Metallica – Rock In Rio 2013 (no label)

Cidade Do Rock, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil – September 19, 2013

DVD (2 hrs 15 min) The Ecstasy Of Gold, Hit The Lights, Master Of Puppets, Holier Than Thou, Harvester Of Sorrow, Guitar Solo, The Day That Never Comes, The Memory Remains, Wherever I May Roam, Bass Solo, Welcome Home (Sanitarium), Sad But True, …And Justice For All, One, For Whom The Bell Tolls, Blackened, Guitar Solo, Nothing Else Matters, Enter Sandman, Creeping Death, Battery, Seek & Destroy

Released at the same time as the Iron Maiden Rock In Rio 2013 Maiden England World Tour DVD, this new release showcases Metallica’s headlining set from three days prior on Thursday, September 19, 2013. Like Iron Maiden, Metallica is used to playing the big gigs and always deliver with their high energy style of thrash metal. This release has the complete performance in excellent quality but unlike the Maiden set that would take up the full screen this appears to be best viewed at the 16:9 ratio. The picture is perfectly clear and enjoyable, I put it on the 50″ through a blue Ray player with the same results, excellent quality and sound.

Metallica’s set list is a cross section of material encompassing their back catalog and it’s all the main points along with a few deep cuts for good measure. The intro music is classic Metallica, well it’s actually from the Clint Eastwood movie, The Good The Bad and The Ugly and proceeds to get the large audience amped up, they performers and audience let loose as the band hit the stage with the classic “Hit The Lights”. The song is a classic from the first Metallica record but dates back much earlier, Kirk Hammett lays down a fiery solo and the adrenaline is flowing instantaneously. What is nice about this version of Metallica is that they finally seem comfortable in their own skin and seem to be embracing their legacy, especially their incredible 80’s output of music. This is evident as they whip up a frenzy with “Master Of Puppets”, the audience trades versus with James as the band pummel the hell out of them.

As guitarist go, one name that seems to not get a lot of attention is Kirk Hammett. His playing is incredible throughout this CD, his ultra fast yet real tasty leads scorch themselves in your ear canals like no other. It is fantastic to watch him play Star Wars theme music during his first solo on a guitar with a custom White Zombie (the 1932 horror film not the band) paint job, great stuff. New bassist Robert Trujillo’s bass solo is poor in the mix, his bass notes are sadly barely audible.

Nice to hear the band embracing the …And Justice For All record, they play four songs from it, beginning with “Harvester Of Sorrow”. As the band breaks into the title track, James asks the audience “Do you know what this is ?”, as the song is kind of a deep cut, a cut that goes to bone in aggression and complexity. Of course the records most notable track, “One”, is played with the accompanied war ensemble that lights up the dark night. The final track from the AJFA record is the opener, “Blackened”. Played, as on the record, at breakneck speed, James simply hammer out the songs riff and sets the pace for the song, I am a big fan of the record and love hearing songs from it live and as always the mix of speed metal and strobe lights makes for a winning combination.

The band levels the audience with the last three songs. James gets the audience to chant 1,2,3,4 style as a prelude to “Creeping Death”, he plays a flying V for “Creeping” and the song that follows. “Battery” is again played at breakneck speed, what one can consider old school style, Robert fills out the chorus of “Battery” to great effect, his deep throated growls are in perfect compliment to James’ higher pitched vocals. Another oldie “Seek & Destroy” finish the concert, the band attempts to drain the audiences energy with the standard song along but nothing will abide the Brazilian passion for metal. A great concert, in excellent quality and one that demands being played LOUD.