Metallica, Him, Machine Head, Mastodon @ Wembley Stadium, London
8th July 2007
After my first failed attempt at a concert at the new wembley stadium finally the place is open and what an impressive sight to behold, even if most of its inhabitants for this warm day were clad in then customary metal black uniform. Post the almight pretentious pop concert that was live earth, Metallica had he stage to themselves and some of their metalhead friends.
Wembley Stadium
Now while unknown to the indie crowd, Mr Flowers..huh…huh.. the support lineup was a mixed bag since the departure of Bullet for My Valentine. Mastodon the huge riffing prog metal beast were first out of the traps and thundered their way through a mesmerizing set of pure unadultered energy and noise! Just imagine I was a good 200 metres away from the stage and had to shout to talk.
Mastodon
Last minute replacements Machinehead did performed a workman like performance which didnt really hit the button for me, too much fuzz not enough grunt or melody.
HIM by some random strech of the imagination are the final warm up act. This was greeted with endless chants of, “your crap”, “f**k off!” and plenty of certain hand gestures I care not to mention here. They were very ordinary, no standout tracks, even though I was reliably informed that they played a cover of “wicked game” by who? Jinx?
Now to what everyone was waiting for, Metallica took the stage. Hetfield was on fine song this evening, as was the 6 strings of Kirk Hammets guitar. Both guitarists were amazing as they played all the crowd favourites, rifftastic Master Of Puppets, the beautiful One, the power of Enter Sandman, Fuel and the strangely enchanting Unforgiven. Hetfield was in fine growl this evening and delivered with power and intensity alongside his chugging guitar riffs. Hammet as a Protege of god himself Joe Satch!!! was masterful on the guitar, amazing solos a true lead guitarist of magnitude.
Metallica
The crowd was lapping every ounch of this performance up and as the final track “Seek and Destroy” decended into silence the deafening roar from the wembley inmates was awe inspiring! Metallica truely are a special metal band capable of stadium sized songs with a mass appeal, hand crafted by the genius of 2 of metals finest. A great show from a band established rock folklore!
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