On a personal level, the build-up to this show started the day before. I’m not some huge fan club guy, but I’d joined Fifth Member to get pre-sale tickets. On various forums online I’d seen mentioned some of the fan club competitions including snake pit passes. Taking a look, I got a bid in for passes. Amazingly we got them, so that was result no.1!
Arriving fairly early at Hampden Stadium, the heat was pretty high and after picking up our passes and getting into the stadium I was a bit worried about bearing up for hours under that blazing sun. Luckily those big towers that surround the stage cast a handy amount of shade until it started to cool slightly as the evening went on.
First up Knocked Loose. I have to say that in advance of this show I wasn’t that fussed if we caught them or not. I’d watched a few of their tracks a couple of years ago at Bloodstock and didn’t really like the vocals. They had a grating level of screechiness about them that I found a real turn-off. I don’t know if Bryan Garris has consciously tempered that sound slightly, but he definitely seemed to have taken that edge off them which allowed me to appreciate them more as a band. Which I certainly did today.
In a really difficult slot to fill, they were heavy, tight and set out to make the best use of the vast stage that they were occupying, prowling it for all their worth.
And their set of down-tuned metallic hardcore certainly seems to be reaching enough in the crowd that Bryan counts out the mosh pits that he can see and asks for more. “When I say “Knocked Loose” you scream “motherfucker”” he demands of the crowd and gets enough of a response to know that they are hitting home. On a personal level I can state that I’m a person whose opinion of Knocked Loose turned full circle today.
Gojira are a personal favourite of mine and Mario Duplantier is one of my favourite drummers. To get to be able to watch all of the bands today at such close quarters felt really special, but to be able to watch and analyse Mario so close at hand felt like a real privilege. The guy is a beast. There may have been some air drumming on my part…
“Born for One Thing” is a great opener and “Backbone” feels like a stamp of territorial domination before “Stranded” lands like the epic metal anthem that it is.
Long-time favourite “Flying Whales”, with its extended intro, gives a great chance to watch Mario with all of the fills and subtle ghost notes that he does at this point, whilst both “Mea Culpa (Ah! Ça Ira!)” and “The Chant” feature operatic vocalist Marina Viotti who lifts both of these tracks into the status of stratospheric.
At one point Joe Duplantier lets the crowd know that Gojira played their 666th show in Glasgow and hailed the city as “One of the great rock cities of the world”. If that isn’t enough to get the crowd on your side then “Silvera” definitely is.
Gojira end their set with the epic that is “Amazonia” but for me also prompts a question that no doubt many fans of the bands are asking just now. Fortitude came out in 2021. When are we getting a new album guys!?
And so to Metallica. I have a long, long history with this band but the last time I had actually seen them live was on Glasgow Green in 2004.
As “It’s a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock ‘N’ Roll)” starts the intro for Metallica, the atmosphere in the stadium builds prior to the familiar strains of “The Ecstasy of Gold”. As band members start to appear prior to actually getting up on stage the excitement rises. Then all four are onstage and they launch into “Creeping Death”. And it absolutely crushes. Such a great opener, “Creeping Death” has a heritage in this slot going back all the way in the UK to their 1985 and 1987 Donington appearances as well as their trek on the Monsters of Rock stadium tour across the US. “For Whom the Bell Tolls” follows and if that isn’t enough to get us old-school fans onside next up is Kill ‘Em All side 1, track 1 “Hit the Lights”. Wow, what a start!
One of the things that strikes me tonight is how well balanced and focused the set is. Glasgow is a one-off show, unlike other cities that get the “no repeat” weekend with 2 shows. Which means there is zero room for slack in terms of songs choices!
“King Nothing” has a totally different feel after the first three songs, letting the crowd settle into a groove before “72 Seasons” drives the momentum on further.
The entire set is just littered with so many classic songs that there is no drop-off in quality. “The Unforgiven” is one of those Black album tracks that propelled Metallica to stadium-level status in the first place, whilst the pyro-driven “Fuel” singularly belies the status of the album – Reload – from whence it came.
Kirk and Rob’s doodle gives us both “Hair of the Dog” by Scottish rockers Nazareth as well as “500 Miles” by The Proclaimers. Yes, you did read that correctly, Metallica covered The Proclaimers and the crowd lapped it up.
“The Day That Never Comes” starts the next part of the set post-doodle. I’m looking at my notes for the rest of the set and even on paper it’s breathtaking, but in the flesh just felt like a privilege to witness. “Wherever I May Roam” and “Nothing Else Matters” inhabit the same space as “The Unforgiven”. “Sad but True” is as heavy as ever and is the perfect lead-in to “One”. How do you follow that? How’s about the singalong-a-violence of “Seek & Destroy”. If energy levels aren’t already high enough Metallica then launch into “Master of Puppets” before finalising their set with the crowd at absolute fever pitch during “Enter Sandman”. Fuck, I hate that song but even I loved it at this point in time!
This was a special, special night in Glasgow – a show that will live in the memory of around 58,000 people that witnessed it. Whatever questions there may have been around Metallica over the years, tonight they absolutely delivered and it was just fantastic to witness.
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