Metallica Review
If you’d time-traveled back to 1986, sat Metallica down and told them that one day they’d be playing an acoustic “virtual concert” in a futuristic jam room, covered in TV screens showing fans watching them from all over the world, you would have fried their brains on the spot. And yet, it’s now 2020 and here we are.
Today the Bay Area legends are hosting their second Helping Hands Concert & Auction, benefiting their All Within My Hands charity. An online auction offers signed, limited edition merchandise, posters and instruments. Oh, and if you’d like a Zoom call with Metallica, no problem — the bid is currently at USD $20,000.
Kicking the show off from their office at Metallica HQ, in San Rafael, California, the band greet fans and discuss some of the many charitable organisations AWMH assists. This year alone, they have distributed $645,000 in COVID relief and $350,000 to agencies battling California’s wildfires. It has also established a $1.5 million grant benefitting fifteen community colleges across the US. Rob Trujillo notes that Metallica are picking up all expenses in the production of today’s show and so 100% of all tickets and auction items are going directly to those in need, including families facing food insecurity in the US and UK.
We then cut to an intimate stage swathed in muted blue lights, where the band sit surrounded by four walls covered by sprawling video mosaics of fans who have paid a few bucks extra to appear on the Virtual Fan Wall for one song. It’s a bit weird, to be sure. But Metallica have played plenty of acoustic sets in the past and, after introducing additional musicians Avi Vinocur (mandolin) and Henry Salvia (keyboards), James Hetfield says, “Let’s have some fun, everybody.” He rips into a dark, smouldering riff and as Lars Ulrich’s drums and Rob’s acoustic bass kick in, the track erupts into a surging jam. It’s only when James starts singing do we realise they’ve just opened with Blackened -- the track’s acoustic debut — and it is marvelous. “We’ve got a few other surprises for you guys,” promises James. “We’ve been working pretty hard for the past week or more, putting some unique versions of stuff together. Here’s one of them,” and it’s Creeping Death, reimagined in a bluesy new vibe that casts the song in a transfixing new context, complete with a wild, ripping solo from Kirk Hammett.
Generally, playing thrash tunes in an unplugged format sounds flat and toothless. Metallica figured this out as far back as their first Bridge School Benefit in 1997, when they debuted funked-up acoustic versions of classics like The Four Horsemen. Likewise, tonight’s version of Now That We’re Dead radiates with a jangly, stripped-down vitality. James’ vocals are soulful and subdued in a way that serves these new versions immensely well. Other unplugged tracks include The Unforgiven, Nothing Else Matters and All Within My Hands, featuring Metallica progeny Layne Ulrich and Castor Hetfield, sons of Lars and James, on backup vocals. There are also some surprising covers, including Deep Purple’s When A Blind Man Cries and the Animals’ House Of The Rising Sun.
Between songs, members of the band call out to random fans on the wall for a chat. The fan will appear on a big screen facing the band, as Lars, James, Rob and Kirk all join in the banter. Lars speaks Danish to one fan while during another break, James talks to Natalie, from New Jersey, about the guitars he sees in her room. The chats are easy and unforced and it feels like the band are having as much fun as the fans. “Love you guys,” shouts Natalie as they say goodbye. “Love you too,” says James.
After a short break, Metallica return fully plugged-in and they tear into an expansive new version of Disposable Heroes. The brief, fully-electrified set includes the first live performance of Wasting My Hate in ten years and the closing power trio of For Whom The Bell Tolls, Master Of Puppets and Enter Sandman.
Of the handful of bands at Metallica’s level, it’s hard to imagine any that might attempt something like this and even fewer who could pull it off as seamlessly as Metallica. More than most of their peers, Metallica continue to take big creative risks and to step well beyond their comfort zone in order to give their fans — and themselves — something fresh and exciting. And tonight they’re once again showing everybody else how it’s done. James sums it up nicely during the set when he says, “All your help is very much appreciated. And the fact that we get to play is a big bonus, right? We get to play, we get to employ some people here, we get to help out – it’s a win-win-win everywhere.” A-fucking-men.