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Odyssey Arena, Belfast, Night One, 11th May 2010: I didn't think I would be going to these shows since the tickets went onsale when I was on holiday in California and I couldn't afford to be spending more money at that time. The thought of my favourite band playing so close to my home country and me not being there was just too much for me so a few emails and texts later, I bagged myself standing tickets for both nights! Hell yeah!
I flew over to Belfast from Edinburgh on the day of the first show and met up with friends, hanging out and catching up until it was time to head to the venue. We got into the arena just as the first support band, High On Fire, were getting ready to start. One unusual thing I noticed about them was the lead singer played a 12 string guitar for their entire set. I wasn't impressed since every song just sounded the same to me. After their set, we headed to the side of the stage which had the sound desk in order to get the best sound for the next support act - Volbeat! Having seen them four times whilst I was on the aforementioned California holiday, I knew we were in for 45 minutes of awesomeness! And they didn't disappoint and won over several of my friends who were seeing them for the first time. After that, the always agonising wait for the main event began...
Thunder crashing announced the imminent arrival of the mighty Metallica, as Saxon's Heavy Metal Thunder blasted out over the PA - a song they always play just before they hit the stage. Then the lights go out and The Ecstasy Of Gold plays with 10,000 people all singing along at the top of their voices. It had been 22 years since Metallica had last played in Belfast and people from all over the world had gathered there to witness their triumphant return. A heartbeat boomed out across the arena meaning That Was Just You Life was opening the proceedings this evening. The laser show they put on for that song is always one of my favourite moments and the crowd went wild for it. Some went too wild, with a group of young teenagers moshing right at the front where we were, knocking into us constantly and causing us to move away from our first spot. The usual opener was followed by the usual secondary song, The End Of The Line and it's always nice to see the crowd getting as much into the new songs as they do for the old ones.
A Ride The Lightning trilogy followed with For Whom The Bell Tolls, Creeping Death and Fade To Black. James continues to use the acoustic guitar for the intro of Fade which makes the song sound even more amazing live. Since they had played Fade earlier in the set, I was very surprised to hear Welcome Home (Sanitarium) as well since they both have the same sort of vibe, so they usually play one or the other. I wasn't complaining tho as it had been a good while since I had last heard that song live. One song which I'm always surprised at getting such a huge reaction is Blackened. I wouldn't say it was a particularly well known song amongst the more casual fans but I always think it causes the most crowd movement - with a HUGE moshpit kicking off for that one.
My absolute favourite part of the show is the encore section, because you never know what you're going to get. I was completely overjoyed to hear James walk up to the mic and yell, "BREADFAN!!!". One of my favourite covers that they've done and always causes me and my friends to go completely nuts! Whiplash followed and I thought my friend Damian was going to cry at that because he'd been dying to hear it for ages and finally got it. It's the second time I've heard them cut the third verse out of it and I can't fathom out why because it's not a particularly long song that needs trimming in my opinion but what can you do. Seek closed the show as always and it was once beach ball mania which is always so much fun to watch.
- Setlist:
- That Was Just Your Life
- The End Of The Line
- For Whom The Bell Tolls
- Creeping Death
- Fade To Black
- Broken, Beat And Scarred
- Sad But True
- Wherever I May Roam
- Welcome Home (Sanitarium)
- All Nightmare Long
- One
- Master Of Puppets
- Blackened
- Nothing Else Matters
- Enter Sandman
Encore:
- Breadfan
- Whiplash
- Seek and Destroy
Odyssey Arena, Belfast, Night Two, 12th May 2010: For night two, we decided we wanted to be on the rail and so started queueing up about 3pm for the doors opening at 6.30pm. We had great banter with everyone in the line so the time passed quite quickly. The guys and the girls had to go in separately for bag searches etc and there was about 5 girls to around 50 guys in the section we were in so we got through really quickly. I hate having to walk into the arena though, you have to fight every instinct not to sprint in or the security will yell at you. We got in before our male friends but saved them spaces and we had quite possibly the best spot ever - dead centre right in front of Lars' drumkit. Score!!
High On Fire were crap once again. They never moved to our side of the stage once, not that I was bothered mind you but I would have preferred not having to stare at the singer's sweaty buttcrack for half an hour. Ugh! Volbeat were as much fun to watch as Metallica. They made use of every inch of that stage and rocked out with us all. They certainly win over more and more fans everytime they play with Metallica. They changed their set up for the second night as well which was very cool.
With the prospect of another Metallica show on the rail, I was so damn excited by the time Ecstasy started playing. Life opened the show once again and the lasers are even cooler close up. When Metallica play the same place two nights in a row - all bets are off with regards to the setlist. I was expecting Line to follow but was surprised with another Death Magnetic song, and one of my favourites, C-C-Cyanide! It's such a fantastic live song and really gets the crowd going. Fuel was very welcome surprise and another live favourite of mine. So many flames going off all over the stage for that one but it looks amazing!
The Day That Never Comes followed. I was surprised they left that out of the previous night's set as it has become a pretty staple song of the set but was very glad to hear its return. Rob and James rocked out with us loads on that song. Rob was kneeling down at the very edge of the stage with his bass sticking out playing it for us - and watching his right hand, that looks like a pretty hard song to keep up with! We could see James mouthing "Holy shit!" when he walked over to us playing one of the fast riffs, and I know how difficult that bit is to play so I don't blame him!
The crowd were very loud for The Memory Remains but everytime I hear that song, it just reminds me of Wembley 2007 - and nothing will beat that version! The appearance of the "guitar on a stick" meant The Unforgiven was next. Another song I hadn't heard live in so long and gives me a chance to hear one of my favourite solos. I was so happy to hear Battery again. That one doesn't get played often enough anymore for my liking!
When the band came on for the encores, they started playing Suicide & Redemption and it lasted a good couple of minutes. I was almost convinced they were going to play the whole thing. I'd heard them jam that one before but never as long as that. I was quite glad not to hear it as I'm not hugely keen on it. It's far too long and doesn't really go anywhere for me. Night two's cover song was Stone Cold Crazy - a song I've heard loads so I was slightly disappointed in that. This was followed by Hit The Lights which I really love so it was all good. After the beach ball madness of Seek, the band were onstage for ages throwing picks and stuff out and generally hamming it up with the crowd. James picked up a girls ballet shoe which had been chucked onstage, looked a bit confused and then proceeded to place it on Lars' bass pedal! Haha! He also picked up on of the beach balls and hit the security guard in front of us on the head with it. When the guard turned round, he pointed at Lars and went "It was him!". It was so funny! I managed to get a couple of picks I didn't have so I'll add them to the ever growing collection.
All in all, a fantastic couple of nights. I didn't hear anything live that I hadn't heard before but it was still alot of fun for me getting to rock out to my favourite band and with my awesome friends. I can't wait for the 2011 tour - it sounds like that is going to be one epic show not to be missed!
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