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Reading festival
England 24/08/2003
Returning to the U.K. to finish of their summer tour was always going to be something to look forward to, having released their first studio album in 6 years in June and returning to the fold with monstrous new bass player Mr Trujillo, the fans have been waiting with baited breath (well those who didn’t get to see them rock the house at Download Festival) to see ‘tallica give us heavy again.
Well to say they were good would be a slight untruth, to say they KICKED SERIOUS FUCKING ASS on the other hand would be slightly more apt. Hearing the Ecstasy of Gold power through the P.A never tires. With a bit of love sent out to my buddys Uncle Steve an A Star and chills and shivers cascading firmly down ones spine I was firmly prepared for the aural treat that these sexual blackbirds had in store for us.
Cranking out the winning opening duo of Battery and Puppetz could hardly be bettered, a huge sound entails with all members firing on all cylinders and then some. The Metallica of late have found themselves covering a lot of their older material in the set list, favourites such as Harvester of Sorrow, No Remorse and of course the almighty Blackened (which tonight Matthew, is my personal highlight) are all welcomed re-additions to the set. Rob Trujillo the new family member looks like he’s been up on that stage with them since they began, (crab) walking around the stage like a bomb of energy, jamming with
Jaymz, Kirk and Larz in equal amounts we see a band happy with their new found unity.
Frantic and St Anger the only tracks featured of their blistering new album are two classics already, the heavy as fuck groove of Frantic and the fast as lightning St Anger failing to disappoint and sounding like they’ve been a fixture in the set-list for years even when sandwiched between the likes of Bellz and Sad But True.
The two encores that we come to expect now are jam packed with classics, Fuel (the only Load-era song featured tonight) NEM and a awesomely heavy Creeping Death with some killer backing vocals by none other than Daron and Shavo from System of a Down, bring encore 1 to a blistering close.
At this point now knowing that they will return to the stage we are greeted viscously by pyro’s and gun fire that means only one song can follow ONE and what a way, alongside Sandman, to bring an awesome night to a remarkable end, the intensity of One to the stomping
groove-tastic Sandman mean that Metallica’s metal crown remains intact, no change there then.
For those who missed it, it’s a real shame, but…
“…December 20th Earls Court, see you there” Fuck yeah baby count me in, and make sure you do the same, because at this point in time, the Metallica boys are truly on fire
Commitment…full commitment.
Review by
Olly 2003 |
