Something was missing from the show Monday night at the Fleet Center in Boston, MA. Was it that the vendors stopped alcohol sales before the boys came on? Was it the lack of momentum Metallica provided until steamrolling through the second half of their set? Or maybe it was the less than sellout crowd that filtered in for a second night of headbanging, fist pumping metal.

In any case, the band itself delivered well in true Metallicat form, laying down the licks of old and new and wowing the crowd with their dazzling pyros. After opening with Battery and burning through some favorites, Metallica lost momentum almost entirely with a bathroom break rendition of "Frantic", a shortened Kirk solo performance, and on through a Rob solo, finally summing it up with "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)" and "Creeping Death".

The ensuing two encores had the crowd more energetic and the boys rolling out their more crowd favorite tunes, inspiring the typical "hey, heys" and emphatic yet constant fist pumping. All told, the show finished much stronger than it started which is something that I had not witnessed in the past two times I have seen the band (with Korn/Kid Rock and with Jerry Cantrel/Days of the New). If I had to rate the performance: Opening - A; Momentum - B; Solos - A minus; Crowd interaction - A; Encores - A Plus; Venue - B MInus; Overall - B plus.

Setlist
Battery
Fuel
For Whom The Bell Tolls
The Thing That Should Not Be
Frantic
Turn The Page
Holier Than Thou
I Disappear
Welcome Home (Sanitarium)
Creeping Death
Damage Inc.

Sad But True (w/Sully from Godsmack)
Nothing Else Matters
Master Of Puppets
One
Enter Sandman

So What
Seek And Destroy

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