2004-03-06 | THE THING THAT SHOULD NOT BE

It's probably not the most punk rock thing to admit, but I went to the Metallica concert the other night and it may have been the best concert I've been to. At the end of this entry I may make a list of my top ten concerts of all time.

It was great to hear the song "Frantic" live for the first time. Actually it was my first Metallica concert, so all the songs were my first time hearing them live, but Frantic and "St. Anger" were the two newest. I was impressed with myself for being one of the few people in my section who knew the words to "Frantic".

The stage setup was very interesting. It was right in the middle of the arena, but there were little hills of equipment on the stage, including the drum set, and they gradually rotated throughout the concert. So James, Kirk and Rob would run around and cater to different sides of the crowd, as Lars gradually did a complete 360 over the two or so hours so he could feed his drumsticks to each individual in the arena.

Usually when a band has been playing for nearly 2 hours, I start to get restless and secretly wish for them to leave the stage. But I could've watched Metallica play for another hour. The show was full of great energy and sincerity. It was beautiful. There were a few more songs I would've liked to hear, but I have no complaints with any of the songs that were played that night. The show began with "Blackened". For the encore they showcased "One" after playing some audio from the movie Full Metal Jacket. They then predictabally closed the show with "Enter Sandman".

Other highlights included "Battery", "Nothing Else Matters", "Harvester of Sorrow" and "Seek and Destroy".

Godsmack was the opening band, and although I'm not a fan of them at all, they put on a tight, no-nonsense show.

Now I'll give a try at my top ten concerts of all time. Okay...how about a top 13? Word.

13.311 (Numerous shows)

12.Tantra Monsters (Numerous shows)

11.Guttermouth (Numerous shows)

10.Hepcat (Numerous shows)

9.Less Than Jake (Numerous Shows)

8.Big Mele Music Festival 1997: Incubus, the Breeders, 311 and Wu-Tang Clan

7.Big Mele Music Festival 1994: Blind Melon, Social Distortion, NOFX, Chokebore and Porno for Pyros

6.Rocket From the Crypt

5.Rage Against the Machine

4.Metallica

3.Ween

2.Pearl Jam

1.Big Mele Music Festival 1993: Fishbone, Violent Femmes, Stone Temple Pilots, Tool and Primus

- premature ejaculation | tantra +