Metallica, With Godsmack, Live

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REVIEW BY: Berserker

If there is one true fact about Metallica, it’s that they’re one of the best live acts to walk on God’s green earth. You automatically know you’re getting your money’s worth when you buy a ticket to see them. Saturday night at the Office Depot Center would be no exception.

My cousins and I reached the arena at 7:05pm, right before Godsmack went on. We got our drinks, and made our way to our seats. Personally, I believe Godsmack has been one of the better opening acts for Meallica in the past decade. They we’re definitely better than any of the other four acts at last year’s Sanitarium tour, and C.O.C. (Corrosion of Conformity) on the Atlanta makeup date four years ago. Their setlist was made up of most of their radio hits (“Whatever,” “Straight Out of Line,” “Bad Religion,” “Awake,” etc.) and a couple other tracks from Faceless, including the title track. I thought they were pretty good (for an opening act). Now my cousins were at the show in Tampa the night before. So, they’ve already seen what Godsmack had to offer. While I tapped my foot to some of their tunes, my cousins just sat there as Sully Emma put it, “as if they were watching a HDTV.” I knew why, though (as I found out and expected at the end of the night). They sounded like they sucked next to the headliners. It was one of my cousins that said after the Orlando show that they would never see another opening act for Metallica again. At a regular show, Godsmack would sound good (especially the dueling drum solo where they added pieces of Aerosmith (“Walk This Way”), Led Zeppelin (“Moby Dick”), and Rush (“Tom Sawyer”). They just have a loooooonnnnnngggggg way to go if they expect to reach the heights of the four mentioned groups. We even left to use the restroom and get more drinks when they played their closer “I Stand Alone.”

The place was packed and cheering by time AC/DC’s “It’s A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock N’ Roll)” was blasting on the arena speakers. Into “Ecstasy of Gold” and “Blackened” we go. The band was superb throughout the night. The sound was a little muffled with the first two songs. They got it together though by time they played “The Memory Remains.” The night’s set was mostly made up of Master of Puppets and onward. My cousins said the Tampa show was different because they mostly played songs from the first three albums and the Black album. It’s good to know that Metallica has embraced the idea of changing their setlists every night. Concertgoers get a different taste every night, relics and rarities get played, and you don’t have to sit there knowing every song that will be played that night. What is also cool about a Metallica live show is that they’re always updating their live act from the stage setting, to lighting, pyro etc. One example was that they found a way of updating the “One” performance. (Adding more audio clips in the begging, pyro (“landmines”), and lights at different sections of the arena. For warning, Brewskies are good. However, with the implementation of the revolving stage, every time you look at the stage, you’ll be thinking “What the heck just happened?”

Yet another great night for rock music has come to a close. If I learned anything form that night, it was this. No opening act will be worth seeing next to Metallica. Hopefully, my cousin will remember what he said for next time around.

No Godsmack setlist since I did not know the names of every song they played, nor do I care to find out. No offense, but refer to opening act review as to why.

Metallica setlist (with comments):

1.Blackened (pretty much, the entire stage was in darkness during the entire song…. hence the name)
2.Fuel
3.The Memory Remains
4.Wherever I May Roam
5. Frantic (Everybody was cheering when James asked, “Who has St. Anger?” yet the place was almost silent when James asked the crowd to sing the chorus with him. Obviously, if people did have the album, they sure did not like that cut from it)
6. Turn The Page
7. Dirty Window (My fave from the album. A LOT MORE people singing now compared to Frantic). Also, Kirk played solos during the two St. Anger-era songs. A definite plus
8. King Nothing
9. Rob’s bass solo (with middle section of Orion included…best part of the instrumental in my view
10. Welcome Home{Sanitarium}
11. Master Of Puppets
12. Battery (good pyro ending with Damage Inc. ending).
13. I Disappear
14. Kirk solo (which sounded like an different styling of Nothing Else Matters)
15. Nothing Else Matters
16. Sad But True
17. One
18. Enter Sandman
19. Dyer’s Eve (A definite fave from “...And Justice For All. At this point some people had left thinking the show was over after Sandman. HA HA Suckers)
20. Seek And Destroy