By Jason Williams
December 14th 2016, Jimmy Kimmel Live, Hollywood CA: For over 35 years and counting, there hasn’t really been a band that can say for itself being as loved and hated immensely by its own audience, be recognized globally throughout all facets of mainstream attention, and still be wonderfully revered by every rock and metal radio station around your speakers. That band, likes and prefers to be called Metallica. Millions of albums sold, decades of touring and quality music, at least for an extended period of time, glistening the hearts and ears of their fans all across the world. Travel to 2016, and Metallica would release their tenth and latest record, ‘Hardwired… to Self-Destruct’, being nearly eight years since any new material was officially out. Before stopping at the Fonda Theater for a special, intimate show, Metallica would first perform on the late night national television show Jimmy Kimmel Live, to a large number of excited and beaming fans, who don’t get the opportunity to see Metallica as often, let alone a free show at that. There was plenty to enjoy from this performance, and also other issues that were difficult to ignore, but be it my first Metallica show in over 13 years, I was ready for this short but fun-filled, metal induced evening.
Seeing Megadeth perform at the Jimmy Kimmel show 3 years ago, I thought the crowd attendance was fairly large then, and I already knew how many people would arrive at this event, and sure enough, the amount waiting in several lines was plain massive, and it was madness. I’m truly grateful that there can be this kind of unique concert performances from various bands, but lowering the number of free and reserved tickets given out by a couple hundred would have been perfect. Still, the crowd moved forward, eager and barely able to hold their excitement for Metallica. The in-studio portion of this Jimmy Kimmel episode was made audible to the concert audience outside, as Metallica themselves were interviewed. One of the most hilarious bits of the night was the attempt from the Jimmy Kimmel staff to encourage the metal fans to “get crazy”, which is just funny looking from within the metal circle we all inhabit. Chants of “Uncle Fester” commenced, and had everyone laughing quite a bit.
At 6:20 PM, Jimmy Kimmel announced Metallica onto the stage, and with ‘Atlas, Rise!’ from the new record, they began their special 40-minute set, to the massive crowd’s cheering delight. Judging from the crowd, many out there knew the words to the song, although from this writer’s standpoint, and to be fair, based on only one listen of it so far, the record feels like a regression from their 2008 release ‘Death Magnetic’, which I personally enjoyed very much. Turning up the gears, they ‘From Whom the Bell Tolls” played next, and these would be only two songs recorded for the broadcast. This is when the moshing, as best as it could be, took right off to flight, enabling the fans far in the back to come closer to the stage. Frontman and rhythm guitar expert James Hetfield is certainly one of the positives on the new record, and live, he still sounds great. He was vibrant and crystal clear with command of the audience all throughout, and stepped to the edges of the stage with Kirk Hammett joining him on various harmonies. It was also pleasant to see fans reacting so well to Rob Trujillo, providing a wonderful stage presence and filing the bass tones and riffs exceptionally well.
The next three consecutive songs proved to be the highlight of the evening, as blissful classics and staples from Metallica, ‘Creeping Death’, ‘One’ and specially ‘Master of Puppets’ had the crowd eating from the palms of the band. Every lyric chanted loudly and with force, it was pure nostalgia, and an absolute sight to behold. If you know the classics from Metallica, certain musical moments stay with you, and were played with lasting effect on the record. Unfortunately, they weren’t played to the same effect here. Witnessing drummer Lars Ulrich not even attempting the double bass attack during the bridge and so forth on ‘One’, was alarming, slightly disappointing, and honestly proved to me that the weak aspects and shortcomings from the band start with him. Despite age and attrition throughout their careers, not even playing those special and trademark moments shows the limits of what you’re able to do, and a slightly lessened impact from the band. But seeing the quality of the musicianship from the axe play, during the famous and memorable clean guitar interlude for ‘Master of Puppets’, it painted a picture of your first memory of Metallica, as with this writer included, was a massive and often first influence of heavy music most in the world had gotten to know. The last song of the set, and the most disappointing, was one the most famous radio songs in music history, and also the weakest song off of their worldly monumental self titled record, ‘Enter Sandman’. It simply doesn’t matter how much you know the intro riff by heart, it doesn’t make you a better person, I assure you. To say I was surprised was a true statement, because despite it being their most recognizable song factually, this mini-concert could have had another song picked out to end the set, or even just stopped at ‘Master…’, which was the most intense moment of this short evening. The band had a blast getting the audience involved, and in return was reciprocated with claps, moshing and blissful joy from the young and old in attendance. Chants of “One more song!” had Metallica smiling a white tooth grin, but they left the stage with Lars happily thanking the audience. This I’m sure was a solid preview of what was in store for everyone who would be attending the Fonda gig the night after.
All in all, it was a positive and eventful experience, as seeing Metallica perform a mini-concert for free is more than a solid decision to make on a winter Wednesday evening. Despite the last song choice, and Lars’ effort not as much as it should be, it was a very impressive performance, and a proper Metallica headlining North American tour later this year I’m sure would be something to witness and be a part of.
Set List:
1. Atlas, Rise!
2. For Whom The Bell Tolls
3. Creeping Death
4. One
5. Master of Puppets
6. Enter Sandman
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