James Hetfield didn’t address the absurdity of Metallica having circumvented Pittsburgh for a whopping 14 years, but you could almost feel it in the pent-up energy Thursday night at the sold-out PPG Paints Arena.
Ultimately, the tough crowd got what it was waiting for, as the veteran Bay Area thrash band put itself in the lion’s den in the middle of the arena floor and delivered a bludgeoning, hardwired set that spanned nearly two-and-a-half hours — a good chunk of time to maintain that level of earth-shaking stomp.
A few songs in, a distracting text from a local musician lit up my phone: “I hope your headline for tonight is ‘Lars Ulrich: The Worst Drummer in Rock N Roll History’.” You probably noticed that is not in fact the headline, but I’d be lying if I told you I didn’t spend a good bit of time there focusing on it.
Ulrich is certainly a character with a unique approach as a metal drummer — he keeps the fills simple, loves the floor toms and he’s certainly not a metronome — but what struck me as a whole is that while Metallica may set out to be heaviest of the big monsters of rock, it’s not overly concerned with being the tightest. (Slayer would have the edge there.)
There was more of a hammering and haphazard feel, due in part to uneven sound mix, which did nothing to tamp down the enthusiasm of what the Thor-like Hetfield referred to as the “Metallica family” surrounding him.
The family, hyped up by comedian Jim Breuer in a bizarro opening slot, was happy to provide a lot of the choruses and traditional chants, from “die! die! die!” to “obey your master!” No one ever accused Hetfield of being one of the most cheerful songwriters out there and the songs flowed in relentlessly bleak fashion, whether it was the old thrash from 1983’s “Kill ‘Em All” (“Seek & Destroy” and “Whiplash”) or the new thrash from “Hardwired...to Self-Destruct” (“Hardwired” and “Moth Into Flame”).
Metallica brought a simple but effective stage production. In lieu of a giant screen, which is never ideal in the round, they had what looked at first like 50-plus hanging vintage TV monitors that turned out to be cubes that moved up and down and lit up with flashy colors, designs and video elements. During “Now That We're Dead,” four of them popped out of the floor for the members to use as percussion instruments. The floor also provided flame pods, which Hetfield happily managed to avoid.
“Check out this local jam,” he said, leaving guitar shredder Kirk Hammett, who was ripping off squealing solos throughout, and bass powerhouse Rob Trujillo alone on stage, where they pumped out an instrumental of, believe it or not, Donnie Iris’ “Ah! Leah!” before moving on to “The Shortest Straw” and “Anesthesia (Pulling Teeth).”
Closing in on the two-hour mark, Metallica pulled out the big guns like “One,” with machine-gun riffs and military footage, a long, blistering “Master of Puppets” and the epic brood of “Nothing Else Matters.” “Enter Sandman,” once their entry song, was their booming, pyrotechnic finale.
Hetfield said at the outset, “Metallica is here to make you feel better, and you’re here to make us feel better. That’s how it happens.”
That seemed to happen Thursday night and maybe it will happen now with more regularity.
Absolutely amazed by the Metallica show in Pittsburgh tonight. That had to be one of the best shows I’ve ever seen. Thank you, Metallica. Please come back really soon. @Metallica #MetInPittsburgh
— Alec Thomas (@poliopheus) October 19, 2018
Awesome awesome show tonight in Pittsburgh. Maybe come back again soon? @Metallica #metinpittsburgh pic.twitter.com/M5yBu8FpGB
— The Wern (@PWern13) October 19, 2018
Scott Mervis: smervis@post-gazette.com.
METALLICA SETLIST
Hardwired
Atlas, Rise!
Seek & Destroy
Wherever I May Roam
The Unforgiven
Now That We're Dead
Creeping Death
For Whom the Bell Tolls
Welcome Home (Sanitarium)
(followed by Ah! Leah! and more)
Whiplash
The Memory Remains
Moth Into Flame
Sad but True
One
Master of Puppets
Encore:
Spit Out the Bone
Nothing Else Matters
Enter Sandman
First Published: October 19, 2018, 12:45 p.m.
Updated: October 19, 2018, 12:49 p.m.
