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Godsmack started playing 15 min early at 19:45 and their show lasted about 45 min. They did a solid show though their sound was not very loud and it was clear that the crowd was waiting for nobody else than Metallica. Godsmack do a double drum solo for quite a while, their singer also plays drums here and they have two moving drumkits on stage.

After a 30 min break "The Ecstasy Of Gold" was played and as always the crowd went completely crazy and the pressure for the front row increased. I thought that even the tapes of "Ecstasy" and the "Blackened" Intro were louder than Godsmack - and then came Metallica. Lars was the first one to appear behind his kit in full spot light then James came in and started the riff. Lars' drums felt like a "hammerhead", Metallica's sound was extremely loud and crystal clear. Surprisingly better than anything I had ever heard open air. The two guitars are loud and extremely heavy so are the drums. Bassdrum and Bass are a little bit more quiet but still have a huge impact on your stomach. This is maybe the reason why Metallica sounds so great and why you can hear the vocals and solos so well. Truly a triumph of their sound engineers especially when you're in front row and have the speaker in front of you that gives all five channels right in your face.

Metallica started with "Blackened" and "Creeping Death" right away with Kirk playing the KH-2 "Mummy". Then James said "we're gonna play some of the old stuff, this one is called Rrrrrrride the Lightning" which was a real surprise and sounded spectacular, very precise and sharp riffing, great Hammett solo. After "Bells" with the ususal band introduction and Trujillo show. They did a little jam and he asked who had St.Anger before they started a great "Frantic" which sounded better than ever. The D-tuned "Seek and Destroy" is always a grooving monster and "The Unnamed Feeling" works as well as you could hope for. Great epic atmosphere and huge detuned resonating twin guitar sound. Hammett played a new black ESP Viper here. Before "Sad But True" James had the crowd sing the chorus and "On"e had great pyros and a great atmosphere with full strobe lighting at the end and James starting the song on top of the stage backlit by purple light (can be seen on the Metallica homepage in one of the pics) . As always "Harvester" was dedicated to the long time fans follow by a beautiful emotional "Nothing Else Matters" and "Master Of Puppets". "Sandman" had pyros, too and after they had thrown their stuff into the crowd James announcement ended with "..because I got something to say..." followed by a short energetic "Last Caress" and "Hit The Lights" to end the show.

I didn't think Metallica could surprise me much after their open air shows this year but they absolutely did. The sound is nothing short of spectacular, this loud and this good is hardly imaginable. I can't imagine any better show than this, take your chance and see them live if you can.

Setlist:
Blackened
Creeping Death
Ride the Lightning
Welcome Home (Sanitarium)
For Whom The Bell Tolls
Frantic
Seek and Destroy
The Unnamed Feeling
Sad But True
One
Battery

Harvester Of Sorrow
Nothing Else Matters
Master Of Puppets

St. Anger
Enter Sandman

Last Caress
Hit the Lights

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