The Metallica Thread v. Reloaded

[Kotowboy]

If Murder One was on Death Magnetic it would have been one of the better songs on it.

Easily better than Judas, End of the line, Unforgiven 3. . .

No way.

Way. Unforgiven 3 is terrible but it's still better than all 4 songs on Beyond Magnetic.

[TAC]

I'm not in love with U3 but I don't think it's terrible at all. Beyond Magnetic does nothing for me.

[Kotowboy]

I do think they went with the best songs for the main album.

Everything on Beyond just sounds so un-finished.

Just A Bullet Away is such a missed opportunity. The verses are awesome but everything else is just ehhhh. It has NO chorus and then just sort ...of......ends.

Hell And Back sounds like the song you write in a band that you know is really weak but you keep playing it anyway to make up your set

and you try really hard with the vocals but it sounds so forced.

[LCArenas]

Unforgiven 3 is ok to me. I just have one problem with it and I know it's nitpicking but SERIOUSLY GUYS PUT DAT FUCKING HORN AT THE BEGINNING I MEAN COME ON

And the End of the Line is one of my favs of that album :/ Judas is pretty much forgettable... And Cyanide is forgettable too.

[MirrorMask]

Unforgiven 3 is ok to me. I just have one problem with it and I know it's nitpicking but SERIOUSLY GUYS PUT DAT FUCKING HORN AT THE BEGINNING I MEAN COME ON

Same for me!

[Kotowboy]

I'm guessing they decided it would be an Unforgiven late in the day and stuck the horn on to give it some kind of continuity with the other 2.

Even though it sounds nothing like the other two in any other way.

[MirrorMask]

Yeah, The Unforgiven II looked like the worst idea ever, and turned out brilliantly: same intro, same mood, wonderful heavy ballad, good lyrics and clever and not forced play of words with the title.

They should have left it at that.

[cramx3]

I enjoy it.  Far from a great song or anything, but it's not as bad as Murder One.

[73109]

Back to Adami's question:

I don't think that a tour with lesser-played songs would generate lower fan turnout—not because Metallica has a bunch of fans that want to hear songs off of Load but because people are stupid and don't do their research. For every one dude who will go "Ah, not that big a fan, I'll pass" there are 1000 idiots who will buy a ticket and then bitch endlessly that the band didn't play Enter Sandman.

[cramx3]

^ yup pretty much.  That's exactly what happened with Iron Maiden when they performed all of A Matter of Life and Death.  People were pissed, at least here in the US when they didn't hear the classic.

I do think it would be awesome if they did such a thing, although maybe not the fake setlist, but more obscure songs that are at least well liked by the general fan base that don't get played much and also keep a few of the classics to satisfy the fans who came to see those songs.

[KevShmev]

I do think it would be awesome if they did such a thing, although maybe not the fake setlist, but more obscure songs that are at least well liked by the general fan base that don't get played much and also keep a few of the classics to satisfy the fans who came to see those songs.

Yep.  Keep Enter Sandman, One and Master of Puppets for the casual fans, and then go obscure the rest of the way. 

I still feel lucky that the one time I saw them, they actually played Of Wolf and Men.

[MirrorMask]

The one time I saw them I got The Call of Ktulu, even better 

[mikeyd23]

I do think it would be awesome if they did such a thing, although maybe not the fake setlist, but more obscure songs that are at least well liked by the general fan base that don't get played much and also keep a few of the classics to satisfy the fans who came to see those songs.

Yep.  Keep Enter Sandman, One and Master of Puppets for the casual fans, and then go obscure the rest of the way. 

I still feel lucky that the one time I saw them, they actually played Of Wolf and Men.

In fairness, they kinda opened the door for this a couple years back when they did the "by request" shows. But of course, since the majority of fans want to hear the classics, most sets ended up with the usual.

Overall though, I agree I've love to see the band do a "deep cuts" tour where they specifically play lesser-played tunes. That would be really, really fun.

[Kotowboy]

They could do a club tour of "No Staples!!" And do ninety minute sets.

No elaborate stage. Do more dates to make up for it.

They would DEFINITELY sell out.

Plus the downloads of the gigs would probably be very popular too.

They could do it after the HTSD cycle is over and before writing begins.

[cramx3]

Do more dates to make up for it.

I think that's the major reason why they wouldnt do such a thing, at least on a large scale.  Just reality of their old age and them specifically saying they don't want to tour as much, hence the huge stadium shows. 

I personally would love it though, however if we thought the ticket prices for the current tour were expensive...

[Adami]

Based on all the BTS and those rehearsal vids, it seems most likely that the key member pushing the standard setlists is actually James. He shows no interest in playing other songs, and argues with Lars when Lars tries to incorporate other things.

[Kotowboy]

Yeah there's a BTS video for the DM tour and Lars is like

I'm bored of everything. Let's play something new...

[Adami]

Yeah there's a BTS video for the DM tour and Lars is like

I'm bored of everything. Let's play something new...

Even new ones too. Lars is pushing for different songs, James is like "Nah, let's do Creeping Death!"

And when they do play songs like Whiskey or Unforgiven II, you can just see James is pretty unhappy.

[twosuitsluke]

I'd love to see them play UII and UIII live. I think all three are great and definitely rate them higher than anything on the newest album 

[mikeyd23]

Do more dates to make up for it.

I think that's the major reason why they wouldnt do such a thing, at least on a large scale.  Just reality of their old age and them specifically saying they don't want to tour as much, hence the huge stadium shows. 

I personally would love it though, however if we thought the ticket prices for the current tour were expensive...

Yep, that's the main reason. They are far more likely, at this point in their career, to do fewer, large scale shows as opposed to more, smaller scale shows. But one can dream...

[El Barto]

It's not like these guys are sleeping in tour busses. Their idea of touring is more like a vacation. I'm sure there are times that they'd rather be at home sleeping in their own beds, but they're still living an insanely comfortable life on the road.

[Kotowboy]

Yep, that's the main reason. They are far more likely, at this point in their career, to do fewer, large scale shows as opposed to more, smaller scale shows. But one can dream...

Also my reasoning was that a club show would require almost zero production so they'd save a ton of money there too.

[Kotowboy]

It's not like these guys are sleeping in tour busses. Their idea of touring is more like a vacation. I'm sure there are times that they'd rather be at home sleeping in their own beds, but they're still living an insanely comfortable life on the road.

Yeah a vacation which lasts several months and the only work you have to do is like 2 hours a day doing what you love.

And they don't even play live every day. It's like 3 times a week for 2 months then 2 months off tour for two months etc...

[mikeyd23]

It's not like these guys are sleeping in tour busses. Their idea of touring is more like a vacation. I'm sure there are times that they'd rather be at home sleeping in their own beds, but they're still living an insanely comfortable life on the road.

For sure, I'm guessing the "let's play less shows per year" thing (I think they limit themselves to 50 a year now or something like that), probably has more to do with (1) the physicality required to pull of a Metallica show (especially in regards to James' voice) and (2) being able to see their families.

Also my reasoning was that a club show would require almost zero production so they'd save a ton of money there too.

Totally with you on that, seeing that band in a stripped down setting like that would be great.

[El Barto]

Pretty sure they take their families on the road with them. At least as schooling would permit (don't know the ages of their various kiddos). However, the physicality of their shows is a valid point. That is a pretty active 2.5 hr job. And to be clear, I don't fault them for wanting to tour their own way. Fifty dates a year sounds like a good way to do it. I'm just not shedding any tears for them when they play Turn the Page.

[Kotowboy]

Their kids are all teens now.

Lars youngest was born at the time of Some Kind Of Monster and that was 15 years ago.

Also Cali - James daughter was around 9 at that time so...

EDIT - Castor is 16 and Cali is 18.

[MirrorMask]

Well, touring is a bit more than playing 2 hours at night, there's still the traveling, the soundcheck, eventual press, finding something to do in the idle hours etc... at those levels it can still be fun but definitively it's no vacation with 2 hours of playing.

About a small club show, I think the logistics would be a nightmare. There are stadium shows that sell out in a dozen minutes, the server that would host the site where to purchase the tickets should be made of adamantium to hold all the accesses that people would do for a mere 1000 or 2000 slots. And then bringing the huge Metallica machine into a small club (ok, you strip down everything, but still)... I don't see it happening, glad to be proven wrong however.

I guess the gimmick where everything catches fire during Enter Sandman and then they have to play the encore on a reduced stage with just two lights like it was back in the day it's the most "small club feel" they'll ever get.

[Kotowboy]

They played some very small venues the week that HTSD was released.

[mikeyd23]

Pretty sure they take their families on the road with them. At least as schooling would permit (don't know the ages of their various kiddos). However, the physicality of their shows is a valid point. That is a pretty active 2.5 hr job. And to be clear, I don't fault them for wanting to tour their own way. Fifty dates a year sounds like a good way to do it. I'm just not shedding any tears for them when they play Turn the Page.

Good call, I'm sure they do take the kiddos out when possible. Like Kotow said, I think they are all teens and up now. The physicality is probably the main reason. And good call on Turn the Page, kinda loses a little bit when they don't tour as much and when they do, it's only for like 2 weeks and then off for a month. 

[cramx3]

Yea they played Webster Hall in NYC some months back, which is an insanely small place for them to be playing.  I dont think those tickets ever went on sale publicly, like there was a special way to get a ticket to that event and then the second hand market blew up to something insane to get one.  I think it's definitely possible for them to be able to do such a tour, but highly unlikely since it just makes little sense for them to do it on any large scale besides a show here or there, specifically for promotion.

[Adami]

How about this...

Fan club shows, like 4-5 in major cities of no classics. Film a DVD of it for the rest of us.

[cramx3]

Adami for president!

[Kotowboy]

Adami for president!

He's just riding the coattails of my idea.

[cramx3]

Adami for president!

He's just riding the coattails of my idea.

Isn't that the way it works in politics?    Actually I must have typed out that idea a few times but never actually posted it for whatever reason.  I think it just makes a lot of sense for everyone who wants to see deep cuts live.

Another maybe more realistic idea is for Metallica to just rotate one odd ball song in/out of the setlist every night of the NA tour and then release a compilation live album of just those songs.

And the most realistic would be to just forget those songs ever existed except on the albums 

[Adami]

Adami for president!

He's just riding the coattails of my idea.

Well, I was all about the no classics shows beforehand.

But as a good gesture, you can be my head secretary of coattails.