Metallica show eclipses Taylor Swift’s at AT&T Stadium in one stunning department
Proving again that age has a way to counter youth, Metallica had one trick to at least put itself on the same plane as Taylor Swift for one evening.
On Friday night at AT&T Stadium, the crowd for the first of the two scheduled Metallica shows was bigger than any of the three nights Swift played here earlier this spring.
Thanks to its stage configuration, which is placed in the middle of the AT&T Stadium floor, every seat in the venue could be sold; Swift’s stage was such that the back 20% of the venue was blocked out by an elaborate video board.
Swift drew about 72,000 for each of her three shows at AT&T Stadium, a record. (Now, had Swift set a chair in the middle of AT&T Stadium, you can bet every dollar that’s ever been printed every seat in that place would have been sold.)
Metallica likely drew about 100,000 for its show on Friday night. The show was also carried live in participating movie theaters all over the world.
The last time there was a crowd that looked this big for an event at AT&T Stadium was WrestleMania, and there is a 57,000% chance a lot of the same fans attended both shows.
Eight years before Swift was born, Metallica formed and the band continues to pack arenas on this, its M72 World Tour, which is scheduled to end in September of 2024 in Mexico City.
The question/concern for a band like this is whether they can still bring it, or are they merely embarrassing themselves in front of an audience that will spend any amount of money to feel not so damn old.
Metallica’s still got it, and they still can produce that Metallica sound, and deliver that Metallica show.
With limited exception, everyone in the place was a bit older, and because they were all surrounded by their own, no one seemed to mind that no one looks like they once did when they first attended a Metallica show, maybe 25 years ago.
The only complaint about a Metallica show is the same as its been for the last two decades: It’s too short.
On Friday night they played a tight, engaging 16-song set that lasted two hours. They did play a few songs from their new album, which was released in April.
Their scheduled show for Sunday night will feature a different set list; if you’re on the “right” night, you’ll hear “Enter Sandman.” Or not.
Front man James Hetfield still sounds like James Hetfield, the angry high school gym teacher whose “singing” voice can sometimes sound like punishment.
Few moments in live music can top Hetfield screaming to an audience, “YeeeeeAAH!”
Along with lead guitarist Kirk Hammett, bass guitarist Robert Trujillo and drummer Lars Ulrich the four create a sound that despite its legions of copy cats is their own.
Friday’s show began with a crisp pace, but the intensity was lacking. There was something missing. An edge. Heat.
It needed more metal.
They did reach that intensity in the second half of the performance, around the time Hammett and Trujillo jammed out for a “spontaneous” set.
Fans of the band who love those long, driving, pulsating guitar solos were not disappointed. You can hear the “metal” in every song.
After playing “Nothing Else Matters,” Hetfield had the 100,000 in his hands and he could do whatever he wanted.
“How many people are here seeing Metallica for the very first time?” he asked the audience, which responded with an unexpectedly large cheer.
“Welcome to the Metallica family. This is the family that doesn’t fit in. You fit in perfectly.”
The band closed out their show with the rousing, pulsating, pleasing renditions of “Seek & Destroy” and “Master of Puppets.”
Metallica has its own version of Swifties, and their Metalheads had only complaint about Friday’s show: It could have been longer.
METALLICA SET LIST FOR SHOW ON AUG. 18, 2023 at AT&T STADIUM.
1. Creeping Death
2. Harvester of Sorrow
3. Leper Messiah
4. King of Nothing
5. Lux Æterna
6. Too Far Gone?
7. Welcome Home
8. Shadows Follow
9. Orion
10. Nothing Else Matters
11. Sad But True
12. The Day That Never Comes
13. Hardwired
14. Fuel
15. Seek & Destroy
16. Master of Puppets
This story was originally published August 19, 2023 at 1:05 AM.
