The usual ritual began after 9:15 pm on Saturday. There, in Campo Argentino de Polo, before 60,000 people, the intro of The Ecstasy of Gold of Ennio Morricone gave way to nothing more and nothing less whip. So, with that whiplash, Metallica started their 2022 model show.

With the mythical Velez Sarsfield debut in 1993 as Everest, some would say that 2010 River was the quartet’s second best Argentine concert. Other lucky people will be talking about the recital at Orfeo Cordobés on the same tour, and there will be no shortage of people pointing to the Estadio Único de La Plata in 2014. But everyone will agree that Saturday was, at least, in a Top 3 of the best Metallica performances in our country.

And why is that statement? First mainly by repertoire. Although the group of James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett, Lars Ulrich and Robert Trujillo for many years removed from its original and exclusive thrash metal label to also give space for rock and roll, the list of songs they perform on this tour are almost in tempo. .

So topics like Nothing Else Matters either The Unforgivable (great powerful ballads still taught by some fundamentalists as a symbol of a decadence with a record St Anger as an apotheosis of the wicked in the band) their response at heavy speed of ride the lightning either fuel.

A balance of rhythms that, due to the dynamics of the show, gives pleasure to everyone and wants the event to last longer than the usual two hours.

a unique sound

Another fact is that the group is now more like candy than ever. Trujillo has long ceased to be the “new” or “replacement for Jason Newsted”, and his interaction with Ulrich is brilliant in a music that requires Swiss clockwork precision on a rhythmic base.

The drummer, above all the bad things some might feel for his pride, continues to act with tremendous vigor and considers himself the backbone of the combo.

Hetfield and Hammett’s guitars not only support from a rhythmic point of view using the dynamic and martial sound characteristics of both, but also complement each other and James Kirk allows (highly inspired on the cold night of Palermo) shows that there is such an appearance of an indifferent nearly sixty-year-old surfer and the way of playing that seems to add notes all the time and is soaked that, on careful listening, is ending up being the complete opposite.

And Hetfield’s voice looks clean and clear, and he’ll look relaxed and happy. Although even in the moments of the greatest personal vice his dedication to the time of the live performance was not lost, at this time, clean of all toxic dependencies as he himself proves, his impressive figure seems to have more physical rest than ever.

highlights

There were a few highlights of the show, but all attendees could agree that when, after the unparalleled voice of the required recording, Hammett began the intro of Isa. That interaction between the arpeggiated and sad notes of his guitar and the vague images of soldiers going to war gave even the toughest and toughest man.

One works as an anti-war manifesto in the form of a song, and it’s a very good sequel Machine Gun by Jimi Hendrix. Also, it is shown as one of the few Metallica musical dialogues with an African-American background. The game of lasers and the explosions worked a perfect audiovisual complement, and also enhanced a song.

Mate and maga songs

Hetfield and his mention of the relationship between Metallica and Argentina as a family, and having a spouse warm up the ruff between song and song, a habit he acquired courtesy of his Rosario wife Francesca Tomasi.

The background of the classic group logo with the Argentine flag on the screens when sounding Spit out the Bone. And Trujillo sings “Come on, let’s go to Argentina, we’ll win, this quilombera bar …”.

The old discussion between demagoguery versus real feeling towards the country has another case to be reviewed in Metallica. Let’s not forget the guilt the group felt after suspending their shows in 2003.

Also, without the Ramones and with the Rolling Stones in an inevitable withdrawal process, there would be a vacancy in terms of a band of that level being adopted as local by multiple targets.

And if you consider the number of people of all kinds who attend the concert in Palermo, and the number of people you see on the street wearing Metallica t-shirts who are completely unaware of a song like seek and destroy, that vacant area can be filled with a combo.

They know it, and they play it for everyone to hear before their shows in the original AC/DC voice: it’s far from the top if you like rock and roll.

mfb