I haven't written anything in a while, so I wanted to share a couple blogs from my Facebook page. I went to two concerts this past week, and I always like to write something about them afterwards. This one was first. I hope to post the second one tomorrow.
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I had a busy (extended) weekend. It started Thursday, when I met three of my cousins for the Metallica show in Lincoln.
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The opening act was comedian and Saturday Night Live alum Jim Breuer. His set was good, but he only did about 15 minutes, which kind of surprised me. Comedians often craft hour, half-hour, and fifteen minute sets. An hour would have been too long, but I thought he’d probably do 30 minutes. Breuer was officially the “party host,” so he did pop back in with fan interaction bits (shooting T-shirts, talking to people in the crowd, and checking in with Lars Ulrich backstage, for example). But his actual set was surprisingly short.
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Metallica took the stage around 8:30, and played until about 11:00. The band play in the round, with the drum riser being rotated a quarter turn every few songs, and the other three members of the band constantly moving, utilizing one of the eight mic stands set up around the perimeter of the stage. The old guys work their asses off, and still play as fast and as loud as ever. And more often than not, they transition straight from one song to the next, with very little crowd interaction. I guess if the senior citizens on stage don’t need to catch their breath, the crowd is expected to keep up.
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We got a bunch of classic songs, some of which, like “Master of Puppets,” “One,” and “Enter Sandman,” are fundamental parts of a Metallica show. But we also got “Fade to Black” which brought two of the guys in my group running back from their planned bathroom break/drink refill when they realized what song was starting. Good choice, guys. That’s not a song to be missed. We also got the more recent “The Unforgiven III,” which I mention because Metallica’s website says it was the first time it’d been played in eight years, and the first time ever in the United States. That’s one of my favorite songs from their previous album, Death Magnetic, and a pretty cool stat.
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The crowd, generally speaking, was loud, drunk, and aggressive... so, like the band for most of their career. It was definitely a different vibe than my other show this weekend. But we’ll get to that tomorrow. And, stereotypes aside, this was actually an all-ages show. In a rare pause between songs, James Hetfield talked to a little girl in the crowd, who, if memory serves, said she was eight years old. Hetfield said “Welcome to the family,” and told her she has awesome parents. I hope the parents bought her earplugs too, because seriously.
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This was a good show. I don’t know how it ranks with the other two times I’ve seen them... the sound quality wasn't quite as good in Pinnacle Bank Arena (maybe it was just where we were sitting), but this was probably the best set list I’ve seen. And it was fun hanging out with my cousins some time other than a holiday.
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Coming up tomorrow, the story of my trip to Kansas City to see my favorite artist... again. But this time, in a stadium.
Metallica’s set list: Hardwired, Atlas, Rise!, Seek and Destroy, The Memory Remains, The Unforgiven III, Now That We’re Dead, Creeping Death, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Fade To Black, Hit the Lights, Fuel, Moth Into Flame, Sad But True, One, Master of Puppets Encore: Spit Out the Bone, Nothing Else Matters, Enter Sandman
bookcouple:
Sounds like so much fun