Metallica & Mastodon – Estadio 3 de Marzo, Guadalajara (JAL) (3.01.10)
Posted by Aaron Mayagoitia on 03.05.2010
Uneven sound spoils what could have been an evening of awesome music.
The packed venue anticipated the setting of the uncomfortable sun, its rays keeping the people’s sight away from the stage that was to be taken by recognized heavyweights Metallica and Mastodon later in the evening. Once the sun set, Mexican band Maligno appeared on stage and started pumping riffs with an energy and enthusiasm commonly displayed by rookie bands eager to impress their headlining idols – though Maligno has already been around for a while, even opening in Mexico for bands such as Fear Factory and Guns N’ Roses. Even though sunlight wasn’t raining on the audience anymore, faces were still twitching, this time because the band on stage, though clearly playing correctly, seemed only to be blasting noise out of the amplifiers. Clearly, only one person was responsible for such sabotage… Whoever manned the boards that evening had no idea what he/she was doing; Maligno sounded terrible, with the drums being on top of everything else in the mix and guitars being almost inaudible, voices being the only melodic reference to partially follow the music. Sad, because Maligno is easily one of Mexico’s most enjoyable metal bands around:
Mastodon’s sound too was butchered, but it seems that only certain parts of the venue (where I was seated, at the bleachers to the right side of the stage) got unlucky enough to listen to the band in such a way, since fan-shot video indicates that there were no sound issues, at least close to the stage:
Identifying the songs played was hard. Opening track “Oblivion” was easy to spot because of its intro without drums, and thanks to the band playing almost all of Crack the Skye (“Oblivion”, “Divinations”, “Ghost of Karelia” and “Crack the Skye”) in sequence, the terrible mix wasn’t that much of a problem when it came to recognizing the set list. But as soon as the band started playing more layered stuff off Blood Mountain (?) and Leviathan (?) I got completely lost – set closer “March of the Fire Ants” easily stuck out because of its plodding riff. Just to make a point: I searched all over the internet for the correct set list – hoping people closer to the stage would have had it easier to tell one song from the other – but I only found frustration when I noticed there were no two same lists.
Anyway, after going through Mastodon’s well-played but horribly mixed set, the time for Metallica to kick everyone’s ass had come, this time with a much better sound than the other two bands. After recorded intro “The Ecstasy of Gold” served as a countdown to the ensuing barrage of metal riffs, “Creeping Death” lit up the place as soon as the very first notes were played. Classic numbers from Metallica’s more thrash-oriented era such as “The Four Horsemen” and “Whiplash” were received with an overflow of enthusiasm and moshing…
…as opposed to the selections from Death Magnetic (“That Was Just Your Life”, “The End of the Line”, “Broken, Beat & Scarred” and “The Judas Kiss”), the band even losing the audience during a blistering rendition of “The Judas Kiss” and receiving a negative answer when James Hetfield asked who liked the album, to which he answered “We’ll do our best to make you like it” before playing “Broken, Beat & Scarred”.
Metallica’s complete set list was:
The Ecstasy of Gold (intro)
Creeping Death
For Whom the Bell Tolls
Through the Never
The Four Horsemen
Fade to Black
That Was Just Your Life
The End of the Line
Sad but True
Broken, Beat & Scarred
The Judas Kiss
One
Master of Puppets
Battery
Nothing Else Matters
Enter Sandman
Breadfan (Budgie cover)
Whiplash
Seek & Destroy
Personally, I can’t complain about the set list since Metallica played the majority of the songs I expected to hear, and to listen to live versions of Death Magnetic material was something I was looking forward to. But what brings my piss to a boil is Lars Ulrich’s lazy drumming; songs such as “Battery” – one I was eager to hear – have double bass-drum parts that are indispensable for its maximum effect, which makes it even more obvious when Lars doesn’t play those parts:
Regardless, Metallica is a force to be reckoned with, and they pummeled the packed venue mercilessly. It’s strange, but it seems that Metallica is playing better now than 13 years back when they were younger. I mean, just watch Cunning Stunts and you’ll know what I’m talking about: stage antics over musicianship, frustrating medleys, and more rock-oriented songs over thrash classics. Well, nowadays Metallica brings the big guns every night, all guns blazing. If you haven’t seen the band live, what are you waiting for? Another Load/Reload era of mediocrity?
Thanks to Omar Jacobo for the Metallica pics and vid.
For an extra photo gallery courtesy of Informador.com.mx, visit this link.
The 411: It’s a shame only one band out of three sounded right from where I was seated. Maligno is a very cool band I highly recommend; Mastodon was flawless but the mix didn’t do them justice; Metallica is still f*cking Metallica, regardless of Lars Ulrich’s lazy drumming. If you are close to a gig of any of those three bands, do your best to go get your ticket and rock out. Just hope the soundboard guy isn’t on drugs.
