METALLICA – To Live or to Die (1/2)

Posted by rootwebzine on October 12, 2009 · 5 Comments

2009.09.20 – Metallica – Montréal @ Centre Bell – To Live Or To Die

Ok. Right now, I’m really exciting!
What better way to start writing on R.O.O.T Webzine with a Metallica live report? Combinations of circumstances sometimes are very good!

This is my 3rd concert of the world’s biggest metal band and I’m still so excited! After the Arras one in august 2008, during the Main Square Festival, where I started in the crowd (probably a weakness of my survival reflex) and ended on a side, watching the giant screen on tiptoe, then the Bercy, Paris, one on april 1st, 2009 seated ; this time I was determined: I had to be front row! As the scene is central for this Death Magnetic tour, I didn’t have to fight to find the perfect place (only arrived early) and stop moving for the rest of the evening! One more thing, for the camera, forget the reflex, it’s impossible to bring it in the general admittance, so I had to sadly content myself with a compact one that a friend nicely lent me. So, I’m sorry for the pictures’ quality…

For the opening bands, we know Metallica themselves choose them, and for this North-American tour, they particularly spoiled us! The French metal pride, Gojira, is the first to play, for my biggest pleasure! The frenchies travelled a long way since 2005, the first time I saw them in France! After many tours and a growing success in the United States (n°1 of the Billboard “Top New Artist”, please!), here they come supporting Metallica on this North-American tour! Respect!

What impresses me tonight is that, the usually huge scene of Metallica which always looks out of proportion for the opening bands who seem quite lost on it, is almost big enough for Joe (singer and guitarist), Christian (guitarist) and Jean-Michel who can’t stop running and jumping all around during their set! Even Mario, hidden behind his drums which are front of only a half of the audience, provides an amazing force and energy. He also gets up several times between two songs to greet the other public part behind him. Despite of the storm they drop on the venue, the French guys won’t be able to make the Quebecois move even if they seem to appreciate the show, like the guy behind me testified: “Has Metallica already been on stage or what?” Come on dude… High five!

Lamb Of God are the second good surprise of this night. Dynamism and talent are the key words of an one hour show and 10 songs. But obviously not enough to warm up this numb public. No thrash, hardly headbanging… I can’t figure if it’s because this is a Sunday evening or else, but I’m feeling lonely with my enthusiasm, especially when Joe Duplantier is invited back on stage to sing “Redneck” with the Americans!

9.00 p.m., the stage is ready to welcome the long-awaited Four Horsemen, the light engineers went up to their follow-spot (spots which light the musicians one by one and follow them during their moving), the photographers are prepared, the pressure is high. The lights turn off at 9.10 and the first notes of the inescapable Ennio Morricone’s “The Ecstasy Of Gold” ring out, as the shout’s thunder. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (and… the Sheriff?) come on stage like wrestlers coming on the boxing ring, making their way through the crowd and the photographers. It’s an intense 2h10 set which is starting under the lasers, moving on to “This Was Just The Life” and “The end Of The Line”, two songs of the last album introducing consistently the shows of the Death Magnetic tour.

But Metallica is above all a mythic band who wrote his own story and thousands of fans’ one with tunes, became classics, just like “Of Wolf & Man” – a song they are playing tonight for the very first time in Montreal – and “One” which starts the hostilities with the pyrotechnic effects. The flames probably get the better of the audience which finally wakes up and starts singing along this cult song.

After all the years, the American’s performance reaches the perfection. Kirk Hammet, who doesn’t have anything left to prove when it comes to guitar skills, amazingly performs his solo! The sound we listen quietly at home is one thing, but seeing the master playing a few meters from you literally blows you off!

As for James Hetfield, if he carries the height of years on his face, there’s nothing to upbraid about his singing and stage charisma. Believe me, when this man puts his eyes down on you even if it’s for a split second, the world could collapse around, and you wouldn’t notice at all!

The moment’s magic rise again with the first notes of “Sad But True” to reach his peak on “The Unforgiven”. What I’ve felt, what I’ve known is almost indescribable. An indescribable punctuated with shiver and a feeling to be propelled in a no man’s land where only the music wrap you up and carry you. The only thing to do at this very moment is to stop and enjoy every second of it.

There is one other thing which struck a lot on this tour, the structures on which the major spots are fixed. Indeed, four coffins looking like the album jacket surround the stage while four others are suspended just above the musicians. These last ones can be pulled down and leaned in order to create a spectacular and intimate direction at a time. I mean, with their huge size bringing an epic way to the already mystical atmosphere, these structures outdo the stage surface creating in the same way a confined space, as if the Mets were almost accessible.