Location: San Francisco / Chase Center / United States of America
Date: Friday, December 17, 2021 and Sunday, December 19, 2021
The year was 1981. Hard rock fans were being treated to albums like AC/DC – For Those About to Rock, Black Sabbath – Mob Rules, Iron Maiden – Killers, Saxon – Denim & Leather, and many more… And it was in that fateful year that a Danish tennis player and amateur drummer placed an ad in Los Angeles looking for musicians for a heavy metal band — which James Hetfield answered. The band officially formed on October 28, 1981.
In early 1982, the band recorded their very first track, ‘Hit the Lights’, for the compilation Metal Massacre 1. Later that year, Ulrich and Hetfield attended a Trauma show, where Cliff Burton blew them away with his bass wizardry. Naturally, the two of them wanted this bass virtuoso in their band, but he told them he’d only join Metallica on the condition that the band relocated to San Francisco, where in March 1983 they played their first gig with Burton at The Stone. Shortly after that show, the band decided to kick Dave Mustaine out due to his unreliability stemming from drug and alcohol abuse, and his spot as lead guitarist was taken by Kirk Hammett from Exodus. The classic lineup was born.
Fast forward to 2021. A warm June evening in Maribor, yours truly out to dinner with some club buddies, when my phone starts ringing. A WhatsApp call from my friend in Norway. Must have dialed the wrong number? I pick up, puzzled — and he goes: “Hey man, want to come with me to San Francisco in December for Metallica — their 40th anniversary, two unique shows? I need to know right now!”
All I remember is stuttering and negotiating a 24-hour delay on my answer. I had to figure out what the family would say, sort out time off work, work out what traveling to the US looked like during COVID times, whether flights were even available and what they’d cost, and so on. Of course, the answer the next day was YES. You don’t get offers like that every day. And the odds of landing tickets for an event like this — available only to Metallica fan club members, by lottery — were slim. But not long after we’d sorted everything out, we discovered that the US (at the time, summer 2021) had its borders closed to tourists. Just when I’d mentally written the whole thing off, mid-October brought the news that from November 8th the US would be reopening to tourists. A quick scramble for flights and accommodation, and all that was left was waiting for mid-December and hoping the COVID situation wouldn’t deteriorate too fast and trigger new restrictions. And December 16th finally arrived — a quick hop from Brnik to Frankfurt, then aboard a legendary jumbo jet over the polar circle to San Francisco.
The moment I hit downtown San Francisco and headed toward the apartment, it was immediately obvious where I was. The city was absolutely flooded with Metallica T-shirts, hoodies, jackets, beanies…. The band had organized what they called “MetallicA takes over San Francisco”, which featured a ton of events all across the city — from cover band gigs to photo exhibitions, film screenings, Blackened whiskey tastings…. Some 18,000 of the most die-hard fans had well and truly taken over this charismatic California city.
And finally Friday evening arrived — the first of the two shows. It took place at the home arena of the Golden State Warriors NBA team, Chase Center. Thousands of fans were pouring into the plaza in front of the arena, but the vaccine certificate checks, security screening through X-ray machines, and ticket scanning all went smoothly and without a hitch. The first shock came when I tried to buy a souvenir T-shirt — two merch stands, one at each end, roughly 50 meters apart, with parallel queues stretching practically the full length between them. Again, though, no pushing or shoving — civilized, and therefore surprisingly quick. A bigger shock followed when my buddy came back with two beers and moaned about how expensive they were. When a Norwegian complains that beer is expensive, you know it’s no joke — $18 for a 0.4L lager or $20 for an IPA.
Kitted out with merch and our absurdly overpriced beers, we finally headed to our seats in the stands just after eight. Between eight and nine, stand-up comedian Dean Delray and DJ Lord kept the crowd entertained — the latter putting his own DJ spin on rock hits from across the decades. Just before nine the lights went down, and the crew — busy as bees — started clearing away the DJ setup, revealing Lars’s drum kit, while the guitar techs did one final check on the guitar lineup. A little after nine, images of AC/DC appeared on the massive video screens hanging above the stage, and ‘It’s a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock ‘n’ Roll)’ blasted through the PA. AC/DC on the screens soon gave way to images of Metallica through all four decades, while the crowd went wild to the rhythms of the Australian legends. Of course, every proper Metallica show has to start with Morricone’s ‘Ecstasy of Gold’, and this one was no different. And to send the goosebumps skyrocketing even further, actor Jason Momoa stepped up and delivered a speech that cranked expectations up to 200%.
And then — boom! Off we go! Right from the top, with Metallica’s very first song ever — ‘Hit the Lights’. Even though the stands were technically seated, I can say with certainty that not a single seat had anyone’s backside warming it that night. The band moved through their catalog chronologically; next came ‘Ride the Lightning’ with the crowd-favorite ‘Creeping Death’ and the relative rarity ‘Trapped Under Ice’. And that was really the thread of the whole evening — mixing the fan favorites with the lesser-known or rarely-played gems from their massive back catalog; a real treat for true music geeks. So from ‘Master of Puppets’ came both ‘Sanatarium’ and the more surprising instrumental ‘Orion’, while ‘And Justice For All’ was covered by ‘Shortest Straw’ and ‘One’.
Every few songs there was a short video break showing various events and fan footage from around the world. But the breaks were genuinely brief, and then came the self-titled album, better known as “the black album”. Here they didn’t go for any obscure picks and came straight at you with the hits ‘Sad But True’ and ‘Nothing Else Matters’. While the band had taken their time with the classic-era material, they moved through the rest of the setlist at a considerably faster pace. ‘Load’ was represented by ‘King Nothing’, and ‘Reload’ by ‘Fixxxer’ — never before played live. Interestingly, the band also dipped into their covers album ‘Garage Inc.’, playing ‘Breadfan’, as well as into the symphonic S&M, represented by ‘No Leaf Clover’. Thankfully, the band opted to skip the experimental ‘Lulu’, though we still got ‘Frantic’ from the not-exactly-shining ‘St. Anger’.
The band closed the evening with an outstanding performance of ‘The Day That Never Comes’ from ‘Death Magnetic’ and ‘Spit Out The Bone’ from the still-current ‘Hardwired … for Self-destruct’. The band then spent several minutes saying goodbye to their fans, showering the lucky ones in the pit with hundreds of guitar picks.
After what Friday evening had delivered, expectations for Sunday’s show were understandably sky-high. It unfolded in a similar fashion with the same lineup before the show — the only difference being that this time Tom Morello stepped in for Momoa to give the speech. And Metallica moved chronologically in reverse, back toward the beginning.
The two most recent albums were represented by ‘Hardwired’ and ‘The End of the Line’, and ‘St. Anger’ by ‘Dirty Window’. Then came two surprises — the single ‘I Disappear’, recorded for the film ‘Mission Impossible 2’, and a classic, brilliantly delivered cover of ‘Am I Evil?’ from ‘Garage Inc.’, last played at the band’s 30th anniversary show.
While the first show had given more space to the classic era, this time it was the opposite. ‘Reload’ was represented by the excellent ‘The Memory Remains’, which had every pair of vocal cords in the arena warmed right up, and the instant crowd-pleaser ‘Fuel’. ‘Load’ was likewise covered by two tracks — the epic ‘Bleeding Me’ and the fast-paced ‘Wasting My Hate’. The black album again brought no real surprises, but it thundered along with ‘Unforgiven’ and what is arguably the band’s biggest hit, ‘Enter Sandman’.
Time was running out, but there were still four albums left to get through. ‘Justice’ this time thundered in with ‘Harvester of Sorrow’, while ‘Master’ was represented by the title track itself — probably the greatest song in the band’s history. ‘Lightning’ was closed out by the epic ‘Fade to Black’. Then came ‘Whiplash’ and a thundering finale with the legendary ‘Seek & Destroy’, followed by round after round of standing ovations, more hundreds of guitar picks, and personal thank-yous from each member of the band. And despite forty years in the game, the band is still incredibly tight — maybe even better than ever. To borrow Lars Ulrich’s own words: “It’s been a long road, but we’re just getting started!”
Metallica is more than just a band — you can say without hesitation that they’re an institution. Their influence on the development of heavy metal music is enormous. And yes, attending an event like this wasn’t cheap, but it’s not all about the money. After a long concert drought, this was pure balm for the soul. See you in San Francisco for the 50th!
