Metallica -- Cleveland, OH -- October 15, 2009

[Natrlhi]

Set list first - gig report to follow:

That Was Just Your Life
The End of the Line
Harvester of Sorrow
The Shortest Straw
Fade to Black
Broken, Beat & Scarred
Cyanide
Sad But True
One
The Judas Kiss
The Day That Never Comes
Master of Puppets
Dyer's Eve
Nothing Else Matters
Enter Sandman

Encores
Last Caress
Hit the Lights
Seek & Destroy


It was as if they read my post from a few days earlier that I was OK with all the DM stuff (cuz that's what ya do when you release a new album), but if only they would play "The Judas Kiss" - and they fuckin' did. Hell yes.

Then, they played both Harvester of Sorrow AND Shortest Straw. Nice.

...and then to top it all off, they played fucking Fade to Black. Yeah, that's right, bitches. Fade to fucking Black.

What a set. What a show. More details later - I'm still tired as fuck right now, but I had to get the set up there before somebody else did.

Peace,
Nat

[DethMaiden]

They've been excusively playing totally awesome setlists since Death Magnetic came out. There, I said it.

[Natrlhi]

They really have. I was damned impressed. I have been both impressed and disappointed by these guys in the past - we have a long "history" together - but they are really back with a fucking vengeance these days. Much love to the founding fathers of thrash.

EDIT: They totally deserve to be in the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame, too, by the way. (IMNSHO)

[petrovar]

Didn't you think the climbing-on-the-coffin-to-fix-the-busted-PA-with-a-ladder-while-Metallica-was-playing moment was totally Spinal Tap?

[Natrlhi]

Originally Posted by petrovar

Didn't you think the climbing-on-the-coffin-to-fix-the-busted-PA-with-a-ladder-while-Metallica-was-playing moment was totally Spinal Tap?

Yeah, it was kinda goofy. At least Metallica kept playing and James didn't have a meltdown. He looked close, though.

[TonyD]

Nice. Do you have the Gojira set?

[Natrlhi]

Originally Posted by TonyD

Nice. Do you have the Gojira set?

In short, no.

That story is one of the details I was gonna put in the gig report, which I sort of lost interest in writing since Andrew had beat me to the punch and posted the set list from the metontour site about fifteen minutes after the show ended.

Anyway, to make a long story short, I got some bad intel on the start time for the show, and showed up at 7:30, which I thought was a half-hour early but which turned out to be during Gojira's last song (which I think was Vacuity, but I'm not quite sure). I was mega-pissed, but after Metallica's phenomenal set I resolved myself to the fact that I could live with having missed a twenty-five or thirty minute set from Gojira...they'll be back.

Anyway, I had been researching it, and I think their set opening for Metallica has been something like:

Oroborus
The Heaviest Matter of the Universe
Backbone
Flying Whales
Toxic Garbage Island
Vacuity

...can anybody else confirm this?

[makethemsuffer12]

I really wish Gojira was opening for them when I see them again at MSG next month. But I'm stuck with Volbeat =/

[andrew_metalhead]

Originally Posted by Natrlhi

In short, no.

That story is one of the details I was gonna put in the gig report, which I sort of lost interest in writing since Andrew had beat me to the punch and posted the set list from the metontour site about fifteen minutes after the show ended.

I just post it so that people can have a look at the set list. You were AT the show so I don't see why you should lose interest just because the set list is already posted. Even if I hadn't posted it here, people would have seen it on metontour anyways. A full review always means much more than the set list.

[Natrlhi]

Originally Posted by andrew_metalhead

I just post it so that people can have a look at the set list. You were AT the show so I don't see why you should lose interest just because the set list is already posted. Even if I hadn't posted it here, people would have seen it on metontour anyways. A full review always means much more than the set list.

Yeah, bad choice of words on my part. Instead of "lost interest", I should have simply said that I felt less of a sense of urgency to post the show details because I didn't want to seem like I was trying to pull folks away from posting to your thread instead.

At any rate, now that I think about it, there isn't that much to say that the set list doesn't say on its own - it was one of the best sets they have played on this tour, I think - and I consider myself lucky to have been there to see it.

I don't know if I've ever heard them play "Fade" live before, and I've seen them like four or five times, so that was a real treat for me. You can tell the guys in the band still have big feelings when they do that song - they were doing the ol' fist pounding on the heart and pointing to the crowd during the whole song, and the Cleveland fans returned the big emotions with lots of raucous yelling and screaming (but respectful, if ya know what I mean ). Cleveland fans can be a fickle bunch sometimes - not only when it comes to music but for other stuff, too - but my home town crowd showed the love big time that night.

Another thing that I found interesting was the number of young 'uns at the show. It was really cool to see the thirty-somethings (like me!) at the show with their kids - I didn't know they made Metallica shirts for fifth-grade sized kids, but damned if they don't. Multi-generations of headbangers all out to have a good time. I had to watch myself in the pit, because there were youngsters around me and I didn't want to be the asshole who yells out obscenities right in front of a kid like it's no big deal. I wonder what some of those Metalli-dads and -moms told their kids about the funny-smelling cigarettes that were being passed around...

So yeah, it was a great time all around. Great set, and great energy by the guys. They are starting to show signs of age (such as James's beard, which is now basically grey or white...), but their energy is still as high as it ever was - and if anything it is more positive than ever. They used to yell at the crowd about being all messed up and drunk and outta control, and now they yell out heartfelt gratitude to their fans for making them feel good about doing what they do. They gave out the love in abundance, and we all gave it right back - it was a really great night.

Nat