Photo Credit: metallica.com
With their first performance at Slane Castle on the horizon, there is a lot to be excited about if you're a Metallica fan from Europe. However, in September, Metallica are reuniting with the San Francisco symphony. 20 years ago, they performed and the live album/DVD entitled S & M was born. It's one of the best live shows of all time, so I take a look at my favourite moments from it and try and predict what fans may see and hear at S & M ² .
The idea of a heavy metal band playing with a symphony may seem like chalk and cheese, but in 1999, Metallica and the San Francisco symphony under the stewardship of conductor Michael Kaman, they created history. Opening with the atmospheric instrumental based on H.P Lovecraft's Cthulu entitled "The Call of Ktulu" then straight into the greatest heavy metal song of all time, "Master of Puppets" the band and the symphony were on fire. Both sounded incredible.
The 90s were an unusual time for Metallica. The Black album, Load and Reload were albums they released that split opinion. They cut their hair and wore make up. However, I love this period of Metallica. I loved the load albums, Load was the first album by them I heard. From Reload, the band played Fuel, The Memory Remains and Devil's Dance. From Load they performed, Hero of the Day, Until it Sleeps, Bleeding Me and The Outlaw Torn. Clocking in at just ten minutes, the Outlaw Torn is a masterpiece. It drifts in and out and ends with a raucous, frenzied section of music that is second to none. The S & M performance is the greatest performance of this song.
Another reason as to why this show is regarded by some as the best live album of all time, is Hetfield's voice. Many fans loved the growl and ferocity of the late 80s early 90s Hetfield but the late 90s Hetfield is on a different level. His singing had come on leaps and bounds, yet it still remained powerful. It could take down armies. Battery is a difficult song to perform, yet Hetfield, the band and the symphony all hit the ball out of the park, not an easy feat. From watching videos on YouTube and listening to it on Spotify, it seemed the planets aligned that night and two completely opposite entities came together and created something beautiful.
The upcoming show is a one off to open the new Chase Centre, the new home of the Golden State Warriors, a basketball team. Last time around, fans were disappointed that songs such as Welcome Home Sanitarium, The Unforgiven and Fade to Black were excluded from the set. Considering the amount of times Metallica have performed The Unforgiven at their special acoustic shows, I wouldn't be surprised to see this song added to the setlist. The Day That Never Comes and Cyanide (both from Death Magnetic) are also songs that could replace songs such as Of Wolf and Man or The Thing That Should Not Be. It's hard to predict songs from the album Hardwired to Self-Destruct but Moth into Flame and/or Halo on Fire would work with a symphony.
Michael Kaman unfortunately won't be at the helm again, this time it's Michael Tilson Thomas conducting a part of the show as he kicks off his final season as the San Francisco symphony conductor. Metallica are bound to change the set up for the show. Hetfield won't sound as good as he did 20 years ago, but recent acoustic performances have shown that he can still sing and sing amazingly. There aren't many guarantees in life, but seeing Metallica live is a guaranteed good time. Add in a symphony and you have a recipe for a truly unbelievably good time.
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