The first thing you noticed when you walked into the venue was the 'ever so cool' square center stage. A cool idea, but i'm not sold. With band members walking around to random corners and doing their thing; it sound cool in theory but in practice, I beg to differ.





When I walked in during Machine Head's 'Imperium' the first thing I noticed was the incredibly shitty sound. Was this because of the center stage setup, or just because you aren't allowed to sound better than Metallica? I think we will never know. Machine Head is the last band who would give a 'boring' show, but somehow the centerstage didn't make things feel like a good Machine Head concert. The band played 6 songs in total, which should be just a 'warming up' for a regular Machine Head show. Oh well, can't wait to see The Head on a 'normal' stage soon; maybe they just don't match with these huge shows.

Metallica kicked of with a sweet laser show and double entendre of new material. This was my first time witnessing some 'Death Magnetic' stuff live, and I do have to say: It works like a charm! The band kicked into oldschool-gear a bit for 'No Remorse' and 'The Thing That Should Not Be'. The latter one being my least favorite track on Master of Puppets, but in a live setting it kicks pure ass. After this juggernaut it was time for 'One', which was the perfect moment to get the pyro effects going! You could feel the heat from the other side of the venue, but the rendition of this classic could have been a bit tighter.. I doubt if anyone really cared. After another two Death Magnetic tracks (including up-tempo favorite 'My Apocalypse') it was time for some Black Album-crunching: 'Sad But True'. In my opinion there are very few metalsongs which have this awesome-o groove going on (I think Pantera's 'Walk' is the main contender in this fight). Biggest suprise was the followup; the Bob Seger cover 'Turn The Page' (from the Garage Inc. album). A nice suprise in the so far pretty 'predictable' setlist! Then it was time for the two current singles from the latest album, followed up by THE 'smash hits', 'Nothing Else Matters' and 'Enter Sandman'.

The band came back for an encore and kicked off with some instrumental doodling, taken from 'Suicide & Remdemtion'. The final three tracks where 'Of Wolf And Man', a suprising 'Trapped Under Ice' (Lars was getting sloppy, but still giving a great show) and 'Seek And Destroy', which finally brought down the black Metallica beachballs. It was fun seeing old guys fighting about 'their Metallica balls'.

In the end, the band played 6 of the 10 tracks of their latest album, and they fitted perfectly. Sure, I wouldn't mind to hear 'Ride The Lightning' or 'Damage Inc' or 'Battery', but the tracks meshed well with the 'old stuff'. And thats a good sign! As far as I can tell, these guys can go on for another 10 years at least!

Setlist Machine Head:
1. Clenching The Fists Of Dissent
2. Imperium
3. Halo
4. Slanderous
5. Descend The Shades Of Night
6. Davidian

Setlist Metallica:
1. That Was Just Your Life
2. The End Of The Line
3. No Remorse
4. The Thing That Should Not Be
5. One
6. Broken, Beat And Scarred
7. My Apocalypse
8. Sad But True
9. Turn The Page
10. All Nightmare Long
11. The Day That Never Comes
12. Master Of Puppets
13. Fight Fire With Fire
14. Nothing Else Matters
15. Enter Sandman

16. Of Wolf And Man
17. Trapped Under Ice
18. Seek & Destroy