The 1989 Seattle show is iconic for Metallica fans - the energy of both band and crowd is incredible. IMO, the production quality lets this recording down somewhat. Yes, I’m nitpicking - I’ve seen these guys live many times and the audio from this show does not even go close to doing the band Justice (pun intended). IMO the best live video album put out by this band is S&M (1999). That stands for Symphony & Metallica. The production and performance on that album is elite, and is practically unrivalled as far as metal concert videos go. Also, the symphony adds another dimension and really pumps up the performance. As a diehard Metallica fan I can’t recommend highly enough that people discovering their live material watch the S&M concert. In particular, the opening, which consists of the instrumentals “The Ecstasy of Gold”, “The Call of Ktulu, and “Master of Puppets”. That three-song run is effectively the introduction and is pulled off exquisitely, to the point that I can’t just watch any three of these songs in isolation - they lead into each other beautifully and set the concert up for the fans. There are other highlights from that show, such as “The Outlaw Torn”, “One”, “Bleeding Me” and “The Memory Remains” - but before you dive into that, the intro songs are an absolute must. If you really enjoy the album, they did a follow up in 2020 called “S&M2”, which isn’t quite as good, but the bass solo tribute to the late Cliff Burton (“Anaesthesia”) is a career highlight if you know your Metallica lore and have heard the original bass solo track from the debut album.
You got the right one, for sure. A great concert all the way around. I strongly suggest listening to this concert version of 'The Thing that should not be', 'harvester of sorrow', and 'sanitarium'. James' vocals and the energy of the band elevate songs that are decent, but not among their best, IMO, and have become amongst my favorite live songs.
The intro harmonies are from one of their songs “To Live Is to Die” off their legendary album “And Justice For All” which came after Master of Puppets in 1988. It’s a tribute instrumental (mostly) to Cliff Burton and really worth a reaction video imo. Has a lot of those chilling moments.
I was at a show around this time at Irvine, CA, September of '89. It was my first concert ever and I was 14 at the time. What. A. Show. Still have my tour shirt and tour book all these years later.
These guys were, are and will always be considered pioneers, legends, role models and geniuses. What they have accomplished since a tender age of 18-19 years up until today is on a level maybe only two-three handfuls of artists / groups can match….42 years of dominating World Music…will have my 19th and 20th live gig with them next summer in Copenhagen 🔥🔥🔥🤘🤘🤘. As a contrast react to the live version from Manchester 2019….they kill it on a devine level in front of 75,000 fans of the Metallica-army….while it rains cats and dogs….unbelievable performance putting all other bands in the shadow while being in the age 55-57 in 2019
This one is my favorite for sure. Of course, I saw them on this tour a couple of weeks before this was filmed so there's a lot of nostalgia attached. The Binge and Purge video of "The Thing That Should Not Be" from this show is great as well.
This was my first time seeing them as well in Salt Lake city I remember The Cult was on tour with them but they didn't show up so Faith No More Played instead But during their set The crowd was chanting Metallica Metallica that's all you could hear over them playing so after too songs in the singer was so Pissed off he Threw his Mic down and walked off 😢😅 But I think I have one more show in me but not tell next year and it's going to be my 12 time seeing them
I was lucky enough to attend both of these Seattle Metallica shows. One of the best shows I've ever seen. Metallica at their peak; and the crowd was insane.
I saw them from the 4th row left center stage at the final concert for The Black Album tour in Miami, August 1994, it was amazing! Hot as hell, but amazing. Sticking with Metallica, I've always loved the song "Creeping Death" which is an abridged version of the story of the Jewish holiday Passover. I actually begin my Passover Seder by playing this song. My favorite version of it is probably their Live Moscow version in 1991. It's just such a high energy flawless performance. To experience something new (and also live) which does not take away from the recorded versions; check out the band THERION and either song "To Mega Therion" or "In the Desert of Set" specifically from their live at Wacken 2001 show. I'll leave the rest up to you, Enjoy!
Creeping Death Live in Moscow '91 is also unbelievable, pretty much everything from Seattle '89 and Moscow '91 is impeccable, but it still manages to stand above the rest.
You definitely picked the right version to react to. I think that if you wanted to introduce someone to heavy metal this whole concert should be what you show them. It's probably the greatest metal performance caught on film. Epic is the only way to describe them and this concert.❤❤
On the contrast subject: I recommend checking out the last few videos Metallica uploaded playing Fuel live on the M72 Tour. Lars has become a master of putting together setlists of songs that work back to back, and James is excellent translating that into how he plays. For this tour James doodles a bit on guitar before they start to play the song, fireworks and all. Really cool!
What a mesmerize me now is when 60 years old men still can play this song live just like they still 20 years old kids. Their passion for music and their dedication is above all metal musicians right now. Is pleasure to witness one of the greatest band in our life time.
I have this on VHS though I don't have a VCR anymore. lol I have seen them live so many times and the energy is always top notch. They kind of lost me once they got into St. Anger, but always put on a great show and do a good job of choosing a set list that includes a ton of their better songs but still change it up so it's not the same show every time you see them. You are so right about talent. The further you go back the more taw talent any artist had to have b/c they couldn't hide it behind engineering/production. For sure those people still exist, but there are fewer and fewer. Nothing worse than loving a song or an album and then hearing it live and wondering WTF is this. You ever consider creating a playlist of the highest rate X number of songs you have done? I would be really curious to see what they all are. Either way, good job, keep up the good work.
I appreciate how you can embrace music, regardless of it's form & how you also appreciate people's talents & creativity. You've got a great channel bud.
You are doing yourself a disservice by not checking out Ne Obliviscaris - "And Plague Flowers The Kaleidoscope". The song is so complicated that it was featured as part of the curriculum in the Compositions course at the Sydney Conservatorium For Music. Six incredible musicians playing an amazing piece of music. Cheers
Great reaction. This was before James started taking singing lessons (for the first few albums he didn't want to be the vocalist and he considered the role to be temporary until the band could find a proper singer), so the vocals get even better a few years later.
Yeah. He damaged his voice when recording covers for the Garage Days Re-Revisited EP. He was forced to take lessons in order to keep his voice from getting permanently damaged after Justice came out.
I recommend a song from their S&M show with the San Fransico Symphony. Maybe no leaf clover, not the music video version. Or maybe Devils Dance. 89-92 was their live prime, tho I would argue in 2023 they sound as good as ever
Check out Metallica with a live symphony Orchestra I & II. Look up the songs & the keyword 'S&M'. Also, there is the 1991 Moscow concert 1.6 MILLION PEOPLE!!! IIRC-The largest concert ever.
After watching this performance you should compare it a more recent performance like "Metallica: Master of Puppets (Manchester, England - June 18, 2019) " . They still have it!
Looks like you are starting your metal journey, I hope you can enjoy it! I'll definetly stick around to see where you go with metal. The urge to reccomend something much more extreme is strong but I believe that metal is best when the extremeness slowly builds, instead of dropping you right in. That way, you can appreiciate the extreme aspect of the music much more.
Make no mistake, the guys that made up The core of the Seattle grunge scene were probably in that crowd that night. A lot of those guys were metal heads at the core.
I saw them on that tour in 89. One of the best concerts I've ever been to. The Seattle 89 concert is frequently regarded as their best concert video overall. This was when they were just starting to get popular, but was a couple of years before they really exploded with the Black Album. At the concert I went to, the audience was mostly male. One thing that a lot of people overlook with Metallica is that Hetfield is still able to sing like that while playing some seriously difficult guitar parts at the same time.
1990 was my first time in Salt Lake city The Cult was supposed to be on tour with them. They didn't show up, so it was Faith No More. All you could hear was the crowd chanting Metallica metallica.over them playing So after 2 songs, the singer threw his Mic down and walked off the stage😅 my neck still hurts and they were so loud back then my ears were ringing for a week but it just made me smile because i had just seen the Baddest MotherFuckers on the plant that's when they ruled the world I have seen them 11 times since then and one more next year but if anybody has not seen them and if Roll thru your City even if you only like a few songs by the time its over they will be your favorite band and you will need to see them Again And Again 🤘🤘🇺🇲🙏🇮🇱
Two notes: 1) These days, it seems as though James sings "Master of Puppets" only because he wants to. As long as they play their instruments, I've seen crowds that will happily sing the entire song back to the band. It never happens, though. James will let them have their part, but he seems to enjoy singing it to this day. . 2) Another rock solid ending to a concert is from Iron Maiden, ending a concert in Toronto with "Hallowed be Thy Name" during their Flight 666 Tour (Yes, there's a YT video of it). It is part of my proof that good bands don't get tired until AFTER the concert. It doesn't matter how much energy the band puts into it; any deficit is more than made up for by the crowd energy washing over the stage, keeping the band going.
13:52 this is the hardest riff in the song and probably in the album (maybe after damage inc bridge). It’s just unbelievable how they can still play it right at that speed. It’s inhuman
I saw them around this time when they toured with Guns & Roses and Faith No More. Unfortunately it was after James got burned so he didn't play guitar for most of it but it was still a great show. Due to the delay Faith no More had to drop out but Motorhead took their place so that was an awesome surprise. To this day I think they are one of the tightest bands i've seen live. All those changes and pauses and they nailed it evertime, quite impressive.
The video is edited but there is no lip synching EVER LOL. This is Metallica live , I have seen them live 11 times and just saw them blow the doors off of Ford Field about 2 weeks ago. They would be doing themselves a compete injustice by lip syncing because Metallica is the greatest live concert band of all time. EVER. If anyone has not seen them then you should and you will see that more is all you need.
Honestly I’m glad I wasn’t a Metallica fan back in the day. The revolution breaking up damn near broke my heart …that was the same year Cliff died… I wouldn’t have been able to take it.
The heavy metal people were usually not the same as the grunge people, at first...maybe more some years later.... but at first, it was different 'animal' :0)
This is definitely, for it being the one that gets recommended the most, pretty rough vocally by James' standards. He also sounds pretty drunk in his enunciation. If you want to compare with modern Metallica, you could check out their performance of this song from Manchester in I think 2019. I actually prefer that performance to this one, but I'm probably in the minority there.
In metal world, not being able to perform your music perfectly is the fast track to obscurity. I can speak for myself and say I did stop completely to listen, buy albums and go to concert of a band that played with a backing track during a show. Being a great musician in metal is a requirement, that is what metal is about and posers should leave the hall.
i always say never react to live performances first. too many improvs on a live set. stick to the studio version first, then maybe do live. youll hear the improvs and variations
This is really the only Metallica live show worth watching. Everything else falls right off a cliff. Earlier and the recordings are horrible, and later the band is horrible. This is peak Metallica.
