Well, when your buddy Dan says, “I have an extra ticket to Metallica. Wanna go?” that answer is yes. So, for the 2nd time on their very long stadium tour, I was off to catch the Sunday show of Metallica’s two-night affair. The first time was in New Jersey, this time was Foxboro, Massachusetts (though Metallica and most bands will tell you it’s Boston).
The first time around, due to traffic and the slowest, most confused Uber driver ever, we missed the opening band Ice Nine Kills, so I was happy for a chance at redemption. We parked in one of the lots with about 45 minutes to spare until showtime and made our way to the stadium. But what is this? The weather had other plans. A bunch of rain here, a bunch of lightning there…seek shelter! Time to send everyone into the concourse to wait out the storm. Luckily for all of us, Gillette stadium has a much bigger and breezier concourse than Fenway, so there was no PTSD from the Lana Del Ray debacle.
After standing around for about 2 hours, we were able to make our way to our seats for a show that would start at 8pm but exclude Ice Nine Kills and start with Five Finger Death Punch. So now I’m 0 for 2 with Ice Nine Kills. But for Five Finger, this is my 3rd time seeing this band though I never really wanted to see them once. Go figure. Due to the delay, their set was only 30 minutes and the only song I knew of theirs was Wrong Side of Heaven. I still wouldn’t say I “like” this band, but they’ve become more tolerable with each show. They have a huge following, they sell a lot of tickets, and they move a ton of merchandise so clearly people like them. They just don’t do it for me. I’m also still pissed off that Megadeth opened for them two years ago…that just isn’t right, and I choose to remain salty over this! Also, this particular show hosted the lamest circle pit I’ve ever seen. Shameful really. See the clip below:
When the time came for the boys from Metallica to take the stage, they did so with their tried-and-true tradition of blasting The Ecstasy of Gold before officially opening their set with Whiplash. Next was For Whom the Bell Tolls and Ride the Lightning was 3rd. They missed an opportunity here if you ask me. With the weather and delays, Ride the Lightning would’ve been a fitting opener.
No need for me to rehash the setlist since you can find it online here if you’re really interested. But I will call out that due to the show being in “Boston” (not really), we got treated to Robert Trujillo and Kirk Hammett doing their own rendition of Sweet Caroline with Trujillo on vocals. Speaking of Trujillo, what’s fun about his involvement in Metallica, as Dan pointed out to me last night, is that he’s been in the band since 2003. That’s 21 years, but some folks still think of him as a hired hand. Jason Newsted however, their prior bassist, was with them from 1986 through 2001. That’s only 15 years. Yes, Newsted was their bassist when they had massive commercial success with “the Black” album (aka untitled, aka Metallica) and became a household name. But I still thought this was a fun fact to share. Trujillo also surfed the crowd inside their stage pit, on a platform, while playing bass. He’s a fun dude.
As mentioned, this was their 2nd night at Gillette and this whole tour has been about doing 2 shows in each city with no repeats on their set list so that you can get 2 unique shows, including different opening bands on each stop. But even with nearly 4 hours of music, you still didn’t hear all the “hits.” For instance, Fade to Black, Memory Remains, I Disappear, Whiskey in the Jar, Turn the Page, Battery (a personal favorite), and many others you may love were not played either night. It’s quite impressive how many songs they have, and it’s great to see unique setlists on each stop. Though, as James Hetfield put it, “We’re like 150 years old now” so they’ve had plenty of time to write all these songs.
As it was the Sunday show, they did close with Enter Sandman which is always a good time. One preceded that, and had heavy use of pyros, so it was a great ending to the show. I didn’t hear anyone complaining that there was no encore, and rightfully so. Again, I’m going to give my buddy Dan kudos because as he pointed out, “Sunday WAS the encore.”
So, there’s my take! If you were there, or caught them on any other stops, let me know your thoughts.
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