| Well, well,
well......Gig three, same week, three countries later and we are on home
soil this time. Keen to go bowling it's the Milton Keynes Bowl! This
venue always had a unreal feel about it after viewing the press of the
'93 June 5th show. We had just survived the rigors of the
Nottingham-Dublin-Paris-Nottingham bus festival for the previous two
shows, aka 50 hours on a bus in 4 days. We had a one day break at
home/work before hitting the road to the bowl.
The day was very hot. We
got a lift to the bowl which was expected to be a day of Metal and rock
better than most. We decided to save our energy for the boys so we spent
most of the day chilling and trying to keep hydrated. A quick stint in
the Sepultura mosh pit and looking at things such as a bloke in a full
100% metal suit of Armour filled the day. When placebo were part way
through there set we decided to head down to the front and get on the
barrier. This went quite smoothly. Manson came on and fucked off after a
bit, crying about someone throwing a bottle at his head. Then it was
time for the boys.....The roadies started putting up the scary guy back
drop and the usual 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 1, 2 was under way. We knew it
would not be long before the boys were in the fold. We prepared for the
attack of the Metal Militia and what a treat it was...Steve like the
Metallifan he is managed to do some hardcore screaming into one of the
'Ozone TV' cameras at the front (the day later he was on TV see the pic
below!!). Click to view larger image.
Ecstasy of Gold kicked
in. We were salivating at the though by now. Breadfan opened what was a
very very insane gig, the crowd was going so nuts that the crush at the
front was unbelievable. Crowd surfers were going over your head like
swarms of locusts, I remember having 2 people on top of me at once on
quite a few occasions. Well Breadfan was great, then into Puppets and
the intensity rose further. 1/2 way through Puppets the song stopped and
both Jason and James looked very concerned. At this point the barrier
slipped and the security went a little nuts and crowd surfing was
prohibited, something had happened in the crowd related to the crush and
Puppets was restarted from the melodic breakdown. Of wolf and man into
thing was like a crushing blow to the neck. Two very intense heavy
numbers. Fuel was next and this was a very popular song with the crowd,
always a live favorite, especially around this era. Memory and Bleeding
Me followed and supplied a Calm point to the gig. At one point the
energy level seemed to dip maybe a little low, something I had never
experienced at a 'Tallica gig before. However when Seek kicked in the
intensity exploded before you could say 'Scanning the scene', this
version of seek was a cut down version with not so much crowd
interaction as we would have liked. Fair play to the band they are
fucking great live and how they do it is up to them. Bellz came next nuf
said "crazy", this would be the last time we would see Jason
kick off the intro without the orchestra (Steve went to the S&M at
Berlin). King Nothing went down very well a great song live. As was
Roam. Then there was a break, the stage went dark and the scene was set
for a blistering set of Pyro madness that only leads into One. Fuckin'
A. Fight Fire with Fire held the intensity really high, with James
enquiring 'what does it feel like to be alive' before the solo,
yyyyeeeaaaarrrrrrrrr James. Nothing Else Matters gave another point for
a quick breather and a chance to assess how wet with sweat we were. Sad
But True came next and fucking Jason was going insane with chants of hey
hey hey hey, drawing the crowd into his vision, one of pure energy! In
all honesty Jason didn't look like letting up when Creeping Death came
in, a great performance. Apparently we heard afterwards that the chants
of 'DIE, DIE, DIE' could be heard very loudly from 1/2 a mile away,
mutha fucka DIE!!!
After a Fixxxer style
jam intro Die Die My Darling blasted at us and was an instant live
classic for all involved, this rolled into Sandman already a Classic.
Whisky/Sleeps Medley followed and gave a real nice feeling of warmth and
it made me personally feel part of a big family,...the Metallica family.
BA TER REY....
This ended the show and for myself it was the last song Jason Performed
for me live. The band especially Lars seemed shattered, so nice to see a
band put in 100% for every show.
End note: We love you
Jason.
review by
Ed and a bit of Steve! |
