Metallica - London Review (Night One)

Whilst Def Leppard the previous night had certainly been a spectacle, and it had been great seeing both them and Extreme live again after a few years, the main reason for my trip to London over the past weekend was to see Metallica. Given that I have been to many hundreds of gigs over the past 20 years (I went to my first proper gig in September 2006), that fact that I had never seen Metallica live until this past weekend would likely shock some. Given my love of all things rock and metal, one would have likely assumed that I would have seen them before - but for various reasons I had not. One of the reasons likely is that, despite the band's popularity, they do not visit the UK that often. They are not a band that turns up on tour every other year meaning opportunities to see them are plentiful. They might only play some traditional headline shows once every five or so years - whilst perhaps throwing in a festival appearance in the meantime. Not counting their appearance at Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne's final show last year, Metallica's last UK appearances were at the 2023 Download Festival - whilst their last headline shows were back in 2019. As such, it had been a six year gap between headline shows here in the UK - and such gaps have not been uncommon in more recent times. Another reason for not making the effort before was likely that I have only ever really been a casual Metallica fan. I would say that my fandom has increased over the past two or three years, but they have never been one of my favourite bands - meaning that the overall cost of going was harder to justify. Metallica's tickets are not cheap, so seeing them was not something that I wanted to do just to say that I had. My love for the band has grown, though, as I said - so when I saw that they would be bringing their 'No Repeat Weekend' format to London as part of their on-going tour in support of 2023's 72 Seasons (which I reviewed here), it seemed like the time to finally make the effort. As part of this tour, in some cities, the have played two shows - each featuring a totally different setlist and support acts. The idea is that fans go to both shows and get a full-on weekend with Metallica - with many of the tickets covering both nights. This made for a pretty expensive weekend, but it seemed to make sense - as I would get all my Metallica needs sated in one go, as well as getting to see some well-known support acts. The day of the first night was a bit of a transition, as I had to move hotels which meant carrying my travel bag around with me all day. As such, after a bit of a lie in at my first hotel and breakfast nearby, I headed up to where I would be staying for the rest of the weekend and had some late lunch/early dinner at a nearby Toby Carvery. This certainly filled me up for a long evening of metal and, following an hour or so in the hotel to unpack and rest, it was soon time to head to Stratford and the London Stadium. Currently the biggest stadium in the EFL Championship, the London Stadium was built for the 2012 Olympics and is currently the home of West Ham United. I had been once before, to see Guns N' Roses back in 2017, but this time the show was set up 'in the round' - something I had not experienced before. The view from my seat was pretty good, but views from down on the floor would have likely been quite compromised a lot of the time. I was glad to get to my seat, too, following more walking around the site than was necessary due to conflicting information regarding which entrance I needed to use - alongside internet-related issues logging into the app. Despite this, though, once I found where I needed to go, getting in was easy - and I was soon in my seat and ready to enjoy what was to follow.

That being said, I cannot say that the first act of the night, the Kentucky-based hardcore band Knocked Loose, did all that much for me. Hardcore has never really been a favourite genre of mine, whilst Knocked Loose's more death metal-inspired brand of hardcore was just not really for me. One thing that I did notice from the off, though, was how good the sound was. I had reservations regarding the sound for 'in the round' shows, due to the potential for conflicting sound origins and sound bouncing all over the place, but all three bands had pretty good sound throughout - and Knocked Loose certainly did not suffer from typical support band muddiness. Given that they went on at 5:30pm, though, earlier than most venues even open, they were not playing to a huge crowd given the size of the venue, but there were a few thousand already in and there was a decent atmosphere settling in already. Many of those who turned up early were clearly Knocked Loose fans, as from my vantage point in the seats I could see plenty of movement around the stage - with quite a few mosh pits breaking out early on. The heat and the prospect of a lot more music to come did not seem to deter those down on the floor - and Knocked Loose certainly received a strong reception from those that turned up early. The band's mix of a more typical hardcore vocal style from frontman Bryan Garris and a more death metal approach from Isaac Hale (guitar/vocals) ensured an interesting sound - whilst the riffing was very chugging and clearly focusing on being heavy rather than offering anything technical. For me, the songs started to blend into one after a while - but the heaviness was welcome early on and the band got things underway nicely.

There was only about 20 minutes to wait following Knocked Loose's set finishing and the French progressive/avant-garde metallers Gojira taking the stage. I have a bit of a strange relationship with the French four-piece. I first saw them live back in 2007, on a bill topped by Trivium, and have run into them occasionally throughout the years without ever actually making the effort. It had been quite a few years since I had last seen them live, though, which was back in 2018 when they headlined at that year's Bloodstock Open Air. I think I missed the first couple of songs, but I remember being pretty impressed. I have never loved Gojira but I certainly respect them - and I have enjoyed listening to their albums on occasion. No-one sounds like them, and for the next hour the French band impressed again with their brand of off-kilter grooves, knotty riffing, and varied vocals. Whilst the live sound was decent, it probably was not quite clear enough to allow all of the band's nuances to shine through - but the unique band still managed to give a good account of themselves, with a bigger crowd to impress and plenty in attendance familiar with their music. The band's somewhat more melodic and atmospheric material such as set-opener Born for One Thing and The Cell sat nicely against much heavier material from the band's early days. I remember songs like Backbone and Flying Whales from that show with Trivium nearly 20 years ago now - but the progressive death metal that the band put out back then has morphed significantly over the years. Mario Duplantier (drums) is often considered one of the best drummers in metal currently, and his fast footwork and intricate grooves were on show all throughout the set - with two drum kits, one at either end of the stage, which he moved between. Joe Duplantier (vocals/guitar) is a master riff-writer and varied singer - with the band's frontman often swapping back and forth between hazy, semi-clean vocals and ferocious death growls that shook the stadium. As such, there was quite a lot of variety on show, despite Gojira certainly having a core sound. The band's piece for the 2024 Paris Olympics, Mea Culpa (Ah! Ça Ira), saw Swiss opera singer Marina Viotti take to the stage to sing with the band - and she also later joined them again for a rousing version of The Chant, with Viotti leading the crowd in the first big sing-a-long of the night. It was left to the The Gift of Guilt, with its snaking lead guitar melodies, which Joe and fellow guitarist Christian Andreu teamed up to perform, to round out the set - with Gojira having certainly done their bit to warm up the crowd before Metallica. The setlist was:

Born for One Thing

Backbone

Stranded

The Cell

Flying Whales

Love/Remembrance

Mea Culpa (Ah! Ça Ira) [Traditional French revolutionary song w/ Marina Viotti]

Silvera

Amazonia

The Chant [w/ Marina Viotti]

The Gift of Guilt

Metallica were meant to come on at 8:00pm, but it was around 8:15pm by the time anything started to happen. In truth, this meant that there was plenty of time to use the facilities and be back in my seat ready not to miss a moment. The 'in the round' format meant that those of us in the seats were closer to the action than is typically the case at stadium gigs - but it did mean that there was little in the way of a show. There were big screens on the speaker towers which alternated between showing footage of the band and visuals to go along with the song playing, but really this was a no-nonsense metal show. Drummer Lars Ulrich did make use of four drum kits, however, which rose up from beneath the stage throughout the night - to ensure that those on the floor got a good view of him for at least part of the night. There was very little standing on ceremony, then, and as the band took to the stage they launched into the fast-paced and anthemic Creeping Death - with the thrash classic really setting the tone for what was to come. Sound-wise, everything pretty much sounded great. James Hetfield (vocals/guitar) generally powered through the mix, but occasionally Kirk Hammett (guitar/vocals) was a bit too low - meaning that some of his soloing was a bit muffled. That aside, though, the show was great. The 16-song setlist covered most of the band's albums, and without the pressure to play all of the hits in one go the band felt more free. Creeping Death aside, the first part of the set consisted of well-known but not exactly ever-present songs; including the mid-paced groove of Harvester of Sorrow and two cuts from 1991's self-titled release, where Holier Than Thou particularly stood out. Given that 72 Seasons is already over three years old at this point, it is easy to forget that this show was still a part of its touring cycle. The band pulled two songs from the album to showcase on Friday, with the short, NWOBHM-inspired Lux Æterna sounding powerful and ferocious, proving that the band can still thrash, and the longer and more groove-focused If Darkness Had a Son showcasing where Metallica are currently. These newer cuts received pretty strong receptions, and it was great to see new material getting such - as all too often when long-established bands play new songs the bars get busier.

The only real weak moment in the set for me was Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo's little showcase - which consisted of snippets of songs associated with London. This seems to be something that they do every show. I get that it is meant to be fun, but it just seemed a bit scrappy and pointless - so I was pleased when Hetfield and Ulrich came back and the pseudo-power ballad Fade to Black was wheeled out. Given that I had not seen the band live before, I was not really bothered what they played - and as they generally change up the the setlists somewhat between shows it was nice just enjoying each song as it came. Some of the big hits were played on Friday, including the big ballad Nothing Else Matters and the ever-present Sad but True - but there were also some deeper cuts including the relatively newer Cyanide and the snaking instrumental piece Orion, dedicated to the late Cliff Burton. The latter has never been a particular favourite of mine, but it came across really well live - especially when the spotlight was turned over to Trujillo and he took the lead on the bass. The rare inclusion of Hardwired, a song not played too often since the last album's touring cycle, allowed for some big energy to make its way back into the set - but most of the final quarter or so of the night was made up of big hitters. Fuel saw the first real use of pyro during the show, and the riffy hard rocker conjured up plenty of mosh pits, whilst a somewhat elongated Seek & Destroy, complete with a mid-section sing-a-long, saw huge balls thrown out into the crowd. Metallica do not really do encores these days, so it was left to Master of Puppets to bring the curtain down on what by that point had been essentially two hours or hard-hitting, live heavy metal. This last track was a real overall highlight, with another big chorus sing-a-long and some great harmony guitar work. The setlist was:

Creeping Death

Harvester of Sorrow

Holier Than Thou

Of Wolf and Man

Lux Æterna

If Darkness Had a Son

Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll [Ian Dury cover]/The Guns of Brixton [The Clash cover]

Fade to Black

Cyanide

Orion

Nothing Else Matters

Sad but True

Hardwired

Fuel

Seek & Destroy

Master of Puppets

Given all the bands that I have seen live over the years, Metallica have always been a huge omission. I am sure that I would have enjoyed previous shows, but my level of fandom is now at a point where I feel that I can truly appreciate seeing them live - especially over this expanded weekend format. Night one was a great mix of hits, newer songs, and deeper cuts - but it was only half of what the band had in store, and the rest would follow on Sunday.