Metallica played an a**-kicking set of new songs and classics at the Verizon Center in Washington, DC on January 15, 2009. The Sword and Machine Head where the opening acts.

I only caught half of The Sword's set as it took myself and my friend a while to find parking - that was all Obama's fault (gee, guy's not yet president and I am already blaming him - lol). Due to the Obama transistion team and the upcoming inaugaration, parking in Washington, DC is worse that usual, as the city had less than than the usual number of spaces. We did eventually find free parking a block away from the Verizon center (home to the Caps for you Hockey fans!) as time had expired for the "Government vehicals only" and it shifted into night parking!!!

Back to the Sword - they where pretty good from what I heard. I will need to pick up their album, but sounded like speed metal to me!

Machine head came up next - I am not too familiar with them, as I only recently picked up the blackening, but they put on a great set and really got the crowd warmed up. They even played their version of Hallowed By Thy Name from the Maiden Heaven album!

On to the big dogs, Metallica!!!!! What a GREAT show. As most of us know, Metallica changes up the set lest every night (they have the basic songs for the tour and then have songs they switch out!) Here's what I got:

That Was Just Your Life
The End Of The Line
The Four Horsemen
Harvester Of Sorrow
One
Broken, Beat and Scarred
Cyanide
Sad But True
Wherever I May Roam
All Nightmare Long
The Day That Never Comes
Master Of Puppets
Battery
Nothing Else Matters
Enter Sandman
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Die, Die My Darling
Motorbreath
Seek And Destroy

What can I say other than look at the set list!!!!! The Good - no songs from Load, Reload or St Anger. The "bummer" - no songs from Ride The Lightning. Overall, an AWESOME set list. I can't wait to get home and download the audio of the show - a download of the show came with my ticket.

They new songs sounded awesome, and since it was live, no clipping. For the old songs, just look at that list - Four Horseman, Motorbreath, Master, Battery, Harvester. During Seek & Destroy Metallica brough up the house lights and released 50 or so different sized black 'metallica" balls that the crowd, band and road crew tossed around.

We had seats in the lower concourse in the corner, but since the stage was in the round (well, in the rectangle technically) and had a great view of the stage. Sound was decent, but it was an arena, so you do get the cave like effects of sound bouncing off concrete. Metallica was tight, Lars had a few screw ups, but recovered and the vast majority of the arena didn't notice. Thankfully, he left the St Anger drum set at home! If you get a chance, check out this tour!!!

Thanks for the review! Sounds like a good set.

Cool set list... except I can't believe they skipped all the "Ride The Lightning" tunes. Back in the day, if they hadn't played "For Whom The Bell Tolls" and/or "Fade To Black," they wouldn't have gotten out of the arena alive!!

Glad you had a good time tho!

I am not surprised they skipped St. Anger, but I was surprised that they didnot play a single song from 'Ride the Lighting' and they are acting that anything past the self titled black album never happened.

It sounds like a great show and I am glad you had a blast.

It was AWESOME. I checked the set lists and they did play Ride and Bell Tolls the night before, and Creeping Death the night before that. I like that they switch up the songs, so if you see them twice you won't hear all the exact same songs. Battery, Master, Harvester, Horseman and Motorbreath just ROCKED!!!!!!! The arena just went nuts when they played the first four chords of Master

Forgot to add, the guitarist/singer for Machine Head kept saying "We are Machine FU***** Head!!!" - I was wondering if the band changed their name from their albums!!! LOL!!!

Too bad you didn't get to see the full set of The Sword, those guys blew me away when i saw them back in October.

Cool review, dude. Glad that you had such a good time. How were James' vocals?

im not suprised they didnt play anything from Load/Reload/St. Anger. Im not saying there not good albums, but the songs on those albums dont really make you wanna break stuff or slap people around.

Errr- not only does obama make parking more difficult, but he, the jonas brothers and hanna montana cause me not to see any pyro!!!!!! The show was so good, I didn't even notice the lack of pyro. See below:
METALLICA played a rare pyrotechnics-free concert last Thursday night (January 15) at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C. According to a posting on the MetOnTour.com web site, which is described as "your FREE virtual backstage pass to every METALLICA show," the reason for the lack of pyro was that "something is happening [this] week [at the same venue] and they didn't want anything to go wrong."

Soon-to-be First Lady Michelle Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden are hosting a children's concert at the Verizon Center tonight (Monday, January 19) honoring military families. Performers include MILEY CYRUS and the JONAS BROTHERS.

According to the official METALLICA web site, a March 29 release in the U.S. has been set for Guitar Hero: Metallica on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 platforms. The game's arrival for PlayStation 2 and Nintendo Wii will most likely come in early May, around the same time the game is issued in Europe. As previously reported, METALLICA is only the second act to get its own version of Guitar Hero, following last year's AEROSMITH game.

The band had to go through an extensive motion-capture process in order to make them come to life in the game, and lead guitarist Kirk Hammett told The Pulse of Radio the final result was a little unsettling. "Once they've actually made a virtual you and you start seeing that virtual you playing METALLICA songs, it's a trip, man," he said. "It's like watching a hologram of yourself or, you know, a cartoon of yourself or whatever. It's strange because it's weird and different but oddly familiar at the same time."

Guitar Hero: Metallica will include 28 METALLICA songs, along with tracks from SLAYER, FOO FIGHTERS, ALICE IN CHAINS, and others.

The game will allow players to perform in either single instrument or band mode, in a variety of settings and stages.

You know, I think I would have actually preferred a pyro-free show.

When I saw the Load tour, they were doing that ridiculous stunt extravaganza with the crashing lighting rig, fire breaking out on stage...crewman catching on fire and being put out, sound system frying, band "acting" like they are ducking so they wouldn't be hit by flying debris...etc.

Basically a whole bunch of B.S. that took away from the music and enjoyment of the concert.

I saw the show 2 days later and they did have pyro during the intro to 'One'. I don't know the whole set-list, but I know they played both 'Ride the Lightning' and 'Creeping Death' as part of the set that night as well. Other than that, I'd say that the set-list was pretty much the same with a few tweaks here and there. I left before the encore.

Cool video of the show:

Im goin to their show next Thursday so i'll report back with how it went.

I just found out from my reporter friend that he's got a pair of comp tickets to Saturday's show @ the Prudential Center in Newark and no one to go with, so I'm now his "plus one." (never turn down a free ticket right?) So...wow, this should be interesting. I haven't seen (or given much of a crap) about Metallica since about 1992. I'll be sure to file a report sometime after the show.

Just got home from the show they played out by me on Long Island. It was the first time I got to see them and I was very pleased. I always thought it was funny how so many people wrote off Metallica because of all the things that have gone on with them throughout the years but the place was packed out. I dont think it was Sold Out completely but it was pretty damn close.

I missed The Sword. We walked in on their last song. Their sound was horrible so I didnt miss much. Machine Head came on and their sound sucked as well. I was a little dissappointed with that because I kept telling my friend who never heard them that they were awesome but with the sounding being like it was he was impressed. I also didnt really care for their short set list but they did do some good songs and their Iron Maiden cover was good, I just wish the sound was better.

Metallica came on and of course all the sound problems were fixed except James' vocals were a little low, other than that they were great, awesome even! I wasnt really expecting them to put on a great show because I have heard countless metallica live shows, watched countless metallica live videos. I know all of those dont compare to seeing bands live but still you get an idea and its pretty much the same thing except you dont have people smoking near you or having their greasy hair being swung in your face. Anyway they did put on a great show. I was a little surprised to see a light show at Metallica but it was actually pretty cool. I always heard about the Zepplin light shows they had but I think this would have given them a run for their money. Even though it seemed a little out of place it was entertaining.

The only pyro they had was some flames that came up in the middle of the stage for I believe 2 songs other than that there wasnt any pyro for One or anything else which I kind of missed because I never got to see when they used to do that.

I forgot my gf's camera so I didnt take any pictures. My friend did but they didnt come out so great. Checking their website though I see there are tons of pictures on there I can download along with my free download of the show.

All in all it was a great show despite the not so great sound, but I guess what else can you expect from a stadium. I got 2 shirts, 1 Metallica with them on the front and the back. I was a little disappointed with the shirts since there wasnt any I was too crazy about and the one I got didnt have dates on the back oh and they only had XL so I hope it shrinks. The other I got is Machine Head im 100% happy with that one.

Heres my setlist it differs a little from Jokers

That Was Just Your Life
The End Of The Line
Creeping Death
The Thing That Should Not Be
One
Broken, Beat And Scarred
Cyanide
Sad But True
The Unforgiven
All Nightmare Long
The Day That Never Comes
Master Of Puppets
Damage, Inc.
Nothing Else Matters
Enter Sandman
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Stone Cold Crazy
Phantom Lord
Seek and Destroy