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Metallica Concert, Belgrade, Partizan Stadium, 15 June 2004Jul 01 '04 (Updated Jul 19 '04) Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line If you haven't been to a Metallica concert go now. They're still on the Euro leg but are to return to the US soon so don't miss out.
Metallica Concert, Belgrade, Partizan Stadium, 15 June 2004 Forward What you’re about to read is not a review per se, in the strictest sense of the word, but more my depiction of a journey to go and see one of rock’s living legends live. For the most part this essay may seem like a travelogue, if this is true for you jump directly to Chapter 5, the stuff in between are my personal impressions and perhaps unneeded details. Chapter 1 – the Trip It was around 1:00 am on the Tuesday morning when my brother, I and three other friends made our way to the meeting point where the buses would be waiting in front of the parking lot near Holiday Inn in Skopje. It was showering a little thereby causing some reason for concern but the air temperature was warm enough to wear a T-shirt. After a final stop at a kiosk to fill up on fresh supplies of beer and other beverages, we made our way to the agreed spot. Five minutes later, in the dark illuminated only by the distant street lights from the main road, we could recognize the silhouettes of three buses and a fair number of people mumbling cheerily away. All of them seemed to be excited to be making the 10 hour journey and some were too excited as they sang folk songs since they had arrived already intoxicated. The trip ahead was sure to give them a good nights rest so they could be invigorated for the performance of a lifetime awaiting us all. To make a long story short, after the initial expected chaos in finding our seats in the bus, we finally departed around 3:00 am. Not bad only an hour delay from the agreed time, that’s actually very good for Macedonian organization. The bus we were seated in appeared to be around 10 years old but was in a surprisingly good shape. It even had air-conditioning, again a surprise as it would not have been the first time I would have taken a long trip with the air conditioner out of order. Chapter 2 – Sightseeing in Belgradeor Stranger in a Strange Place Forward approximately 9 hours – the first 100 km of the so called highway on the Serbian side was in a terrible state, therefore we were treated to some nice swinging and swaying and bumping and jumping. Nevertheless, we made it to Belgrade around 12:00 pm in once piece and we could hardly wait to stretch out our legs and drink the beer we had acquired the previous night – yeah big drinkers we were ;). Arriving in Belgrade we were dropped off at the Stadium of Red Star Football (Soccer) Club. Knowing fully well that the concert was to be held at Red Star’s fiercest rival, Partizan FC, some of us jokingly jeered to the bus driver that he had taken us to the wrong venue. Little did we know of our ignorance since the cross town rival’s stadium was actually less than a kilometer away. Anyway, we were told to return around 5 o’clock to be given the tickets therefore alas we had 5 hours of free time to wander pointlessly in a city of approx. 2 million. Just as a comparison Skopje has 600,000 so the difference was significant to me and my friends. My impressions of Belgrade were that it certainly has overcome the bombings from several years ago, as there were no signs of the caused destruction and is on the rebound with reconstruction and renewal activities. There was police all over the city and showed little signs of aggression and self-importance as opposed to our local Macedonian police, who all seem to have an ego and intelligence deformation. We felt quite comfortable asking the police for directions in our quasi Serbian speech and they would pleasantly show you the way. A feat that might get you into trouble if you ask a Policeman in Skopje. We finally made our way to the pedestrian zone in the center, where it was teaming with people and the occasional group of black shirted Metallica fans that were obviously planning to go to the concert. After some sightseeing, marveling at the nineteenth century architecture which dominates the central region and inescapable picture taking we sat down in a café only to have a breather and drink a ridiculously priced beer or two. Time flies when you’re having fun, so we quickly had our drinks paid the waiter and hasted to the nearest bus stop to catch a ride back in time for the tickets. Having a keen sense of direction, I knew where exactly we could board of the city bus but my friends all seemed all too sure of themselves and insisted that the following bus stop would take us closer. Well, they were wrong for which I really must have a small rant. They should have listened to me as it would have saved us a half hour walk back to the meeting point. So there we were in the outer suburbs of Belgrade trekking our way over knee high grass and a busy highway losing precious time but having fun in the process. Finally we made it back around 3:00 o’clock where we sat down to have a lunch in a low class grill restaurant, which was the only one in the vicinity of the stadium therefore explaining its high price, otherwise everything else in Belgrade was fairly cheap. After having lunch accompanied by a terrible Nikshicko Beer with a sour tinge, it was time to go to the concert venue. Chapter 3 – the Venue We got received our tickets amidst the pushing, chaos and terminal around the man distributing them and made our way to the stadium. It was around 6:00 pm and there was a steady stream of people walking uphill and we all knew what they were there for. Partizan’s stadium has a capacity of 35,000 seats according to the info my friends had, so I expected a very large crowd especially since the playing field was to be packed. After our unsuccessful attempt to smuggle a photo camera we peacefully made our way up several flights of stairs and finally we were in. The stage was set, not too many people on the grass and not too many people on the grandstands. Chapter 4 – the Long Wait and the Supporting Act So it was around 6:40 pm and we waited roughly for an hour an a half where in the meanwhile we discussed where to stay on the grass in front of the stage or take a seat on a grandstand, as their was no designation nor restriction as to where one could seat. The majority voted to go to the grandstand where we eventually settled until the supporting act called Van Gogh started. Van Gogh is a long standing Serbian trio that usually plays melodic hard rock, not that I have listened to them much previously but the singer has a very low melodious voice but are not known much for their instrumentation. In any case, their sound equipment was not up to the standard of such a large venue as the music echoed on the grandstand and the singing sounded blurry while the drums chorusy. Right this meant action, three of us went down to the crowd on the field and the difference was miraculous. Van Gogh delivered a very energetic and invigorated style of music which was accompanied by drum machine sequences, a keyboard backing, although a keyboard player was not visible on stage and various samples. The Belgrade faithful apparently were not too impressed as many made the middle finger gesture to the band, something they did not deserve, but thinking back it was made mainly by youthful juveniles who probably considered the music as too soft (oh the narrow-mindedness). Notwithstanding, Van Gogh delivered their 30 minute show but they could not manage to warm up the crowd as everybody was in expectation of the band they’ve listened most of their lives. What was to ensue was a grueling one hour wait as we remained in the plateau in front of the stage. Every now and then the accumulating crowd would start cheering at the false impression that they had seen a Metallica member on stage. A host of stage-crew thronged on the stage to prepare it for the main act. The stadium lights were put on as it was getting dark, thereby giving the message that it will be a long wait as nine o’clock passed and the remaining seconds painfully ticked by until 9:30. The lights went off and a rumble could be heard coming from the speakers. The only thing leading to the concert was a trailer of the Metallica movie - Some Kind of Monster. Chapter 5 – the Concert The speakers were to finally emanate the familiarThe Call of Ktulu and the crowd went wild with excitement. They were finally on stage in person, although I couldn’t see much on the stage from where we were standing and I had to rely on the video beam to recognize them. Blackened was to follow and this is the release that the audience need. Almost in unison everybody started jumping in excitement along with the beat. Strangely and fortunately enough a mosh-pit was not formed allowing for all of the people to enjoy the concert. This aggressive number finished when James Hetfield greeted the audience. The audience replied in unison to each of his questions and then Hetfield asked the audience to give him an M – the audience obliged, to give him and E – the audience obliged, “give me a T,” with an adequate reply, “Give me Fuel, Give Me Fire, Give that which I desire!.” Enter recognizable riff, accompanied by visual effects in the form of 3-4m high flames along the stage. Goose bumps ensue on your body and you jump and gyrate in accordance with the rhythm. This was one of the “softest” fast songs of the night believe it or not as it was the only one to be played from the Re/Load era. Harvester of Sorrow is one of the most recognizable songs of classic Metallica, I really don’t remember much of this song at the concert except I felt that the quiet parts were perhaps too quite. Nevertheless, my friends and I jumped and sang along, but we were depleting our energy fast as none us of had been involved in any physical activities lately. Touching my T-shirt I noticed that it was soaking wet. Perhaps a sign that one should rest. Welcome home (Sanitarium) came at the right moment as it allowed us to move back in the audience where the concentration of people was a little sparser. However, this enabled us to concentrate on the music more, but the onstage visibility was still poor. Never mind, the song is great. Frantic was delivered in frenetic pace and proving that the band sounded comfortable with the new material. As opposed to the studio offering, the sound was very full and sounded much better. The annoying raw snare drum sound has magically disappeared and we get a more natural full blown sound making the song Frantically powerful. Robert Trujillo is a great bass player I’ve heard people say. He probably is but he didn’t show too much off in the introduction for the classic For Whom the Bell Tolls. He held the spotlight for about two minutes improvising on the bass before playing the famous descending bass riff of the song. The Bells Tolled and Time marches on to the next song, again a number from their new album. Before playing St. Anger Hetfield told the audience to direct their anger and frustration at the band. The Balkans are a frustrating place to live in, especially during the past decade or so and the anger delivered to the band was awesome. Again as in Frantic, St. Anger sounded fuller proving my opinion that the songs in the LP are not as bad as their critical reception, it was more the producer’s fault for not managing to attain a raw sound but rather a clanky recording that could not be compared to the standards we are used to. Live is better in this case because as fortunately the engineers had not modified the drum set. Sad but true is another classic that was delivered by the well oiled machine and certainly one of the more haunting songs of the night. It was followed by Creeping death again delivered almost flawlessly but previously Hefield asked the audience whether they knew how to count up to four in English, I think I could almost here a mass chuckle from the crowd among the unconvincing Yes ejaculated by the younger members. Two of us remained in the field and we were getting tired. Fade to black again a classic which I shall not labour to explain in too much detail, apart from the small error made by Hetfield in between the two verses. This made me laugh as this seemingly simple line is where my band always makes a mistake. We used this song to find my brother and friends in the grand stand when I looked back upon the audience. Now did I realize that it was packed. My initial estimates under the impression is more than 40,000 people. Quite good, 40,000 satisfied customers. From the grandstand the stage was visible with all the members of the band clearly recognizable considering the distance. Therefore, we could enjoy the impressive delivery of Battery, although the intro was playback, which kind of turned me down a bit. But the main song was momentous and one which stuck in my mind after all. After Battery the band retreated acting out an orchestrated encore. I suppose everybody expected them to return on stage and they did just that after only a minute of unconvincing cheer. Wherever I May Roam was the first song after the encore, again played in perfect deliverance. Nothing else matters is a song that everybody knows and it was no surprise that everybody took out their lighters and other illuminating devices such as mobile phones. The place wasn’t exactly on fire but the scene was quite remarkable nevertheless. Master of puppets was again a notable example of a band that had been together for twenty years. Executed in perfect progression as it has a fairly complicated songs structure and it was nice seeing the band play with such an ease. After a pyrotechnical display of fireworks, loud bangs, war-zone explosions and accompanying noises, the crowd new that One was to ensue. Yes we had a great time with this song singing it unison and just screamed our lungs out in “Darkness, Imprisoning Me, All that I See Absolute Horror.” Oh the joyous times. Enter sandman comes at a time when I am too tired to write so all that I can say that it was a suitable ending for the awesome concert. But, alas this time we knew as an audience we had to work hard to call them back on stage. And that we did, with hollers, applause, calls, and anything else that could make noise the crowd coerced Metallica to return. Return they did with a surprising number, the Four horsemen, followed by Seek&destroy. Again a massive display of technical proficiency and professionalism and the last song was about all I needed to almost lose my voice. Final Impressions The show was over. It was energetic, it was aggressive and gave you a breather now and then. Metallica looked great on stage, really enjoying themselves, especially James, who was orchestrating the band with enthusiasm. I guess because it was the first time that 95% of us had seen them on stage made the occasion all the more special. Lars Ulrich showed no sign of his recent episode of exhaustion, Kirk was as awe-inspired of the crowd as we were of the concert and Robert appeared like he has been in the band much longer than reality. If they come anywhere near Macedonia again, all of us agree that we’re sure to go again even if the 55 Euro is quite hefty, but next time we’re sure to take more friends with us as this is a show that no true music fan (yes music, not heavy metal or rock, but music fan) cannot afford to miss. Metallica proved to us why they have been the leaders in the business for so long.  |
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