My buddy Ryan and I decided to go and check out the Metallica big four theatre extravaganza (or whatever it’s called) and in case you’re not familiar with this, basically it’s a one of the big four of thrash metal shows (that’s Anthrax, Megadeth, Slayer and Metallica) transmitted to theatres all over the USA, Canada, Europe and Latin America just hours after the bands walked off stage. This particular show was filmed in Sofia, Bulgaria, and, you know what I’m not even sure where Bulgaria is so I’m going to hop over to Wikipedia for a moment and look that up. Okay, so it’s in South East Europe next to Romania, that’s actually kind of what I thought, really, anyway…
What made this whole experience so fun is that it actually (at times) felt like I was there in Sofia with everyone cheering for the songs they know and love. For example, I never thought I’d be clapping, hooting and howling, headbanging and stomping my feet in a theatre, but sure it happened, I admit it. I wasn’t the only one though, because most everyone else was doing it. In fact there were a few people that were being a little too passionate about things. There was one guy who at first was just standing up in his seat yelling for it to be louder and thankfully they did turn it up (it was really quiet at first), but eventually this guy was out of his seat and was headbanging and running around in front of the screen screaming. I remember someone near me yelling, ‘Dude you’re not in Bulgaria,’ but I don’t think he cared much about that fact. Eventually mid-way through Anthrax’s set the ushers had enough of his chaos and I believe they kicked him. Kind of sucks for him, but I guess you shouldn’t drink a 12-pack or take hits of acid before going to the theatre.
However before the actual music started we were shown a view of the fans standing around waiting for the show to start as well as interviews with Lars Ulrich, Scott Ian, Dave Mustaine and Kerry King where they basically just talked about their influences, their thoughts on the Big Four tour and some other stuff I missed because I was running to an ATM machine to get money for a beer. Yeah, they were selling beer in the theatre. I guess they really wanted to make it as close to a real concert experience as possible.
At any rate, Anthrax was the first band up and I must admit they played with much heart and conviction. With Joey Belladonna at the vocal spot, again, they ripped through classics like, ‘Caught in a Mosh,’ ‘Madhouse,’ ‘Antisocial,’ ‘Metal Thrashing Mad’ and ‘Indians’ with a little break in this song to play part of Black Sabbath’s, ‘Heaven and Hell.’ I would have liked to have also heard songs such as; ‘Lone Justice’ & ‘N.F.L.,’ but I guess not this time.
Anyway, each band probably played for at least an hour and a half, but for this theatre showing we only got an hour of each bands set. So, collectively we were in the theatre for over four hours, but it was certainly worth it. Seeing Anthrax on the big stage again really made me hungry to see them play for me here in my home town and perhaps if they ever release a new album that day will soon come. I shall be there.
Soon as Anthrax walked off stage it was Megadeth walking onstage and with them came the rain and we had a bunch of wet Bulgarians. Thankfully they didn’t dump water on us in the theatre. It was pleasing to see that David Ellefson was back onstage with Megadeth playing bass after an eight year absence, but it’s also somewhat funny seeing Dave Mustaine once again realigning himself with a musician he had serious issues with in the past.
Anyhow, as much as I like old Anthrax songs I’ve got quite a bit more love for old Megadeth songs and they played many classics like, ‘Holy Wars,’ ‘Hangar 18,’ ‘In my Darkest Hour,’ ‘Hook in Mouth,’ ‘Sweating Bullets’ and ‘Peace Sells.’ ‘Headcrusher’ from the new album was also played, but besides this one song it was all stuff from the 80’s and early 90’s when Megadeth was at their best. What impresses me about Megadeth nowadays is that even though the lead guitar and drum slots have changed and obviously the band members are getting older it seems like they still have as much passion and play as flawlessly as a band in their early 20’s. Now, that’s really saying something since some bands continue onward endlessly driven not by their passion for playing and writing great music but simply to satisfy their own greed. You know what bands I’m talking about. In any case, by the time Megadeth was finished I was quite hyped up and absolutely flying just as I was when I saw them live last November. A great set from a great band. ‘nuff said.
Next up was Slayer and at first besides noticing that Kerry king was wearing the spiky gauntlets I also noticed that Dave Lombardo’s drum set is absolutely colossal in size. As crazy as the people in Bulgaria and in the theatre previously got it seems like for Slayer the excitement was turned up even more. Slayer opened with a few songs from the last two albums, which I’m unfortunately not familiar with, but they all sounded good to my ears. They eventually got to classics like, ‘Angel of Death,’ ‘Mandatory Suicide,’ ‘Chemical Warfare,’ ‘South of Heaven’ and of course ‘Raining Blood.’ Unfortunately nothing from ‘Show no Mercy’ or ‘Hell Awaits’ were played, which is completely asinine to me, but I was still having a good time during the bands set. In particular I really like the epic build up for Raining Blood and the way both the crowd and the people in the theatre exploded once the song took off. Good times indeed, but it was almost time for Metallica and the atmosphere around me was about to change considerably.
Before Metallica hit the stage there was a small tribute to Ronnie James Dio whom I’m sure you know passed away recently. Again it was Kerry, Lars, Scott and Dave talking about Dio and some of their personal experiences meeting and touring with him. All very interesting and funny stuff, but after this short break it was time for Metallica.
About two or three songs into Metallica’s set I noticed something. The metal fans (me, my buddy and a whole lot of other people) were suddenly just not into it and the only people that were really into it were the Metallica fan boys and other folks that are only metal on their days off. Pretty sad really, but I saw it coming. It’s funny to think that Metallica has more or less been the same band member wise for their entire existence, but it’s just amazing how much they truly are not the same people from the 80’s and early 90’s. From James frat boy haircut and onstage doucheness to Lars scrawny drum set, Kirk’s arrogance and the big retarded monkey they have playing bass now it’s just not the same band. In fact mid-way through the set my friend leaned over and mentioned to me how Metallica sounds more like a Metallica cover band than actually Metallica. Oh, and so true it is. I just also have to say, what the fuck happened to James voice? Seriously his voice sounded like he’d sucked down a tank of helium before going onstage. What the fuck? Really? Ugh, it’s just a nightmare.
The band opened with, ‘Creeping Death,’ which initially had me going, but by the time they got to ‘Harvester of Sorrow’ two songs later I was already losing interest. The band also played old songs like, ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls,’ ‘One’ and ‘Master of Puppets.’ However there was no heart or sincerity behind their performance and they basically just sounded like four guys at the office. However as already said both Bulgaria and the theatre were filled with Metallica fan boys so things were at times pretty crazy. The funny thing was it seemed like the band displayed the most enthusiasm for one of the new songs from, ‘Death Magnetic,’ and although I haven’t heard the album this song actually sounded good. Definitely not thrash metal or even close to anything from the first three albums, but still it sounded good.
They also played, ‘Nothing Else Matters,’ which sounded utterly terrible and their big radio cash in song, ‘Enter Sandman.’ For their encore they had all of the bands (except Slayer) come back onstage to play, ‘Am I Evil,’ which was the most catastrophic and ridiculous thing I think I’ve ever seen. What a mistake. Finally they played, ‘Hit the Lights’ & ‘Seek & Destroy,’ which didn’t even sound like these classic songs. Weird how that works. Oh, and midway through Seek the big retarded monkey decided to start spinning around rather than playing his bass guitar. Ah huh…
So, all in all three of four bands were quite entertaining and I’m very happy I went, but as expected Metallica was just the same laughable fools they’ve been for fifteen plus years now. It also seems fairly likely that the Big Four tour will eventually come to the USA and I’d definitely go, but after watching Metallica last night I’m really not sure I’d be able to stomach an entire performance of theirs. If you missed this and you have some love for those first three bands then I can only say you missed one hell of an experience. If you were there then you know.
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