Damage Inc: Live Review

By Aniruddh "Andrew" Bansal

March 13th 2010, Santa Fe Springs Swap Meet CA: This was the first major tribute show here at the Swap Meet this year and the band to grace the stage today was none other than the best Metallica tribute band you'll ever get to see, Damage Inc.

Things are usually quiet at the start of the first set as not many people are here at this time. So it does take a few songs to get things warmed up. It didn't take these guys more than one song to do that though, the song being 'Creeping Death'. It is just the perfect opener, whether it is played by the original or by this band. The crowd started gathering in as they gave it an interesting twist with a Death Magnetic song, 'End Of The Line'. Metallica have been playing this song regularly in the last couple of years as they've toured to promote the new album, and its very nice and refreshing to see Damage Inc throw in the new stuff. Almost all of the tributes I see out there focus on just the classic stuff. These guys do it all! Even though I've seen these guys a bunch of times, they always manage to surprise me. This time it was with 'Trapped Under Ice'. Everybody was delighted to be able to rock out to this amazing tune. The band nailed it and I commend Chris Knight for doing a great job on the high-pitched vocals of this song, originally sung by a 21 year old James Hetfield. This set had a really good mix with the new songs including 'Day That Never Comes' and old school gems like 'Leper Messiah'. Set 1 ended at 1 o clock and the band took leave for 30 minutes.

It was a very interesting start to the 2nd set, with the cover of a cover song 'Stone Cold Crazy', followed by another short and fast rocker, 'Fuel'. The rest of the set was definitely a lot heavier, starting with 'The Thing That Should Not Be'. I was pleased to hear this and totally rocked out, but I got a feeling it was too slow and too heavy for some of the kids out there, and understandably so! The third new song of the day was next, 'All Nightmare Long'. Again, it was just awesome to see them enjoy playing the new songs so much, which reflects in the near-flawless performance. The first Justice song of the day was up next, none other than 'One'. They've been playing this in every show of course, just like Metallica do, and by now they've absolutely perfected it. Chris Brightwell was shredding and tapping the solo brilliantly, almost as if his life depended on it. The Master one-two punch was the last part of this set, with 'Master Of Puppets' and 'Battery'. By now a huge crowd was rocking out and singing along to each and every chorus, specially the younger peeps in the front few rows. This place strictly prohibits moshing and it goes to show that a band doesn't need a mosh-pit to get a good response out of the crowd. These people were here to give it to the band through singing, head banging and in general enjoying every minute of the show.

After a long break of 60 minutes, the guys finally returned on stage with a little more Metallica for us. They got the final set going with 'Blackened', which is always a good live song, perfect for the head bangers. Things got a little slow with the next two songs 'Roam' and 'Nothing Else Matters'. I'm not the biggest fan of the Black album but I'm thankful to Metallica and to Damage Inc for playing these songs, so that people like me could take a little rest from the mayhem during all the other songs. Not to say that they are bad songs, because like most people in the crowd, I still sing along to every word of it. It was a return to early Metallica with the next one 'Fade To Black'. I love how a lot of the Metallica songs build up momentum to the point that people in the crowd are almost going insane by the time they end. That's the case with this song as well. Its worth mentioning that the Damage Inc guys got the twin-guitar solo down perfectly and it's a real treat to watch. Up next was a song that simply has to be in every show, 'Enter Sandman'. Chris Knight definitely studies James for this song quite well, as he replicated all the stage moves right from the intro to the end of it. 'Do you want some Kill Em All?' asked Chris and following an uproar of approval, the band went into 'Am I Evil'. Half way into the song they brought out 'Motorbreath' and the craziness level at the Swap Meet reached a crescendo. Kevin on bass was doing a wonderful job as always, entertaining the audience with his stage moves as well. Boyd looks like this is what he enjoys most, playing Metallica songs in front of a packed crowd. All of these guys do, and that's the most important thing about playing a tribute, otherwise your performance just doesn't come through. Kudos to these guys for doing that, as the last song of the day was 'Seek And Destroy'.

These guys do everything in true Metallica style, including birthdays. Chris Knight celebrates his birthday on Monday, so he was literally showered with silly string from all over the place. He still continued playing the last portion of the song and after that the band thanked everyone for coming out and said a final goodbye. Thanks a ton to Damage Inc for our 3-hour Metallica dose!

Here are their complete set lists:

Creeping Death
End Of The Line
Trapped Under Ice
Welcome Home (Sanitarium)
For Whom The Bell Tolls
The Day That Never Comes
Leper Messiah
Ride The Lightning

Stone Cold Crazy
Fuel
The Thing That Should Not Be
All Nightmare Long
One
Master Of Puppets
Battery

Blackened
Wherever I May Roam
Nothing Else Matters
Fade To Black
Enter Sandman
Am I Evil/Motorbreath
Seek And Destroy

Check out the band's official website for all the info on upcoming gigs at www.damageinc.us.

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