When leaving Friday, I wasn't feeling the best, sinsues and weather changes and even on the way there I was doubting whether I could tolerate a show. But through the day after eating some tasty Lion's Choice and whatever clearing up, I definitely felt a lot better.
Of course it was 5 PM rush hour traffic and 50,000 people converging which made navigating downtown and parking a chore and gave us good distance to walk. (On the plus side, our parking place wound up being great in getting us out better).
We wound up plenty of time to spare before the 6 PM start. This was another first for me, as the Dome at America's Center was a concert venue I had never been to. Our seats were okay. 4 row in one of the lower sections. For whatever reason, the Dome didn't seem that big. Maybe it was sitting so low, but the perspective just didn't seem huge. Maybe the huge towers for Metallica's obstructed some of the grandeur. But the few other stadium's I've been in, seem bigger. And the narrow seats and metal bleacher floors weren't the most ideal for 5 hours.
Mammoth WVH took the stage around 6 PM and played for 30 minutes. The progeny of Eddie Van Halen sounded okay, but I haven't really listened to much of his band and he spent most of his set stationary, not taking advantage of the round walkway and playing on the stage area obstructed by one of the towers opposite towards my end of the stadium.
After a 30 minute set change Pantera, or a Pantera tribute band played for an hour. Without Dimebag Darrell, as far as I'm concerned it's not Pantera. Though it was awesome to see another master guitarist Zakk Wylde, even if from afar. But Pantera is the screamo metal that I really don't care for. Phil Anselmo played the crowd as much as he could, encouraging hands up, singing along, and liberally using the f-word as much as possible. But again while I was majorly unfamiliar with their music, it wasn't horrible. Nikki loved it though, except for getting used to the bass reverberating across your body.
An hour later the headliners took the stage after a double dose intro music of It's A Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock and Roll) and The Ecstasy of Gold. The drums rose up from underneath a platform I'm guessing and they either move around under the stage/circular walkway, or they have multiple drum sets. It was neat because it let Lars Ulrich finish up in the stage area nearest to our seats. Likewise, the other principle members moved around to different positions through the concert. At one point Hetfield laughed, "There's too many microphones up here."
With a concert of this magnitude so much of it is scripted to keep the details right and the trains on time. There was pyro unleashed during Fuel, huge yellow and white M72 inflatable bouncy balls unleashed out of the towers during Master of Puppets and plenty of light shows and animated art sequences on the huge screens atop the towers. One guys job was to protect Lars at the drum set from the bouncy balls. Without being a major fan or honestly knowing their music like I should, it was hard to know what was added jam wise and what was spontaneous(speech and music wise)...
But I very much enjoyed the concert and the music. If it tells you anything, I have had their music and melodies going on in my head all day. I knew there was strong craftsmanship to their music, but seeing it live gave it more appreciation for me. Kirk Hammett is another guitar legend that deserves his praises. As for highlights, on the new song Lux Æterna, they seemed to have more of a fire and passion behind it, as well as seeing Master of Puppets, which Nikki was looking forward to.
And props for the band not to use the fake encore, though it looks like they play pretty close to the same set list for each 1st show at least. Hetfield's stage prescence wasn't overblown like Anselmo's was, in trying to pander to the audience. Of course that comes with experience and knowing the crowd was in their corner anyway. The band was throwing out pics and giving thanks to the audience as we were leaving, mentioning some of the previous excursions in St. Louis.
On to Night #2...
Review St. Louis Concert Review
Quincy Hearld-Whig Review
Metallica Set List
Creeping Death
Harvester of Sorrow
Holier Than Thou
The Memory Remains
Lux Æterna
Too Far Gone
Ktulu Burrito (Kirk and Rob jam)
Fade to Black
Shadows Follow
Orion
Nothing Else Matters
Sad But True
The Day That Never Comes
Hardwired
Fuel
Seek & Destroy
Master of Puppets
Pantera Set List
A New Level
Mouth for War
Strentgh Beyond Strength
Becoming
I'm Broken
Five Minutes Alone
This Love
Fucking Hostile
Walk
Domination/Hollow
Cowboys From Hell
Mammoth WVH Set List
Another Celebration at the End of the World
You're to Blame
I'm Alright
Like a Pastime
Take A Bow
Don't Back Down
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