Metallica
London Greenwich O2 Arena
16th September, 2008

View: mid first tier

Playing for invitees in the round at the O2, the quartet plundered through two hours’ worth of Death Magnetic (for which this was the grandiose launch party) material and catalogue classics, and the pace and energy never flagged. That Was Just Your Life set the tone with thumping drums, flashing guitar and strobes, the chugging riffage building on The End Of The Line and Sabbath-esque The Thing That Should Not Be (with James Hetfield on gobbing good form). The same could not be said of his admonishment to mobile phonecam users (couldn’t resist, could he?), before new song Broken Beat And Scarred illustrated the band’s ear for a catchy tune, as demonstrated by the clapalong Cyanide. Frantic is less accessible, but the grunge of Until It Sleeps cranked things up, as did the sitary singalong of Wherever I May Roam. Diamond Head’s influence shone on For Whom The Bell Tolls, while axemanship was given its head on Master Of Puppets and the warp-speed Blackened. The house lights went up for Stone Cold Crazy and logoed beach balls filled the floor on the closing Seek & Destroy. Next night, they played three numbers for Later in White City, all of them restrained (especially Hetfield’s vocals), probably due to the presence of more subdued acts like Nicole Atkins and Carla Bruni, though Kings Of Leon also rocked out. Still, we got Enter Sandman, so who cares!

Reviewed by Tim Jones
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