Bonnaroo: Metallica Are Awesome At Ther Instruments, Being Photographed
Every festival has that band that becomes small talk fodder fest wide, the easy ice breaker, the default conversational touchstone. Last year's Lolla it was Pearl Jam. Last year's Bonnaroo it was the Police. And last night, it was Metallica. I was talking to Whitney before James, Lars, Kirk, and the Living Action Figure Bassist Guy hit the stage about how "Master Of Puppets" was the soundtrack to every one of her old darts league matches (not the album, the song -- on a loop). Aziz told me he used to download Ride The Lightning tablature to figure his way around the fretboard. I went through a deep crush as a budding guitarist too -- I bought the guitar book to every album up 'til the Black Album stuff. Riff city. James and Kirk taught me how not to strum chords. Last night's set was for all of us, the ones that couldn't name a song off of St. Elsewhere's Anger or whatever, but the ones that owned the Garage Days Re-Revisited EP and still get sad about Cliff Burton pulling the shortest straw. For those people, Metallica crushed it last night. Also they give good photo.
&otChris Rock came out to introduce the band (returning the favor Lars and Kirk paid him for his set a few hours earlier on the same stage -- that post TK), announcing them as "the baddest motherfucking band on the planet."
It didn't even look like Chris really bought it when he said it, but yes they are legend, a well-oiled juggernaut with a killer catalog and chops as sharp as ever. Each note of each passage of "...And Justice For All," nailed. The energy up front was scary, kids flown in from Argentina to yell for 2 hours straight. But once I was led away from the pit and towards some TV screens, that palpable stage energy was sublimated somehow, and the band's crack camera crew, whose on-the-fly editing was so precise as to essentially make the live feed a slickly composed concert DVD, managed to make them seem less like a breathing band and more like a glossy metal machine, almost a cartoon of what a World Famous Metal Band should be. That can be a good thing, I guess. I preferred the stage version. Can't blame the editing crew though ... they look pretty great.
No surprise to anyone that's been on Stereogum the past few weeks, they desperately want you old fans to love them again. This set was one big overture to the diehards: The first three songs were from RTL. They played Kill 'Em All's "No Remorse" and "Seek And Destroy." They played their cover of the Misfits' "Last Caress" from the Garage Days EP. "I've got something to say, I raped your mother today" ... right, not exactly radio singles. Those were the moments I loved. The performances were ferocious. James's overreaching crowd coddling banter, not so much. "Metallica loves you!" with a grandfatherly twinkle in his eye (subtext: "please don't hate us for Napster and making bloggers pull those advance reviews. Forget that stuff, remember the old albums when things were OK? We were a good team, right?"). It's entirely possible I'm just being a cynical asshole here, except that I'm not. It's the Metallica Regeneration Love Initiative. Welcome. But if that upset you, lemme make it up with more photos than you need.
First the setlist:
01 "Creeping Death"
02 "For Whom The Bell Tolls"
03 "Ride The Lightning"
04 "Harvester Of Sorrow"
05 "The Unforgiven"
06 "...And Justice For All"
07 "No Remorse"
08 "The Memory Remains"
09 "Fade To Black"
10 "Master Of Puppets"
11 "Whiplash"
12 "Nothing Else Matters"
13 "Sad But True"
14 "One"
15 "Enter Sandman"
----
16 "Last Caress"
17 "So What"
18 "Seek and Destroy"
Dave, you would have loved it. Now here's like a hundred photos. Happy scrolling.
Posted at 5:01 PM by amrit in Concert
Tags: Bonnaroo | Chris Rock | Metallica
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I sue you!
Score = 7
Want to comment your words about that you "still sing like a sailor" - you have the best man's voice i've ever heard. You feel what you do & it's the most important to make it feel the others.
Score = 5
Pikachu.
Score = 0
Hetfield came out and played the 1st set closer, later on, in a torrential rainstorm, with My Morning Jacket. Epic.
Score = -5
Hammett came out and played the 1st set closer, later on, in a torrential rainstorm, with My Morning Jacket. Epic.
Score = 2
Sotty, i meant Kirk Hammett, not Hetfield.
Score = 1
wow, aggressive
Score = 1
Notice how everyone in the crowd photos looks like a total douche?
...Pretty much sums up this band for me.
Score = -8
Brian, they played at Bonnaroo, which had everything from Phil Lesh, Kanye West and Death Cab for Cutie, as well as Metallica. And I was at all of them. Way to A) be very ignorant, and B) generalize people.
Score = 1
Maybe you look like a total douche, Derek. I don't know if you are (how would i know) but maybe it is something to consider.
Score = 0
the bassist is wearing a shirt for the band he is in. and not just any shirt. a faux-basketball jersey shirt.
this could only be better if he also had hot rod flames on his bass.
.......oh. wait.
Score = 4
^^^
Goddamn elitist hipster hater jerks. Metallica is one of the best American rock groups out there, period. Y'all keep judging people on how they look and what they wear and live your miserable hate filled lives.
Score = -1
No.
Score = 1
all douchebaggery aside, metallica shreds.
Score = 3
Some of the webcast vids are on youtube for anyone who cares. http://youtube.com/watch?v=5fcjrZ8aU54&feature=related
Score = 1
how could anybody not love cock rock! ITS SO DUDELY!
the testosterone is giving me a hard-on just thinking about it.
Score = -5
How is Metallica even remotely "cock-rock"? They were THE anti-cock-rock band of the 80s, you twit. Or are you one of many morons who think that Metallica's first album was the self-titled black album of 1991?
"If you came here to see spandex, eye makeup, and the words 'Oh baby' in every fuckin' song, this ain't the fuckin' band." James Hetfield, at Donnington 1985
Metallica in their prime:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcsaBKoK9-o
Score = 8
how could anybody not love cock rock! ITS SO DUDELY!
the testosterone is giving me a hard-on just thinking about it.
Score = -6
LOL in one of those pictures theres a shitload of excited people, and then this one guy who looks like someone is in the process of shooting his dog.
Score = 2
Overlooked here on Stereogum and every other major music blog is that Metallica played a surprise set at The Basement here in Nashville last Thursday night. Dick on the band if you like, but playing a tiny club show to 175 fan club members is a pretty cool thing.
Score = 5
The band collectively pulls more 'O' faces in those photos than you'll see in a porn movie trailer. Somewhere John Mayer is weeping...
artificialhip: Metallica only have 175 fans after their hilariously douchy 'documentary'.
Score = -4
The album was terrible. The documentary was brilliant.
Score = 1
Seriously, who dressed that bass player? Also, who is that bass player?
Score = -3
Any idea on why the tape on the guitarists hand?
Score = -5
Elitism aside, can you guys really deny that the people in the pictures look like douches?
Just look at the first one. Its a frickin high school bully convention.
Score = 2
I'm not really a Metallica fan but the bass player is Robert Trujillo, a founding member of one of the greatest California punk bands ever Suicidal Tendencies. So if you didn't know who he was fuck you. Because you obviously don't know shit.
Score = 6
Thank that has written it :)
Score = 4
We were verbally assaulted by meatheads waiting to get into the pit for Pearl Jam, yet the night before for Metallica, everything was all calm going in and out. I've been a PJ fan from the beggining, and was unaware they had recruited a major douche conglomerate. These douchebags even cursed Big Kenny from Big&Rich, and that dude is about nothing but love.
Score = 4
Well, i'm speechless, but i feel need to coment this pics somehow. The guys are just amazing, magnificent, i don't know, just simply beautiful.
Score = 6
Who wrote this article - loser, i know envy is human, but still, in my country i would sue him for excess of official powers. To have a right to write something doesn't give you the right to write a shit.
Thanx for attention.
Score = 4
Listen to some of you guys. Who dressed the bass player? Why the tape on the guitarist hand? Cock rock, douche bag...yadda yadda yadda. You guys dont know a thing about these guys so why even come on here and comment. Metallica is close to 30 years old now and they still have a huge following. Even after releasing some albums that werent so good, they still have a loyal fan base thats bigger than your band will ever see. You guys are StereoBUMS.
Score = 2
that one pic with the dude in the red hat- probably the best thing ive seen all day. He expresses my exact sentiment after having looked at those 10 billion pictures
Score = 0
Look, here's the deal to settle the whole who's the douche thing. All the people that were hating on Metallica are real d-bags. They have absolutely no idea what they are talking about. I was there, I saw the show. I haven't even remotely appreciated Metallica for over a decade, but they probably played the best show I've ever seen, and I've been to 4 out of the 7 Bonnaroo's. It was just ridiculous. I'm not one of the so called d-bags in the front, I was part of the non-Metallica group filling out the back of crowd. By the end of the show the entire crowd front to back was up and into the show. I would have to say that Metallica kicked everyone's ass in the audience.
Score = 1
i am so glad i was taking my pre-MMJ powernap during this shitstorm.
Score = -1
grace6697, why did you wake up for the shit hurricane?
Score = 0