Metallica and Corrosion of Conformity rolled through Freedom Hall on February 2 with a loud and monstrous show. Metallica is riding the wave as kings of metal right now and they are having a good time doing it.
The band has a long history in hard rock, from their early days when they put out the now classic Kill 'em All to the present with their latest release Load.
The band has definitely seen the rise and fall in metal over the years and have managed to grow in their music through all the changes.
The show got off to a start with bass player Jason Newstead running around Freedom Hall getting the crowd worked up, then the entire band took the stage. Actually, there were two stages, allowing a good view for the entire crowd. The view was pretty good no matter where your seats were, which is something to be thankful for at a reserved seating show..
Metallica played a satisfying show of old and new material, while running back and forth from stage to stage and keeping constant interaction with the fans. Surprisingly, the band only played a couple of new songs from Load, both of which got a good response, but they concentrated more on their older material, which seemed to get the best response of all.
Songs performed include "Master of Puppets," "For Whom The Bell Tolls," "Seek and Destroy" and "Battery." A couple of newer songs, "Enter Sandman" and "Until it Sleeps," were also performed, making for a good mix of old and new material.
The show was going along just fine when some things suddenly seemed to go wrong.
There appeared to be a small fire under the stage, which quietly got taken care of without much notice from the crowd. Then, there was a problem with the lighting and sound system, a mishap in the electrical system perhaps. While trying to correct the problem, members of the stage crew appeared to be getting injured left and right, with one guy falling from a ladder and another one running across the stage on fire. It was total chaos and everything kind of came to a halt. Some people were about to flee the building while others seemed unconcerned.
It turned out that this was all a part of the show. That's right, all of the things that went wrong, including the injuries of the road crew, were all staged.
A few minutes passed and then the band came back on the stage, much to the crowd's approval. A few light bulbs were pulled down from the ceiling. Gone were all the fancy lights and equipment. A few more songs were played and then the show was over.
While being a bit drastic, Metallica definitely proved their point. You don't need fancy lights and equipment to make good music. Just four guys playing music from the heart – that's when it's real.
Corrosion of Conformity opened the show with their blusey metal sound. Songs included were "Vote with a Bullet" and "Clean My Wounds." C.O.C did a good show, but didn't get much response from the crowd.