Metallica live at Donington 10/06/06

	Download festival, Donington, England 10/06/06


Review in So What Magazine	Some of the pictures below courtesy of www.metontour.com.			Review in So What Magazine

Early risers	Donington by day	Some of the Metworld chapter	With Douglas (poor pic!)	Up shot!


Mikey T with Lars	Mikey T with Kirk	Mikey T with Rob	Mikey T with James	Mikey T with Signatures


Meet and Greet	In crowd ready for action	Star and Matt	Traditional bottle fight	Olly and myself tucking in!


James practicing before gig	Rob before gig	Kirk practicing before gig	Lars practicing before gig	James and Kirk in front of 70,000


James singing his heart out	Typical Rob pose	Kirk having a rest	Rob in front of 70,000 English	Farewell for another few years
An early start was made by four of us (Me-“Steve”, Ed, Mike and Tom) before we met with the rest of the chapter and users of the website www.metallicaworld.co.uk at about 11am. We were only going to the Festival on Saturday as our next gig was to be Dublin the following day. We got into the festival site in time for Satyricon who were pretty good. The first members we met up were Cads, Olly, Twinks, and Kirsty. These guys had been at the festival since Friday. Good reports came back about the previous day. Alice In Chains played early on and were fantastic. They deserved to be higher on the line up. The afternoon came with the usual heat associated with it so we basked like lizards! A surprise came when we met up with Mikey-T another chapter member who had been fortunate enough to win a meet and greet. The usual chat ensued – What are you going to ask them? Are you nervous? Are you going to ask for any songs? It was decided that Unforgiven would be a nice addition and fair play to Mikey he asked Lars for it and …… Mikey’s account of his meet and greet experience- James came out first and we spoke about the new album and whether there was a possibility of playing “Hit the Lights”, James said no chance which was a bit of a shame. Second out was Rob and the main conversation was about the Master of Puppets album, which obviously plays a big part in this tour. Then Kirk came out and this time the conversation was about the harshness of waking up in a tent when it’s far too hot and having to pay £8 for a bottle of sun cream! Last out was Lars, I put the pressure on for Unforgiven, he then checked out my ninja star tattoo which he seemed to like. The guys were really cool and happy to pose for photos and sign my stuff. They signed a t-shirt for me and also signed my arm (except Kirk) and then had photos taken with them. The were all really cool guys! Unfortunately, the ink rubbed off my arm so I couldn't get it tattooed when I got back but I took a photo of it on the Saturday night when it was still fully visible (see photo above). It was not the first time on this tour that most of us had seen the band, so we knew the format but a few slots in the set were still open for discussion! We all wanted to hear the new song which we had been getting into after it sprung up on the net milliseconds after it was first played in Berlin! About 20 of us eventually met up before the show and enjoyed the day listening to good bands and soaking up the sun. Let’s face it its got to better than work! We split up before Metallica played into smaller groups, to watch the band from preferred view points and were rewarded with one of the best shows I have seen Metallica play. Personally for me Donington is a special place as it was here that I first saw Metallica play and have now seen them play Donington 4 times. After a day in the extreme (for England) heat we decided that we would watch the show from the crowd rather than the front barrier. We settled into a nice position in front of the mixing desk and I can say we experienced the best sound we have ever heard in all the times we have seen the band. Another surprise came when we met Matt and friends in the crowd of 60,000 who had just made it after having to work all day. Just bumping into people in a crowd that size still seems like fate! Before the show started the obligatory Donington bottle fight ensued! I managed to get a full bottle in the chest which pinched a little! At about 9pm we heard “It’s a long way to the top” and we knew we were only minutes away. They opened with Creep then into Fuel which really got the crowd going. We were all waiting to see if they would play Unforgiven and then it came. We went crazy! Such a classic song should not have been omitted from the set for so long. Then we heard James growl over the mic asking if we wanted to hear the new song “Fuck Yeah James” This was a classic moment. That song is crushing. We were made up! The full version of Puppets is a once in a lifetime event and will be remembered for ever by everyone that saw them on this tour. Orion was absolutely fantastic and probably the best received song in the set. All the classics followed along with the wild card cover which tonight was Die Die My Darling along with just about every band member that they could find backstage! Seek did its job and rounded off what was a fabulous show and left everyone hungry for more. Thanks a lot guys for putting on such a fantastic show we will see you again tomorrow night! This review and pictures were used in volume 13, no. 3 of Metallica fan club magazine So What! click here to view the article as it appeared in print. Steve Gill
	Set List: Creeping Death Fuel Wherever I May Roam The New Song The Unforgiven Battery Master of Puppets The Thing That Should Not Be Welcome Home (Sanitarium) Disposable Heroes Leper Messiah Orion Damage, Inc. - - - - Sad But True Nothing Else Matters One Enter Sandman - - - - Die, Die My Darling (with Trivium and a bunch of other people on vocals) Seek and Destroy