Godsmack louder than Metallica: Metallica in Seattle LIVE 3/28/04 Part 2 |
Metallica Part 2: Godsmack louder than Metallica
At the live concert 3/28/04 and afterwards — Part 2
Our seats were right on the 200 level overlooking and down upon the stage. Good seats, though I realized how lousy my camera phone takes pictures during concert lighting. Very blurry and sometimes a white splotch. The pictures sucked.
Godsmack opened for Metallica and I could barely understand anything they played because it was so loud. They did a very cool dual drummer solo bit where they mixed a collage of Rush (Tom Johnson would have liked this, I bet) with Zeppelin and Aerosmith. They were too loud, though, and I know the saying: if it’s too loud, you are too old. Ok, but even with protective earplugs I couldn’t understand them. There is a point where being intelligible vs. being loud becomes an issue and Godsmack’s performance proved that for me.
After Godsmack we decided to go get the obligatory concert shirt. We waited in line for some 45 minutes and got to witness some punk steal a shirt and run off, seemingly unscathed. Then we returned to our seats and Metallica was just taking the stage. Their were setup in Key Arena so that Lars Ulrich’s drums were moved around the stage as the concert went along and that they would be facing from each angle. The TV set monitors hanging far above them were in black and white (huh? no color???) and had annoying lines and other problems through most of the concert. Since I didn’t go to the concert to watch them on TV it wasn’t that big of a deal but it was a bit discouraging.
Here is the full set list of songs that Metallica actually played:
Blackened
Fuel
Ride The Lightning
Kirk solo #1
Fade To Black
Frantic
Holier Than Thou
I Disappear
St. Anger
Sad But True
Creeping Death
Battery
No Leaf Clover
Kirk solo #2
Nothing Else Matters
Master Of Puppets
One
Enter Sandman
Four Horseman
Dyers Eve
I noticed that the crowd was very into songs played from Ride The Lightning era (Creeping Death, Fade To Black and Ride The Lightning) and seemed to actually calm down and be somewhat disinterested in Frantic from their new St. Anger CD and also the song Dyers Eve, which I thought was unusual because Dyers Eve is a good thrash metal song and one that Metallica has only started playing on this tour. Blackened and Fuel sounded just like the Los Angeles concert with little to no improvisation. Same with both of Kirk’s solos. Holier Than Thou was a nice special addition to the set list that the crowd got into as well as No Leaf Clover. One had probably one of the coolest special pyro effects that I’ve ever seen in concert for a single song: with firecrackers and fire blowing out of the stage during the familiar gunfire opening, the sounds of soldiers fighting in the background it was just downright eerie and poignant considering the whole Iraq situation. They closed the concert with Enter Sandman before the first encore of Four Horseman and second encore of Dyers Eve. I will give it to Metallica on the hanging around after the songs and distributing a ton of guitar picks and drumsticks. Lars spit and threw water on the crowd which as a teen I might have thought was cool but as an adult I thought was lame and uncool. Boy, how things change over twenty years!
Overall I’d give the concert a B grade. It wasn’t as good as the first time I saw them and didn’t really even know who they were but they certainly weren’t bad by any stretch of the imagination. If I were grading on value for the money I’d give the concert a C-, because it was too expensive for $200 USD (yes, two hundred dollars, after you consider parking, two tickets, gas, t-shirt, CD) and the opening act Godsmack, again was way too loud. I know that makes me sound like a wimpy, lame old rocker, but if it’s too loud to hear, how can one enjoy it? I never thought I’d admit that a heavy metal act playing too loud could ever be bad, but I do now. With that said, we still bought Godsmack’s Faceless CD for $10 at the same time we got the tour shirt and have since listened to a few songs and enjoyed some of their music.
I’ll keep saying this though, I never would have thought Godsmack would play louder than Metallica and that I actually would enjoy the fact that Metallica played at a more intelligible and tolerable level. Old age, here I am.
Does anybody else think metal should be so loud that it is unintelligible? The louder the better … really?
Did this post make you go hmm?
(1 votes, average: 3 out of 5)
Loading ...Maybe Related Posts (plugin generated)
- Metallica at Key Arena in Seattle LIVE 3/28/04 (Part 1)
- 2007 tour Van Halen Seattle setlist and review
- Van Halen concert tickets and earplugs, check
- For Whom The swedish baby girl’s name Tolls Metallica, not!
- Rick Springfield comes into the audience, has security guard sing, calls fan’s mom
- Giving up music freedom, but saving money
First, a quick background on myself: I’m 30 years old and this was the 6th Metallica concert I’ve been to (the first in Key Arena). A couple of things come to mind after reading your review. Overall it looks like the two main reasons you’re giving the show a “B” rating is because of how loud it was and the price. I agree with you to a certain extent about the noise level, but not for the same reason. For me, it’s usually the louder the better. However I wasn’t impressed by the sound quality at Key Arena. By being so loud, I really never clearly heard Kirk’s solos. That was disappointing. Had they toned it down a little, I think the sound would have been a little clearer. But a different venue may have changed that. The sound was much better at Seahawks Stadium on their Summer Sanitarium tour. I strongly disagree with your “C-” rating on overall value for the money. Forget the parking and gas…you’ll pay that regardless of who is playing. T-shirts are optional and most other bands will have similarly marked up clothing and accessories available. So really, in my mind you should only consider the ticket price. I think $55 ($75 for general admission) is more than reasonable to watch living legends play for 2 hours and have a respectable opening act. Have you checked out ticket prices for other well respected bands lately? The Rolling Stones, Fleetwood Mac, The Eagles, Rod Stewart…all of them charge far more for decent seats. Just yesterday I noticed Fleetwood Mac tickets on sale at the Gorge for $146!! What it really comes down to is this: music is subjective. Everyone has differnt tastes, therefore we all have different perceptions on what is a “value”. For me, getting to hear Fade to Black live was worth the price of admission alone.
Comment by Josh — March 30, 2004 @ 2:26 pm PST
Hi Josh - thanks for the comments.
Yeah, the C- might be harsh for the value, but 200 bones is 200 bones (and getting a T-shirt is part of the experience from my point of view — you have to get some sort of souvenior).
And what was up with the TV monitors? They were like bugging out through the whole thing and in crappy black and white too, did you catch that? Weak! I agree that hearing Fade to Black was great and I was going to review it at least a B if they played that song. B = good, not great, and not as good as when I saw them some 20 years ago, thus the frame of reference for this grade. It is true that the sound could have had something to do with it being it was inside Key Arena. I’ve never seen any other concerts in Key Arena so I do not have a frame of reference for other concerts.
Comment by TDavid — March 30, 2004 @ 2:39 pm PST
I disagree with Godsmack being too loud. I think they were having a lot of sound problems during their set (ie Sully’s microphone not working for half a song, sounds adjustments, etc) and this coupled with the accoustics in Key Arena made it almost impossible to sound correctly. I thought Godsmack rocked the house and impressed me even more for being extremely musically talented, especially the percussion duals.
And as for spend 200 bucks? I always go all out to make the best of an evening, so if that means 200 bucks, who cares. If I have a good time and make the most of it, no matter how much I spend it’s worth it. If you are freaking out about spending that kind of money, just buy the tix next time, then you won’t worry about it.
Comment by Kirk — March 31, 2004 @ 12:57 pm PST
Hey, I just saw this tour last night in Columbus, OH. I was wondering if anyone here could give me the set list for Godsmack? I showed up a few minutes late, but saw most the show. I did not hear two big hits from Godsmack, “Straight Out of Line” and “Serenity”. I was just curious if they played them.
thanks in advance, JB
Comment by JB — September 25, 2004 @ 6:10 pm PST
I Think Godsmack Was Completly Amazing In Ottawa,I Was There On Thursday And had A Blast Untill Metallica Came On Stage..Then I Got Pretty Bored(Not Much Of A Metallica Fan) And At This Concert I Couldn’t Really Understand The Lyrics In The Metallica Songs Because Of Kirk..I Think He Was To Loud
Comment by Jaymz — October 9, 2004 @ 4:20 pm PST
how long did godsmack play for ? 50 minutes ??
Comment by greg — October 22, 2004 @ 9:47 am PST
i think godsmack was a little loud in seatle, Metallica was awesome, fade to black is my favorite song along with one and no leaf clover.
Comment by james — May 10, 2005 @ 12:02 am PST
I being a huge Godsmack fan would have died to listen to Godsmack live. Just be happy you got the chance even if you didn’t enjoy it as much as you’d have hoped. Many people (such as I) would have paid any amount of money to take your place. And even though you didn’t enjoy them…it was an opening act…no biggie (they weren’t the main band or anything so don’t freak).
Comment by Holly — February 2, 2006 @ 7:04 pm PST