Metallica’s Death Magnetic tour – Fort Lauderdale, FL (Bank Atlantic Center)

When I first got into good music (ie anything but pop/radio crap), Metallica was the first band I was turned on to. This was in 1988 and their album …And Justice For All had just come out. Combined with 1985′s Master of Puppets, we listened to Metallica more than any other band, later being turned on to Ride the Lightning and Kill em All. In 1991, their self-titled (or Black) album was released, and this seemed to have a splitting effect on their fans. Folks like me who were expecting the longer, more-complex songs of three years before were somewhat disappointed with Metallica’s ‘new direction’. They seemed to me to have given into superstardom and had decided to take the easy way – James’s ‘singing’ lacked it’s raw energy and now included plenty of ‘yeahs’. Overall, especially compared to the vast array of easy, uninspired, common, formulaic music out there in the mainstream, Metallica’s worst albums are still pretty great.

I didn’t pay much attention to Metallica after 1991. I heard a couple of songs on the radio from their future albums, and can even recognize a couple as listenable. Metallica’s 2003 album St. Anger was especially disappointing with Lars’s distinctly terrible snare sound; it literally sounds like a mistake – for the entire album. Jason Newsted left and did that ridiculous show Rock Star Supernova (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_Star_Supernova) (which I didn’t watch), but was replaced by ex-Suicidal Tendencies bassist Robert Trujillo in 2003.

When Death Magnetic was released in 2008, I didn’t pay much attention, but within a month or two more than one of my buddies mentioned that it was actually pretty damn good. Further, after making something of a bad name for themselves years back with the whole ‘music downloading’ thing, it was amazing that Metallica made the entire album streamable from the web site. Lars ‘fixed’ his snare sound, and as a whole the album seemed a lot more like what they’d gotten away from so many years ago. The songs were longer (in fact, only three of the ten tracks are less than 7 minutes, with none shorter than five), more intricate, and many have long, varying jam-like bridges or outros that simply rock!

I haven’t seen Metallica before, but in my eyes their new album had redeemed them, so when the World Magnetic tour tickets went on sale in my area I decided I was going. Tickets were about $80 but we ended up with pretty good seats. October 1, 2009 came and we drove to the Bank Atlantic center in Sunrise (Florida). Another $20 to park (what a racket!), but we got there early enough to enjoy a few beers in the parking lot before heading to the door. We’d already missed the first opening band (Gojira) and heard the lines to get into the arena were massive due to ‘heightened security’. After about a half hour of waiting, the security included emptying pockets, removing belts, and walking though a metal detector. By that time we’d missed the second opener too (Lamb of God), but we didn’t mind.

Metallica started around 9pm and proceeded to rock a host of new songs from Death Magnetic, as well as plenty of older tunes for over two hours. They played from a stage in the center and used microphones all around to keep mobile and play to the entire audience. The sounds was great and they put on one hell of a show. I got to hear lots of my older favorites including One, Master of Puppets, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Damage Inc, and my all-time favorite (which I later read they hadn’t played in the US since 1997), Shortest Straw.

I’d taken a look at a wiki-like site that sports the set lists from shows so I had an idea of how their stuff would go – there were some consistent songs and some they’d mix up from show to show. They seemed to always do at least one cover as their first ‘encore’ song which I looked forward to. Sadly though, they chose for Fort Lauder the song Killing Time by Sweet Savage which has been one of my less-favorite Metallica covers – oh well. Overall they play 18 songs, which you can check out. We bailed during the last part of the last song which let us get to the car and get out of the parking lot before it became a madhouse. All in all, Metallica put on a great show and if you’re even remotely a fan, either old or new, I’d recommend seeing them.

When I first got into good music (ie anything but pop/radio crap), Metallica was the first band I was turned on to. This was in 1988 and their album …And Justice For All had just come out. Combined with 1985′s Master of Puppets, we listened to Metallica more than any other band, later being turned on to Ride the Lightning and Kill em All. In 1991, their self-titled (or Black) album was released, and this seemed to have a splitting effect on their fans. Folks like me who were expecting the longer, more-complex songs of three years before were somewhat disappointed with Metallica’s ‘new direction’. They seemed to me to have given into superstardom and had decided to take the easy way – James’s ‘singing’ lacked it’s raw energy and now included plenty of ‘yeahs’. Overall, especially compared to the vast array of easy, uninspired, common, formulaic music out there in the mainstream, Metallica’s worst albums are still pretty great.

I didn’t pay much attention to Metallica after 1991. I heard a couple of songs on the radio from their future albums, and can even recognize a couple as listenable. Metallica’s 2003 album St. Anger was especially disappointing with Lars’s distinctly terrible snare sound; it literally sounds like a mistake – for the entire album. Jason Newsted left and did that ridiculous show Rock Star Supernova (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_Star_Supernova) (which I didn’t watch), but was replaced by ex-Suicidal Tendencies bassist Robert Trujillo in 2003.

When Death Magnetic was released in 2008, I didn’t pay much attention, but within a month or two more than one of my buddies mentioned that it was actually pretty damn good. Further, after making something of a bad name for themselves years back with the whole ‘music downloading’ thing, it was amazing that Metallica made the entire album streamable from the web site. Lars ‘fixed’ his snare sound, and as a whole the album seemed a lot more like what they’d gotten away from so many years ago. The songs were longer (in fact, only three of the ten tracks are less than 7 minutes, with none shorter than five), more intricate, and many have long, varying jam-like bridges or outros that simply rock!

Our view of the stage at Metallica. They brought the lights up for the show's final encore.

I haven’t seen Metallica before, but in my eyes their new album had redeemed them, so when the World Magnetic tour tickets went on sale in my area I decided I was going. Tickets were about $80 but we ended up with pretty good seats. October 1, 2009 came and we drove to the Bank Atlantic center in Sunrise (Florida). Another $20 to park (what a racket!), but we got there early enough to enjoy a few beers in the parking lot before heading to the door. We’d already missed the first opening band (Gojira) and heard the lines to get into the arena were massive due to ‘heightened security’. After about a half hour of waiting, the security included emptying pockets, removing belts, and walking though a metal detector. By that time we’d missed the second opener too (Lamb of God), but we didn’t mind.

Metallica started around 9pm and proceeded to rock a host of new songs from Death Magnetic, as well as plenty of older tunes for over two hours. They played from a stage in the center and used microphones all around to keep mobile and play to the entire audience. The sounds was great and they put on one hell of a show. I got to hear lots of my older favorites including One, Master of Puppets, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Damage Inc, and my all-time favorite (which I later read they hadn’t played in the US since 1997), Shortest Straw.

I’d taken a look at a wiki-like site that sports the set lists from shows so I had an idea of how their stuff would go – there were some consistent songs and some they’d mix up from show to show. They seemed to always do at least one cover as their first ‘encore’ song which I looked forward to. Sadly though, for Fort Lauderdale they chose the song Killing Time by Sweet Savage which has been one of my less-favorite Metallica covers – oh well. Overall they play 18 songs, which you can check out. We bailed during the last part of the last song which let us get to the car and get out of the parking lot before it became a madhouse. All in all, Metallica put on a great show and if you’re even remotely a fan, either old or new, I’d recommend seeing them.