Metallica
Jobbing.com Arena
Glendale, AZ
October 21, 2008

By Dan Wall 

Setlist: That Was Just Your Life, The End of the Line, Sad But True, Wherever I May Roam, One, Broken Beaten and Scarred, Cyanide, Frantic, Until it Sleeps, The Four Horseman, The Day That Never Comes, Master of Puppets, Fight Fire With Fire, Nothing Else Matters, Enter Sandman. Encore: Last Caress, So What, Seek and Destroy. 2 hours. 

The last time Metallica toured America, there weren’t many fans there to hear the band play songs from its new album, which at the time was St. Anger. That album, recorded during the band’s “psychiatrist” era just after Jason Newsted left the band, would be best served by just being forgotten, or perhaps credited as the catalyst for the group’s great new Death Magnetic record. 

Thus, as Metallica opened its 2008 tour outside of Phoenix on October 21, the feeling was much different for both the band and the crowd, because this time out the new songs were just as welcome as the oldies. 

To open its present tour, the band packed  a hot, sweaty arena (not hard to do in the desert), played a two-hour set on its signature in-the-round stage and featured a set list that touched on all bases of the band’s lengthy career. The Bay Area-based quartet fired on all cylinders and showed why they are still the kings of heavy metal.

The stage set-up has become familiar to Metallica fans, with a rectangular-shaped stage set in the middle of the building. Unlike other in-the-round set-ups that spin entirely, this one is stationary and just Lars Ulrich’s drums circle in the middle, as it took him the full two hours to make one complete revolution around the arena. Ulrich is sometimes ripped for being the weak link musically in the band, but on this night I thought he was the star onstage.  

Ulrich’s drums sounded big and beefy on this night (remember how they sounded on St. Anger?), on both the new and old, so much so that he had to be harnessed in by the rest of the band when he appeared to be flying out of control. Such was the ferocity and unabashed joy the band displayed in being together onstage that the crowd picked right up on it, providing back-up vocals that only 17,000 diehards can muster. 

James Hetfield, Kirk Hammet and Robert Trujillo ran around the rest of the stage that remained stationary, using one of the 8-10 mikes set-up to add vocals and entertain the crowd. I’ve seen other bands try to do this, but Metallica is one of the few that can make the in-the-round stage work so well. 

Hetfield was in fine voice and had little trouble singing the older songs; many that have went unperformed by the band for many years. His rhythm play was solid, and he even tossed a few leads into the mix. He was also very humorous when he addressed the crowd, and looked happy to be back in front of his fans (and a bit shocked at the response of the very loud crowd, if truth be told). 

Each member certainly contributes plenty to the group, but Hetfield adds more than anyone else does. First, his rough, rugged voice which can roar like a lion and croon (as in “Nothing Else Matters”) like a (rather hoarse) bird. It’s one thing that this band has on most of today’s metal bands (and two, Down and The Sword, that played before it on this night)-songs with melody and a chorus you can follow. 

Hetfield is a focal point onstage as well, playing rhythm and lead guitar, posing in his confident, cocksure manner and thrusting his fist into the air at just the right time in leading the fanatics in various singalongs and pogoing. His raps were funny and cool, and he kept the show’s pace moving along, especially when it could have dragged when the band pulled some of its new material out in the middle of the set. 

It didn’t, and that’s a testament to the new material as much as anything I could say here. The best song of the night was “The Day That Never Comes,” and anytime the band pulled out a new one, the crowd around me reacted just as excitedly as they did to the classics. 

It’s great to have Hammett back playing fiery solos (there are no guitar solos on the last album), and Trujillo crabbed-walked and bounced around the entire stage in an entertaining way that adds a different element to the band’s live presentation than Newsted did.  

The stage show featured the typical pyro blasts and flame at the outset of “One,” a lazer light show that brightened the mood of several tunes, and four huge casket-shaped lightning truses (think the cover of the new record) that swung and dipped during certain points in the set. It wasn’t as over the top as past shows, as the band seemed to be focusing more on the music and the concentration to play the band’s more intricate pieces. With the pre-requisite lighting effects and a sound system that pushed out the sound at ear-splitting volume, Metallica proved it is still the king of the jungle as far as arena rock goes in this country.

The set list was an interesting mix of new and old, and the highlights were plentiful. Aside from “One” and “The Day That Never Comes,” “The Four Horseman” was well received, and “Fight Fire with Fire” blazed a trail that few bands can match live. Interestingly enough, the group had not been playing the hits off the Black Album on its European tour, but “Sad But True,” “Nothing Else Matters” and “Enter Sandman” were all back in the set stateside.

The last time these guys recorded and toured, most of us felt lucky just to have a tour, because the band came precariously close to breaking up. With the new album and tour, its safe to say that Metallica is all the way back, and heavy metal in this country is all the better for it.