METALLICA
Wiener Stadthalle - Vienna, Austria
May 14 , 2009

Believe it or not, a few months ago low cost airline Sky Europe offered tickets for 5€ per way. Yes, those low prices are rare but can happen (Take a look to this low cost airlines blog). They had 3 destinations for this price: Vienna, Prague and Bratislava.

I managed to book a return ticket to Vienna for the Metallica show, and another one to spend a week end in Prague (Where I finally went to see Circle II Circle's concert in Zlín. Hey! For 10€ return, you have to be crazy to say no!!

So we went by plane with my friend Philippe. We only had time to get to the hostel, where we met a couple of other Metallica fans, and headed straight for the venue.

The Wiener Stadthalle is one of the best indoor arenas I've been to.
It's not so big, it's very well organized and it's right in the city, not far from a subway station.

Machine Head was already playing when we got in.

It was really surprising to see a central stage. I knew Metallica and some other bands have done that, but this was the first time I got to see one of those.
It feels quite strange, but it's original. The cool thing is that a lot of people can be on the first row, and that it's easy to see the drummer. Less cool is that you can't see all musicians during the whole show.

For this reason I decided that I was not going to watch the show from the pit, so I could see the whole thing. But actually after a few songs I changed my mind an went down!

Between Machine Head and Metallica we went to buy a beer and some pocorn (yes, like in the cinema!).

Then it was time for Metallica and... Yes, you know what's coming here: The Ecstasy Of Gold! So the band started with That Was Your Life, and that was the first surprise of the evening: Normally when a band starts a concert, there are lots of lights over the musicians. Not tonight. There were laser lights coming from everywhere and it was virtually impossible to see the Metallica guys, unless you were on the first rows.

As the last note of That Was Your Life roared, they turned on every spot of the Wiener Stadhalle... And there we could see not only The Four Horsemen, but also the whole crowd screaming with their hands in the air!
It was absolutely magic. I'd say it's a risky way to start a concert, but Metallica did it well.

Then we all knew there were going to be a few surprises on this show.

As you know, this show was part of the Death Magnetic Tour. So there were eight coffins around holding the light show: Four in the upper part of the stage, and one on each corner of the venue.

There were also fires and pyrotechnics every few songs.
By the way, for the first time in their carrer they changed the pyrotechnics on One. Instead of noises and lights, there were huge balls of fire coming from all corners of the stage.

Lasers came back during the first solo of Master Of Puppets, and fire of different colours (yellow, green and red) blew from the stage during Fight Fire With Fire.

This was the first time I was seeing Metallica with such a big production: all previous times were in outdoor festivals (and once in a club). Here they had their own stage and everything they needed to make a night to remember!

About the setlist, well, it was full of surprises.

If you have checked the setlists of the Death Magnetic Tour, you'll notice that they change almost half of the songs every night.

In Vienna Metallica played 6 out of 10 songs from Death Magnetic, classics like Nothing Else matters, Harvester Of Sorrow and Sad But True and... some rarities like Of Wolf And Man, Fight Fire With Fire, and Turn The Page.

But the biggest surprise was without any doubt Jump In the Fire, a tune that they almost never play! OK, let's be honest, the version was not perfect, but anyway every old-school fan was happy to hear it!

The sound of the venue was also very good. Very clear, not that loud, and it was easy to listen to every instrument from anywhere I've been.

About the musicians, they were all playing like gods. James sang incredibly well and Kirk was happy running all around the stage.

For the first time I could see Lars quite close, and he's incredible: always smiling and pulling faces, still playing drums like thunder.

And Robert Trujillo? Some pleople don't like him, I personally love him. He plays bass with his fingers and this is enough reason for me to think that he suits Metallica better than Jason Newsted.

After Enter Sandman the band went backstage and came again for the encores. They started with the riff from The Wait (Which not many people recognized) and the one from The Judas Kiss.

After that there were just 3 words to say: Kill'em All!! They played Jump In The Fire, Motorbreath and Seek And Destroy in a row.

This last tune was a big party: All lights were on and black ballons with the Metallica logo were all over the crowd (I could get one!).

Two hours and 15 minutes with Metallica pass so fast!

Time goes by but Metallica remains: Ten years and two weeks after my first Metallica show (May 2 1999) I saw them again.
Vienna was my fifth time and I've never been disappointed from a Metallica concert. All shows have been different and full of surprises.

Well, as got out from the venue we realized that we missed the last subway. We went back to hostel on foot and under a tiny rain. But after such a great evening... who cares!!??

Share on Facebook
Bookmark Google
Bookmark on Delicious
Bubmit to Twitter
Add to Mister Wong
Submit to Digg

Setlist Metallica – Wiener Stadthalle, Vienna, Austria – May 14, 2009

01. Intro: The Ecstasy Of Gold (from The Good The Bad And The Ulgly)
02. That Was Just Your Life
03. The End Of The Line
04. Harvester Of Sorrow
05. Of Wolf And Man
06. One
07. Broken, Beat And Scarred
08. Cyanide
09. Sad But True
10. Turn The Page
11. All Nightmare Long
12. The Day That Never Comes
13. Master Of Puppets
14. Fight Fire With Fire
15. Nothing Else Matters
16. Enter Sandman
————————————
17. The Wait + The Judas Kiss (only Intro riffs)
18. Jump In The Fire
19. Motorbreath
20. Seek And Destroy

Metallica Links:

Metallica Line-up: