Metallica Live at the Kemper A

- advertisement -

- advertisement -

REVIEW BY: Clint Switzer

Say the name "Metallica" on any hard rock message board and automatically the lines are drawn. You either love them, hate them, or usually… love what they were and hate what they've become. I'm not a fan of the new stuff, but dragged some buddies to their near sold-out concert at Kansas City's Kemper Arena on May 11.

Godsmack opened the show and bothered only to play their radio hits dating back to their first album. They put on a pretty good show, and the dueling drum solo is almost cool. They played only 45 minutes to a 3/4 full house.

Metallica hit the stage after a long break. They opened with "Blackened" just like they've done on every other date of this tour. The arena was packed and whipped into a frenzy from the get-go tonight. They flew through their two-hour set list almost effortlessly and worked the stage like pros (which they should, considering they have played the center stage set up on three different tours now). Five songs off the Black album, two from St. Anger, “I Disappear” and “No Leaf Clover” kind of brought their show down at one point, but it was definitely resurrected by a brutal rendition of "Creeping Death."

Overall, it was a damn good show, and a pretty good set list. 15,000 people went home drunk and happy on this night. Here is Metallica's complete set list:

Blackened
Fuel
For Whom the Bell Tolls
Fade to Black
Frantic
I Disappear
Wherever I May Roam
St. Anger
Sad But True
No Leaf Clover
Creeping Death
Battery
Nothing Else Matters
Master of Puppets

One
Enter Sandman

Of Wolf and Man
Seek and Destroy