenting that the bass player looks like Papa Smurf……..he actually does!
- Guitarist Mark Morton making fun of a girl who was paying no attention to the band or their music. Obviously the poor girl was brought to the show by her boyfriend and she clearly wasn’t enjoying it (kind of reminds me of taking Connie to see Rush – bad idea). Mark finally got her attention and pretended he was yawning. He walked to the edge of the stage where she was and mouthed/yelled out “it’s alright, we only have two more songs left before we’re done”. It was pretty funny….and she was embarrassed.
- Rick snagging a drum stick from the Lamb of God drummer as it was thrown into the crowd. I have no idea how he did it as there must have been 20 or so hands all trying to do the same thing.
- Young guy to my right, with wonder in his eyes saying “Dude…that’s awesome! You guys deserve that drum stick as you’re the only ones rockin’ out to the music.” Priceless.
- A strong scent of marijuana wafting around us. We couldn’t figure out where it was coming from but it sure was strong and we were having a hard time breathing at times. A short time later Rick discovered a couple of young guys standing directly behind me were the culprits. They were using me as a shield from the security people by bending down behind me to spark ’em up. No wonder Rick and I were getting smoked out.
- Lamb of God singer encouraging people to get mosh pits going and body surf…only those that did were physically removed and tossed out by security. I guess for some fans it’s worth it to miss the headling act for some casual violence.
Finally, the headliner Metallica……the band we were all there to see. The house lights darkened, and the instrumental Ecstasy of Gold that Metallica has opened every show with for over two decades began to ring out. The fans erupted with an ear shattering cheer. When Metallica took the stage I thought I had died and gone to heaven. I had been following this band religiously since 1983, when as a young teenager I obtained a copy of a tape through a friend. I have seen Metallica live eight or nine times and by far this was the best. Being that close made the interaction with the band simply incredible. Rick was floored by the energy the band was putting out, and the fans were sending it right back at the band. It’s really hard to put it all into words, it must be experienced. The fans were incredibly loud from the get go…so much so that James Hetfield stopped singing and was shaking his head in disbelief at how loud the crowd was after the second song. Throughout the show he kept making comments about the decibel level of the crowd. James Hetfield – singer/writer/rhythm guitarist extraordinaire was in prime form. His vocals never sounded better. Lars Ulrich on drums appeared to be having a great time. Interacting with the fans every chance he could get. Lead guitarist Kirk Hammett had many moments to shine as he shredded his way through his guitar solos while smiling the whole time. Robert Trujillo on bass crept around the stage and was an anchor of the rhythm section. It was apparent the guys were having a good time. They could all be seen grinning from ear to ear, especially when the crowd took over the vocals that were loud enough to shake the walls of the ACC. All of the band members made a point to move around to each area of the stage, but Rick and I both agreed they tended to spend a lot of time right in front of us. I was fortunate enough to lock eyes with each member of the band on many occasions and got a response from each one when I would express my excitement. The band played a fairly tight set…..there were a couple of times when they got off tempo, but they recovered quickly with no dip in enthusiasm by the crowd. The set list was pretty good that included six songs off of the new Death Magnetic album. With a catalogue of music as large as theirs, they can’t obviously play everyone’s favorite songs.
Set list:
That Was Just Your Life
The End Of The Line
Ride The Lightning
The Memory Remains
Fade To Black
Broken, Beat And Scarred
Cyanide
Sad But True
One
All Nightmare Long
The Day That Never Comes
Master Of Puppets
Fight Fire With Fire
Nothing Else Matters
Enter Sandman
– – – – – – – –
Stone Cold Crazy
Whiplash
Seek and Destroy
Some observations that may interest only me:
- The wives and kids of the band members being escorted past us to find a seat within the barricade just prior to the lights going down.
- One of the Metallica kids wearing pink headphone/ear protection gear wandering on to the stage just before the show was supposed to start, and gently being coaxed off of it.
- James Hetfield has enormous stage presence.
- During the song The Memory Remains, the crowd continued to sing long after the band stopped playing. The band members looked at each other and shook their heads in disbelief at the duration and how loud the crowd was.
- The heat from the flames was intense when the pyro for the song One went off.
- Lars Ulrich came right over to us a number of times and one time made like a fountain as he sprayed my hand with some juice he was drinking from a cup. Sticky for the rest of the night.
- Robert Trujillo posing for a picture I was taking with my cell phone while still trying to thrash away to a song.
- There are some great custom paint jobs on Kirk Hammetts guitars. I could see all of the detail clearly.
- Great to see all of the guys playing their respective instruments. As a fellow musician I could finally see how they actually play those tunes, and see if I have been doing it right all these years.
- I was lucky enough to grab one of the large black Metallica beach balls that dropped from the ceiling at the end of the concert. A number of people tried to grab it from me but I somehow laid the Vulcan Death Grip on it and wasn’t letting go of it to save my life (thank god for strong guitar player fingers). I held on to it with one hand and fought off any challengers with the other.
- Rick and I also managed to get a guitar pick each from Metallica. One side shows a graphic of a monster, the other has “Metallica Sux ’09 Canada” printed on it.
- All in all Metallica put on one hell of a show. We had a great time other than I partially dislocated my right shoulder at the end of the show by reaching down to grab a guitar pick. I believe I hyper extended it. After almost passing out from the pain, I popped it back in and with Rick’s help was back to good in no time. Shoulder is a bit sore now, but I’m no worse for wear. By the end of the concert we were “Broken, Beat, & Scarred” to quote a Metallica song title. Dehydrated, worn out, and sore from six plus hours of standing and rocking out.
We finished off the night by hitting the pub for a few beers and some grub.
What a night!!!
All photos were taken from http://www.rebelreviewer.com/metallica.htm without any permission. If you are the owner and want them removed, by all means, get in touch with me!
