After such an anti climactic opening, the song that should have got the gig back on track was the third song of the night, "Ride the Lightning". The crowd's reaction to its opening notes was both loud and memorable and the venue started to rock as it should have done from the very start. In a show that included several interesting comments from him, the band's frontman James Hetfield (lead vocals,rhythm guitar) spoke to the audience early in the set. "We feel so blessed to be playing this venue tonight" he informed the massive crowd. He feels, "blessed"? Isn't that the same James Hetfield who co-wrote the song "The God That Failed" which first appeared on their eponymous album released in 1991 and a song which they continue to perform live to this day? Perhaps the onstage/recording artist James Hetfield is a very different man to the offstage one? Has some of the material that they have written and recorded been commissioned by external forces in the first place? A further comment Hetfield made later in the show suggests that external forces play a significant part in the band's activities.

One of the newer tracks that the band selected to record for their 1998 Garage Inc. covers album, "Whisky in the Jar" was then played. Thankfully, footage of the band's promotional video for the same song wasn't shown on the giant video screens. It was bad enough to have seen that utter junk of a video once back in the late 1990's without having to suffer it again this evening. "The Unforgiven" followed and although the band were performing the material impeccably, the crowd's vocal participation in both "The Memory Remains" and "The Unforgiven" was not as impressive as it had been on previous visits here. Perhaps the crowd expected an adrenaline charged opening to the show and felt it was too early in the evening for a mid tempo sing along?

Three of the next four songs were taken from the current record. "Now That We're Dead" sounded great live, as did "Halo On Fire". Bassist Robert Trujillo then announced that he and Kirk Hammett (lead guitar) were "going to do things local style" whereupon the traditional Irish song "The Wild Rover" was played. Whether he intended it so or not, Trujillo's vocals during the tune can only be described as piratical! It was absolutely hilarious! A short piece of "ManUNkind" was then performed followed by a short part of the immense "Orion" during which footage of the late, great Cliff Burton was shown on the massive video screens. It was a nice touch by the band to pay tribute to their former bassist in this way; further admirable behavior was exhibited by the band the evening before when they donated $35,000 to each of two Irish charities at a rehearsal for the Slane show at Dublin's Olympia Theater.

The solid "Moth Into Flame" was introduced by Hetfield as "a song about addiction. And the good news about addiction is you get to pick your own!". "Frantic" was the sole song played from the much criticized St. Anger album. In the one hundred and thirty five shows so far on this tour, the band have only played two songs (of the four worth hearing) from St. Anger on seven occasions. If they intend to play material off each of their records on the tour, why not alternate the songs performed more often? That way, there would be more chance of fans hearing seldom played tracks like "The Unnamed Feeling" and "Some Kind Of Monster" (neither of which have been played live since 2004) from St. Anger or "Devil's Dance" and "Carpe Diem Baby" from Reload.

It was following "Frantic" that Hetfield made a second very interesting remark on the night (the previous one was about being "blessed"). He stated that, "Now we get to do what we want" and the band then delivered five classics successively from their first four albums. "Now we get to do what we want"? Is he suggesting that the band's setlist is subject to outside interference by others, perhaps by those with a vested interest in the band such as their management or record company? If that is the case, the outside interference needs to put a lot more thought into their setlist choices, specifically regarding where those choices are placed on the setlist. The electrified atmosphere created in the venue with the run of songs from "One" to "Seek and Destroy" proves the importance of song position on the live setlist; once the band put their foot to the floor they showed that they can still rock as hard as they did in the 1980's.

Speaking of the song "One", the lighting arrangements during the song were curious whereby green and blue laser lighting was projected in different configurations from the stage lighting rig to the very back of and across the width of the vast venue. In stark contrast to the dramatic black and white used in the promo video for the song (one of their better video efforts), the use of such lighting was just an unnecessary distraction and didn't enhance the music being played on stage in any way. Given the song's theme and content matter, surely the lighting used for this song should be as minimal as possible following the song's opening notes? Wouldn't it be more dramatic and effective for there to be just one solitary spotlight in the whole venue in use on any one of the players on stage at any one time during the song? How about complete darkness in the venue from the start of the third verse, "Darkness imprisoning me" to the song's completion? Wouldn't that be more appropriate than an incongruous green and blue laser show?

After a short pause in the concert the impressive "Spit Out the Bone" sustained the turbo charged atmosphere which had been created over the previous five tunes. If a song from the current album has to open each show on the current tour, wouldn't this song be a far better choice than "Hardwired"? Further use of laser style lighting was used during "Nothing Else Matters"; the band's haters may be disappointed to hear that no mirror balls are currently in use during this song. The eighteen song, two hour concert concluded with "Enter Sandman" and a small part of "The Frayed Ends of Sanity". Overall, an impressive, worthwhile performance was delivered from the band at a spectacular location, although the show might have been even more memorable if they had performed/been permitted to perform the setlist in inversion.

Setlist:

• "The Ecstasy of Gold"(Ennio Morricone Cover.On Tape,Not Performed Live).
• "Hardwired" Intro (On Tape, Not Performed Live)
• "Hardwired"
• "The Memory Remains"
• "Ride The Lightning"
• "Whiskey In The Jar"(Traditional,Cover)
• "The Unforgiven"
• "Now That We're Dead"
• "Moth Into Flame"
• "Sad But True"
• "Halo On Fire"
• "The Wild Rover"
• "ManUNKIND" (Snippet)
• "Orion" (Snippet)
• "Frantic"
• "One"
• "Master of Puppets"
• "For Whom the Bells Toll"
• "Creeping Death"
• "Seek and Destroy"

• "Spit Out The Bone"
• "Nothing Else Matters"
• "Enter Sandman"