As Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta darkened Tuesday night, Metallica played AC/DC’s “It’s a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock ‘n’ Roll)” over the speakers as a warm-up song.
Indeed, it took Metallica a decade through the world of thrash metal before clawing their way to the literal top of the Billboard album chart in 1991 with the release of their fifth, self-titled album. The album, which has sold more than 17 million copies in America to date, defined Metallica’s sound with epic, radio-friendly classics like “The Unforgiven,” “Enter Sandman” and “Nothing Else Matters.”
Once on top, the band had a few wobbles and reputational detours, including a bruising legal battle with file-sharing company Napster in the early 2000s that led many supporters to scream “sell out!”
Credit: Ryan Fleisher
Credit: Ryan Fleisher
But by the time the band was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2009, Metallica had transformed into rock royalty, a touchstone for multiple generations of metal fans.
That broad appeal was reflected by the makeup of the audience at Mercedes-Benz on Tuesday. Unlike the Billy Idol concert at Ameris Bank Amphitheatre a month ago packed largely with Gen Xers and Baby Boomers, Metallica drew a crowd of hard-core rockers from 7 to 70. (In the oddest of contrasts, a stadium employee could be spied rolling a man in a wheelchair as two preteens gleefully ran around less than 30 yards from the band.)
Credit: RODNEY HO
Credit: RODNEY HO
Why is Metallica able to tour in stadiums? Their sound and lyrical content have captured the imaginations of angry, disaffected teens for decades, a sound that is amplified even more in the communal space of a concert.
And Metallica fans are not shy about declaring their allegiance. Before the show, there were lengthy lines for merch packed with people who were already donning Metallica shirts from previous tours. The $45 T-shirts, most with skull imagery, included a special Atlanta-only design that quickly sold out. The color selection was black ― and blacker.
Credit: Ryan Fleisher
Credit: Ryan Fleisher
For the band, the stage remains their sanctuary and their fans their oxygen. As a result, they are indefatigable touring titans. Atlanta is the 67th concert on Metallica’s M72 World Tour, which began two years ago in Amsterdam and concludes next year in London. Last year, Pollstar ranked their tour No. 9 with $179.4 million in revenue sandwiched between country star Zach Bryan and pop legend Madonna.
If the four members of the band, all in their early 60s, were tired, they didn’t show it.
Rather, their musicality remained top notch, their performance a clear statement that they are not remotely ready to chill by the pool full time.
Hair nearly all white, wrinkles etched into his face, 61-year-old James Hetfield performed songs like “Creeping Death” and “Cyanide” with the energy of a peeved uncle sitting in a rocking chair on his front porch, ready to use his rifle if a wayward stranger dared step on his lawn.
Credit: Ryan Fleisher
Credit: Ryan Fleisher
But between songs, Hetfield quickly shed that persona, transforming into a dude just happy to still have his booming voice and the desire to entertain.
“Metallica does not take this for granted,” Hetfield declared at one point onstage. “As four brothers who have done gigs for 40-plus years, it never gets old. To see the love we feel in Atlanta, thank you very much. It does fill our hearts.”
He asked fans to raise their hands if this was their first Metallica concert. (At least one-third of the stadium did so.)
“That’s a whole lot of new family members,” he said. “We’re glad you’re here. Welcome to the family.”
Credit: Ryan Fleisher
Credit: Ryan Fleisher
Over two hours, the band played a relatively sparse 16 songs spanning 10 of their 11 studio albums. But that’s because their tunes typically run six to eight minutes long, a leisurely prog-rock pace in a world packed with 3-minute pop songs. Their sound is an array of hard drum beats by the manically driven Lars Ulrich and complicated guitar riffs from Kirk Hammett, suffused with Hetfield’s bone-tingling growl.
While their music is typically serious, Hetfield was happy to make a couple of jokes at his own expense. After six songs, he declared he and Ulrich were going to “take a break. We’re going to adjust our wigs and tighten our girdles.”
This led to a playful improv interlude between Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo, with a small ode to Georgia Southern rock band the Allman Brothers: a slide guitar snippet of “One Way Out.”
In cities where Metallica has two dates, like Nashville and Philadelphia, they have played two entirely different sets, meaning fans who only attended one missed out on some of the band’s most iconic songs. Atlanta as a single concert date meant attendees got to hear nearly all the big hits, including powerful renditions of “One,” “Master of Puppets” and the concluding sing-a-long whammy “Enter Sandman.”
Credit: RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com
Credit: RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com
And given the cost of the tickets, Metallica didn’t skimp on production value.
For the first time, the band built out a “donut”-shaped in-the-round stage, with hundreds of fans who paid $1,000 or more able to stand inside the “snake pit” with 360-degree close-up views of the musicians.
The long, somewhat circular stage enabled the band to burn calories while Ulrich used four drum sets that popped up from underneath the stage in different locations every few songs.
Eight massive towers with 40-foot-high wraparound video screens let those in the nosebleed seats see Hetfield’s beads of sweat, bassist Trujillo’s swinging ponytails, Hammett’s T-shirt image of a bunny holding out a middle finger and Ulrich’s playful facial expressions.
Of course, seeing Metallica in a more intimate venue would have been more dynamic. And because of fire codes, Metallica could only sell so many tickets on the floor, which was standing room only and left massive open spaces, giving the impression that the nearly sold-out concert was not sold out.
Then there’s the inconsistent acoustics, a defined flaw of Mercedes-Benz Stadium itself, which was built first and foremost for soccer and football, not music. (Opener Pantera seemed to suffer more than Metallica on that front.) And the energy level in the seated areas wasn’t as consistently high as those who inhabited the floor.
The most gleefully weird moment came near the end of the concert as the band began to play “Seek and Destroy”: The crew unleashed 50 oversize beach balls onto the crowd, props more apropos for a Beach Boys or Katy Perry concert.
Credit: RODNEY HO/rh
Credit: RODNEY HO/rh
But the audience took the song lyrics seriously, grabbing their keys and anything sharp to “seek and destroy” the balls, which were largely deflated by the time “Master of Puppets” began eight minutes later.
Credit: RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com
Credit: RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com
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