Friday night it hit, Metallica landed at the Hartford Civic Center. Opening for them was Corrosion of Conformity who jammed to songs like Cleansing the Wounds and Albatross which really got the crowd going.

The crowd was prepped for combat, the metal maniacs attacked, Pour Touring Me was their motto. The fans, from teens on up to the over thirty gang, roared as Metallica ran about their double stage empire. The two stages took up 85% percent of the floor of the Civic Center leaving room for about 1,000 general admission tickets for the diehard fans to be closer to the action. There was a drum kit set up at each end so Lars Ulrich could go from stage to stage. There were microphones placed every where so James Hetfield (vocals/guitar), Jason Newsted (bass) and Kirk Hammett (guitars) were free to roam the stages. There were explosions and flashes blasting on and off throughout the show. There was not a bad seat in the house. They opened with So What, Creeping Death, Sad But True and Ain’t My Bitch. The sound was so incredible that my knees quaked when Lars hit the drums. The light show and pyrotechnics were not only outstanding, but exceptional during the performance of One, as they dropped us off in the middle of a combat zone.

They played old and new tunes including: Nothing Else Matters, Wherever I May Roam, Until It Sleeps, For Whom The Bell Tolls, and Fade To Black. The set ended with James asking if we wanted to hear something off of Kill ‘Em All and in turn played Seek And Destroy. The first encore consisted of Master of Puppets, Am I Evil, and Enter Sandman. Then all hell broke loose! One of the stage crew, who climbed to the lighting, fell and was left swinging from the ceiling. Pyro backfired and caused under stage fires. The towers of scaffolding fell to the ground, and yes, someone even caught fire and ran across the stage! The sounds of the speakers crackling and paramedics all about, just left you like, “what the $#!? just happened?!” It was just the pure talent of what I call Metallica’s version of Universal Studios. And no, this was not the end, they continued to rock out their last two songs, Breadfan and Motorbreath.

James thanked the fans and passed out guitar picks while Lars threw drum sticks out to the crowd. To put it short, the fans’ (or should I say Metalliholics) thirst for more was quenched - till next time.

Review by John M. Gigola Jr.

Photos by Stephanie Perry

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