Obey Your Master.

"Metallica are the crème de la crème of those kinds of bands; you can’t really define them as heavy metal, they’re a musical band. The songs aren’t just heavy metal; they’re beautiful songs,” said Elton John in an interview for the 30th anniversary of Metallica’s Black Album, where he covered “Nothing Else Matters” with Miley Cyrus. Metallica is probably one of the first bands to succeed in making a genre that previously struggled to reach everyone’s homes mainstream. Without them, many successful bands today probably wouldn’t exist.

The first time I came into contact with Metallica was around 2010 when I saw the video of "Enter Sandman" live at the 1991 Moscow concert, and at the time, I was too young to understand why so many people liked that noise. Over time, I learned to appreciate heavy metal, and that noise became music.

Performance

When you are in front of such a legendary band, it’s impossible not to be in awe. Despite the nearly 30 degrees Celsius, I got goosebumps when Ennio Morricone’s historic song "The Ecstasy of Gold" started playing, announcing the imminent entrance of Metallica. James Hetfield, compared to the other three members who are shorter, literally seems like a statue that captures your gaze from start to finish.

Despite being 60-year-old men, they performed at high intensity for two hours, and at the end of the concert, you could see they had given everything. I didn’t feel for a moment that they were in Italy just in passing but that they cared about putting on a show and were grateful for the audience's presence. I heard someone at the end of the concert complaining about their performance from a technical point of view. After all, Metallica has never been synonymous with perfection. Think about it: drummer Lars Ulrich is one of the most criticized for his questionable skills. During "Master of Puppets," I noticed James turning several times, shouting “Slow down” to Lars after getting stuck twice during the same riff. But should we really focus on a couple of mistakes?

Production

Here comes the pain! But first, a note. Starting from the summer of 2023 with the beginning of the 72 Seasons tour, Metallica has always played in stadiums using a circular 360-stage (donut-shaped) with eight towers topped with cylindrical maxi screens. 

For the Milan show, being at a racetrack (no seats) and not a stadium, they had to use an ad hoc setup just for this date, with the classic front stage, a semicircular catwalk with people in the middle, and a series of screens in various different positions. That said, I would have preferred to evaluate their usual production, but the Milan setup was decidedly below expectations.

 The most nonsensical thing I found were the effects used on the screens that looked like Instagram story filters. Much of the screen area was wasted with this effect on the scaffolding that supported four mini screens.

 But why? I can imagine how happy the spectators at the back were who couldn’t even rely on the screens. To make matters worse, the screens often lagged with choppy footage. Otherwise, it was just fire and fireworks at the end of the concert as if it were New Year’s Eve.

Setlist

One of the few positive aspects of this concert was the setlist. In this tour, Metallica is doing double dates for each city with no repeats, meaning the setlist from the previous night is completely different from the next. Not bad for those who see both, but for those with a tighter budget, it’s a bit of a gamble. Since Milan was the only date in Italy, the setlist included, with few exceptions, all the great Metallica classics. It starts strong with "Creeping Death," "For Whom the Bell Tolls," "Holier Than Thou," and "Enter Sandman" (which I expected to be played later in the show). Mid-concert, as usual, Kirk Hammett and Rob Trujillo took the stage to play a cover of a local band (which changes based on the country they are in), and this time it was "Acida" by Prozac+. Rob singing while holding the lyrics sheet was too cute. Then it continued with a series of great classics like "Orion," the emotional "Nothing Else Matters" described by Elton John as one of the most beautiful songs in history, "Sad But True" (my absolute favorite), leading to the conclusion with "Seek and Destroy," "One," and the inevitable "Master of Puppets."

Venue and Crowd

Looking around, it was noticeable that much of the audience still had the wristbands from the AC/DC concert the week before in Reggio Emilia. As expected, it was an audience of classic rock lovers. Although the songs allow it, don’t expect major mosh pits at their concerts (there were a few, but nothing much).

Undoubtedly the worst venue I’ve ever attended for a concert. How is it possible to organize a concert for 70,000 people all standing where, for ¾ of the area, the stage is not visible? Lots of holes in the ground, tall grass, and food and drink gazebos in the middle, blocking the view of those in the general admission area. Water at 3 euros is perfect for discouraging people from hydrating and feeling sick from the heat. The audio was terrible for the first four songs where nothing was understandable, then it improved, but unfortunately, in the golden circle area, Kirk’s guitars were completely inaudible except for the clean ones like in "Nothing Else Matters." Only three exits to let more than 70,000 people out is madness. All this for general admission tickets costing 100 euros and golden circle 130 euros. For such a price, better organization is a must. One of the few positive notes was the signal; as long as I needed it, I was able to message and call. That said, it’s still unclear to me why this show was done with an improvised setup in an unsuitable location when they could have used San Siro or another stadium in Italy. Live Nation Radio, this is not okay.

Finishing Touch

Many negative notes, but I took home many emotional moments. Hearing songs live for the first time that I’ve listened to over and over in the car or on TV as a kid is always an incredible feeling and is the reason this page exists. I regret not having seen them before when they were a bit more in shape, but it is what it is. Unfortunately, the I-Days once again proved to be an event not up to the caliber of the band and the show. Being one of the few festivals in Italy that attracts international artists, it will always draw big numbers despite the poor organization remaining a problem.

Hot gignwings review

Performance: 🌶🌶🌶🌶

Production: 🌶🌶

Setlist: 🌶🌶🌶🌶

Venue: 🌶

Crowd: 🌶🌶🌶