Metallica has now proved it can rock in reverse.
Having touched upon all of its albums in ascending chronological order on Friday (Dec. 17) at Chase Center, the group went in the exact opposite direction after taking the stage at the same San Francisco venue two days later.
The quartet — featuring drummer Lars Ulrich, lead guitarist Kirk Hammett, bassist Robert Trujillo and vocalist-guitarist James Hetfield — kicked off Sunday’s show with a tremendous version of “Hardwired” from the band’s most recent studio album, 2016’s “Hardwired… to Self-Destruct.”
From there, the group went back in time, passing through each of its studio albums in descending chronological order, until it finally landed approximately two hours later on the great “Seek & Destroy” from the 1983 debut “Kill “Em All.”
Along the way, the nearly 17,000 fans in attendance — as well as countless more watching the livestream on Amazon Prime — would get epic renditions of such longtime concert favorites as “Fuel,” “The Unforgiven,” “Master of Puppets” and “Enter Sandman.” They’d also enjoy an ample amount of deep cuts, including “Dirty Window,” “The End of the Line” and “Bleeding Me” — none of which, according to setlist.fm, had been played live by the band for over 10 years.
The concert was nothing short of sensational — even better than Friday’s kick off. It also served as a thrilling finale to the Metallica San Francisco Takeover, a four-day citywide celebration of the band’s 40th anniversary that also included a film festival, photo exhibit and curated lineup of smaller venue gigs featuring other groups.
Here’s Sunday’s setlist:
1, “Hardwired”
2, “The End of the Line”
3, “Dirty Window”
4, “I Disappear”
5, “Am I Evil?”
6, “The Memory Remains”
7, “Fuel”
8, “Bleeding Me”
9, “Wasting My Hate”
10, “The Unforgiven”
11, “Enter Sandman”
12, “Harvester of Sorrow”
13, “Master of Puppets”
14, “Fade to Black”
15, “Whiplash”
16, “Seek & Destroy”
Source: www.mercurynews.com