Ahead of their upcoming concert at Slane Castle, I take look at some of the most remarkable
Metallica concerts in their history, here, I take a look at my favourite Metallica concert ever.
The majority of Metallica fans will always proclaim that the late 80s and early 90s was the best period for the band. They came into the mainstream with the album ...And Justice For All and became the biggest band in the world with the release their fifth album Metallica in this period. Their live shows were on a different level in these days as they were younger, the live shit binge and pure VHS/DVD and their momentous gig at Moscow was in this period too.
However, the late 90s is my favourite period for the band. The wonderful Symphony and Metallica (S&M) DVD was released and is the bands best ever performance. The double disc cover album, Garage Inc was also released. James Hetfield at this stage in his career, was sounding the best he ever did. S & M is proof of that. Hetfield could sing beautifully whilst still sounding ferocious as ever. Bob Dylan once said that one man and an audience could take down an army, Hetfield's voice at this stage could take down armies.
In November of 1998, Metallica the intimate Roseland Ballroom in New York. It was recorded by MTV and the entire setlist consisted of covers from Garage Inc and is my favourite concert they've ever played.
Bootleg DVD cover - discjapan.com
But why would a concert where Metallica only play covers be my favourite?
The Energy
The shackles were off for Metallica in the Roseland. They were up on stage having fun and playing songs that inspired them in their younger days. Metallica concerts are always high in intensity no matter where or what they're playing, but this concert with multiple camera angles every second, just Metallica up there hitting it out of the park is fantastic. The song post below is Last Caress/Green Hell (The Misfits cover) and is powerful and energetic.
The Songs
I love Garage Inc. It was the first Metallica album I bought. It will always hold a special place in my life. This is my favourite Metallica show and they didn't even play my favourite cover from the album, Astronomy (Blue Oyster Cult)
However, they did play my second favourite cover. It's referred to as 12 minutes of Satan, it's their medley of covers by a band call Mercyful Fate and the song is called Mercyful Fate. It consists of - Satan's Fall, Curse Of The Pharaohs, A Corpse Without Soul, Into The Coven and Evil. It's a mammoth piece of music that has so many catchy melodies and tempo changes. It's aggressive yet beautiful, in a way, it's the archetypal Metallica song.
James Hetfield
A good frontman makes a show good, a great frontman will make you remember a show and leave you wanting more. Hetfield is one of the best in the business. If he asked a crowd to jump, the crowd would respond "How high?". He is captivating once he is on stage. His performance in the Roseland is unbelievable. Turn The Page is one of the best covers Metallica ever created and the version at the Roseland is the best due to Hetfield's voice and demeanour on stage.
Photo credit: setlist.fm
In true Metallica fashion, they had a cover band open for them at the Roseland. Battery, a metallica cover band, so fans got the best of both worlds.
The energy, the performance, the songs and the dovetailing between black and white and colour on MTV's broadcast of the show are all some of the reasons as to why it's my favourite show.
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