Details
Title: St. Anger
Release date: 6 May, 2003
Record label: Elektra
Single: Frantic
Official website: Metallica
Buy at: Amazon
Popular Songs
New Songs
Tracklisting
1. Frantic
2. St. Anger
3. Some Kind Of Monster
4. Dirty Window
5. Invisible Kid
6. My World
7. Shoot Me Again
8. Sweet Amber
9. Unnamed Feeling
10. Purify
11. All Within My Hands
Metallica – Live review - St. Anger
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Send to a FriendAfter more than sixty shows, a fantastic new bass player, and the first new studio album in almost six years, we can hardly deny that 2003 has been a great year for Metallica. The Bay Area rockers, with an average age of 40 years, seem to have more fun than ever before. ‘St. Anger’, their 8th studio album, is with no doubt the roughest thing they’ve ever released. Maybe even a bit too rough, according to a lot of people. However, when you want to hear Metallica at their best, you still have to catch them on stage.
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When Metallica pulled of their 2003 tour at The Fillmore in San Francisco, CA, it immediately became clear that they only went for the real fast stuff. It seemed like they’d totally forgotten the ‘Load’ and ‘Reload’ albums, as they only played songs of their first five records and some new stuff of ‘St. Anger’. After their impressive headlining show at the Fields of Rock festival in June, they came back to Holland this December for a real indoor gig. June 6th was the day a lot of Dutch fans had been waiting for, as they played for a completely sold out Gelredome stadium.
It must be really tough to be the warm up act for Metallica. You play for ten thousands of people, while you know that probably none of them came to see your band. However, Godsmack did a really good job. The Boston-based metal act showed the crowd why they’ve sold millions of albums in the US, as they really pulled off on stage. Especially the part where singer Sully Erna rolled onstage at his own drum platform, after which he started a minutes long drum solo with the original drummer, received a great applause from the audience.
Just like with every single Metallica concert, the set started with the classical introtune ´The Ecstasy Of Gold´. It really is indescribable what feeling it gives when you hear that intro, and know that you’re going to be blown away for the following two hours. When the last tones of ´The Ecstasy Of Gold´ echoed away, the intro of ´Battery´ was played and the band appeared on stage. I really think Metallica couldn´t have picked a better opener, and they also proved right away that they were in top form. Right after the dynamic masterpiece from the ´Master Of Puppets´ album, there was time for a little surprise. To prove that the band hadn’t totally forgotten the ´Loads´ era, they played ´Fuel´, which turned out to be a real public´s favourite.
Another public´s favourite is ´Seek & Destroy´. Already since the early eighties it’s thé song where the crowd can show its singing talents. My personal peak of the show was when the band played the first notes of ´Fade To Black´. It has always been my favourite Metallica song, and I couldn´t keep myself from getting goose-flesh when I finally heard it live. After the fifth song ‘The Thing That Should Not Be’, it was time for the first track of ‘St. Anger’. However a lot of people complain about Metallica’s latest album, its second single ‘Frantic’ sounded really good in the live version.
Metallica Live @ Gelredome, Arnhem, Netherlands, December 6, 2003
One of the songs that’s played almost every show is ‘Creeping Death’. It’s still breathtaking to see ten thousands of fists raised in the air while everyone yells “Die, die, die!!”. It really was a pity that the crowd didn’t react that enthusiastic on the new single ‘The Unnamed Feeling’. It already was my favourite song of ‘St. Anger’, but it sounded even better played live, especially with the heavy bass parts of Rob Trujillo rumbling trough.
After a quite boring version of ‘Sad But True’ it was time for some action from the ´And Justice For All…´ album. After the first big explosion everyone knew they were about to hear the ultimate classic: ‘One’. Metallica showed its shape once again by playing the song from the beginning to the end without any mistakes. The song was followed by ‘Blackened’, another public’s favourite, and the slow but heavy ‘Harvester Of Sorrow’. ‘And Justice For All…’ may not be the best produced Metallica album, but the songs are still perfect to be played live.
One thing that’s starting to be a bit annoying is the switch of instruments between Lars Ulrich and Kirk Hammett at the beginning of ‘Nothing Else Matters’. When you see three shows of Metallica and also see three times the same joke, you’re beginning to wonder how spontaneously it is. Also the song itself starts to be a bit boring. Fortunately the band played ‘Master Of Puppets’ (the long version) right after it, which must have been the highlight of the show for a lot of people.
After a short break it was time for the title track of ‘St. Anger’. When you hear the audience sing along with the chorus you can’t deny that the song is starting to become a real classic. After Metallica played another classic, ‘Enter Sandman’, they disappeared for the third time. When they returned they pulled off once more with the Anti-Nowhere League cover ‘So What’ and the headbanger’s favourite ‘Whiplash’.
Metallica showed once again that the stage is their territory. They played a varied setlist, and really seemed to enjoy themselves every single second. Just before the guys left the stage, Lars told us they will return to Holland June 21st in the Amsterdam ArenA. Hopefully they´ll play some more songs from ´Load´ and ´Reload´ at that time.
Setlist:
Battery
Fuel
Seek & Destroy
Fade to Black
The Thing that Should Not Be
Frantic
Creeping Death
The Unnamed Feeling
Sad But True
One
Blackened
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Harvester Of Sorrow
Nothing Else Matters
Master Of Puppets
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St. Anger
Enter Sandman
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So What
Whiplash
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