Date: Fri 24-Jul-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: KIMH

Quick Words:

Metallica-cement-Meadows

Full Text:

(rev Metallica @Meadows Music Theatre)

Concert Review--

Metallica Shows No Signs Of Slowing Down

BY KIM J. HARMON

HARTFORD -- The heavy metal landscape -- once populated by dozens of cookie

cutter groups from Lizzie Borden to Accept -- would be an almost barren

wasteland now if it weren't for a couple of powerhouse groups ... like

Metallica.

From Kill 'Em All (with its speed metal riffs) to And Justice For All (with

its raw power), Metallica all but re-defined what is known as heavy metal and

survived the almost inevitable collapse that wiped away all the imitators. And

since the release of its self-titled black album, the band (lead singer and

guitarist James Hetfield, guitarist Kirk Hammett, guitarist Jason Newsted, and

drummer Lars Ulrich) has broadened its appeal and has taken metal to new

heights.

Metallica -- on tour to promote the release of its back-to-back sister albums,

Load and Reload -- performed at the Meadows Music Theater in Hartford this

week and, from "Master of Puppets" to "Creeping Death," unloaded their

skull-rattling sound on several thousand willing headbangers.

Mixing in a little bit of the old ("The Thing That Should Not Be") and a

little bit of the new ("Memory Remains"), a little bit of speed ("Fuel") and a

little bit of acoustic ("Low Man's Lyric"), Metallica did something from each

album -- from Kill 'Em All to Reload -- and managed to please the long-time

fans who cut their teeth on speed metal and as well the new-found fans who

like the slightly more smoothed out hard rock sound that not only has made

Metallica one of the only enduring bands in heavy metal, but turns each new

album release into an overnight platinum phenomenon.

For the first 45 minutes of their show, Metallica went at the audience hard,

starting out with "Fight Fire With Fire" and moving on to "Of Wolf And Man,"

"The Thing That Should Not Be," "Fuel," "Memory Remains" and "Bleeding Me."

They slowed it down briefly with "Nothing Else Matters" before cruising

through the last 45 minutes with "Until It Sleeps," "King Nothing," "Wherever

I May Roam" and "One," a song from the And Justice For All album that may have

been the first step in gaining a whole new legion of fans.

Then, with their first encores, Metallica went acoustic. It's okay when the

first song is "Low Man's Lyric," from Reload, but to go acoustic with two

songs from Kill 'Em All, the bible of speed metal, showed the versatility of

the musicians.

Not until the end of the night on a slow note, Metallica came back once again

for "Sad But True," "Enter Sandman," and then shook the rafters and buckled

the cement with "Creeping Death," a speed metal cut off their second album,

Ride The Lightning.

Metallica, with six albums and number of video tapes to their credit, has been

going at it for a number of years now and, at the beautiful Meadows facility

Tuesday night, showed no signs of slowing down at all.