Metallica - O2 Arena
The set list is a revelation. The perfect combination.
Death Magnetic well and truly silenced doubts Metallica after the St. Anger period, though anyone that caught their triumphant set at Reading (or Leeds) Festival would have already been more positive about the legends ninth studio album. However, those at Reading might have experienced a little déjà vu if they got tickets to this sold out O2 Arena show – as if the many cries of "turn it up" had finally echoed to London.
The sound is abysmal. The Sword take to the arena’s central stage and have their devastating attack neutered. They give it their all, but seem lost on such a big and unusual stage. Vocalist J. D. Cronise is unheard during songs and reduced to muffled pub DJ between them. Luckily, The Sword were born with The Gift Of The Riff, and despite the poor sound get heads moving to their still immense grooves.
Any hopes that the poor sound is merely opening-act teething problems are soon dashed in a mulch of despair as one of the finest metal acts to have emerged since the headliners are utterly ruined. Machine Head haven't played two songs before people are shouting "Turn it up!", but it's not the lack of volume that's the real problem – the worst thing is that some of the finest metal songs of the last decade ('Halo', 'Dividian') sound like a headache falling down the stairs, vomiting. They're delivered perfectly, but the drums sound muted, the guitars slush together into a hissing, distorted mess, incendiary frontman Rob Flynn sounds like he's singing three foot away from the mic and crowd participation falters as every time handclaps build up, they go out of sync as they drown out the music. An outstanding band. A horrible mess.
Applause ends with hands clasped together, praying for improvement. And the answer comes when the first test of a bass drum threatens to shatter ribcages. Suddenly – just like Reading – the volume goes up. A lot. As a result, so does the cheers, as the metal legends take to the stage to a rapturous welcome. A few months earlier they played a basic showcase in this same venue, tonight they come armed with a full setup, including a surprisingly-less-tacky-than-you'd-think lighting rig that includes gigantic metal coffins that lower and move, as well as more pyro than you could shake a health and safety warning at. The sound is still not right once they get going, but this is Metallica, so sound problems are not problems, they're challenges.
The set list is a revelation. The perfect combination of new material, classics and less-frequently aired material; so alongside essentials like 'Enter Sandman' and a pyro-spewing 'One', we get cuts from Death Magnetic like 'The Day That Never Comes' and devastating opener 'That Was Just Your Life', as well as mind-blowing surprises 'Phantom Lord' and 'Damage Inc'.
Being the World Magnetic tour, the set is heavily infused with new tracks, and this is the best thing about this London show; Metallica were in every danger of becoming a nostalgia act after St. Anger. They could have become consigned to a routine of churning out albums that never get aired live because every moron in the building bays for classics. With Death Magnetic, we now have a host of classics less than a year old, and track after track that deserve to be set list mainstays.
There's no escaping the fact the sound is still messy, and the crowd reaction is almost lukewarm, but this could be down to the unfamiliarity a stage being in the centre, where crowd momentum slows when the frontman moves to the other side of the stage. And poor sound doesn't stop everyone in sight from screaming back the words, banging their heads and pumping their fists, because though this is far from Metallica's finest show, it still sees everyone stagger out of the venue hoarse, exhausted and grinning from ear to ear.Phillip May
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