Photo: Sebastien Dion
Bands the size and stature of Metallica get invited to festivals like the Festival D’Ete in Quebec, but such is the size and stature of this event that Metallica requested to appear at this, the fiftieth year of this world-beating live event.
A swift one-two of ‘Hardwired’ and ‘Atlas Arise!’ from their current studio album, Hardwired… to Self-Destruct, and the classic ‘For Whom The Bell Tolls’ gets everyone running in top gear.
‘Fuel’ from the hugely successful Metallica album – known universally as The Black Album - is galloped through, with Hetfield spitting out the monosyllabic lyrics with joy and passion, but anyone dismissing Metallica as bone-headed metal heads should observe Hetfield’s sensitive acoustic guitar intro to ‘The Unforgiving’, his playing style every bit as delicate and considered as his usual electric rhythm guitar workouts are rapid and heavy.
Bands at this level produce personalities, and Metallica has them all present and correct. Even though everyone is dressed in black, each member brings his own essence to the proceedings. James Hetfield has the easy confidence of a seasoned singer and front man. Bassist Robert Trujillo is the personification of ‘digging in’, legs straddled, plaits flying, his fingers a blur on his four and five-string basses. Guitarist Kirk Hamnett is the Byron-esque guitarist, his frail frame at odds with the endless muscular riffs and fluid solos he produces, such as the one he unveils on ‘Moth Into Flame’. And band founder and powerhouse drummer Lars Ulrich is the engine room, the driving force both on and off stage, of this titanic sound.
“We’re going to play some heavy songs...” advises Hetfield, as though the preceding half of the performance had merely been a warm-up exercise. The Black Album’s ‘Sad But True’ rather emphasises the point, and when he barks “Master!” at the audience, the peerless ‘Master Of Puppets’ follows.
“When I say ‘seek...’” says Hetfield with a huge grin, “you know what comes next.” And they do – because ‘Seek and Destroy’ is the next song to find its essential core untouched yet brought right up to date with the slickness and precision that underpins the Metallica live experience in 2017.
‘Fight Fire With Fire’ is the last touchstone from the band’s early years, and they finish, as all great showmen do, with their two biggest songs – ‘Nothing Else Matters’ and ‘Enter Sandman’, which together represent the nearest to pop music that Metallica are ever likely to be.
So the Metallica behemoth rolls out of Quebec and back into the U.S. on the next stage of its current world take-over – on its way to UK stadium shows in October. By then it will have tightened up even further, and the relentless power and force of nature that is Metallica on stage will be unveiled for its equally fervent British fan base. If you resolve to see just one stadium rock show this year, make it the greatest there is – make it Metallica.
