If there was one band that would make us get up off our behinds and mosey on back to the Roskilde festival after an 11 year long absence, it was Metallica.
They weren’t the first band we saw out there and neither were they the last, but they were without comparison the biggest one, so that’s were our journey begins...

“Roskilde, Metallica is with you, are you with us?!”
- James Hetfield (vocals/guitar)

Metallica was headlining the famous Orange Stage on Saturday, the second to last day of the festival, and as far as I have heard it, this was the only sold out day of Roskilde this year. Go figure.
So, securing a spot inside the inner circle was next to impossible unless you were camping out the entire day forsaking all other bands, which there were a lot of people who had decided to do. We didn’t do that, but we still managed to secure a very nice spot just outside the outer security perimeter fence where we had a clear view of the stage all the way through the show. Up on the stage we saw that Metallica was using pretty much the same stage setup, with the big screens and the ramp, as they had used last year when they visited Horsens, only without the long walkway enclosing parts of the audience. Still, things looked fine, and as long as the band came along and played for us, I was pretty much happy with whatever they chose to pull up along with them.
Before Metallica could hit the stage though, there was the matter of the intro to get through, and here we got Ennio Morricone’s The Ecstasy Of Gold pumping out of the speakers, together with the film-clip of Eli Wallach as Tuco running between the graves at Sad Hill Cemetery, a powerful moment if ever I’ve seen one.

“Do you want heavy?!”
- Hetfield (vocals/guitar)

Just as Tuco had run to find the gold, we saw Metallica come running out on the stage as if they were going for the gold-medal of best live-act at the festival.
Not a moment was wasted as they threw themselves and us straight into the speed monster known as Blackened, and before we had a chance to recover from that blow they followed up with For Whom The Bell Tolls. Already at this point it had been decided – this show was a knock out!
Even though all of the members of Metallica are pushing fifty (with Kirk Hammett being the one exception as he’s already passed the mark), none of them were showing any signs of fatigue as they moved about the place at full speed whilst blasting out music. Especially James Hetfield made good use of the entire stage and the fact that there were several microphones put both in the traditional centre spot, out to the sides and on the walkway in the back, but he certainly wasn’t alone in moving about. Robert Trujillo did his trademark squatted walks, and Hammett was all smiles as he laid down one classic melody after the other. Even though he was on the quiet side this day, Lars Ulrich still managed to get up towards the end of Sad But True and bash the drums from the outside which was also entertaining to watch.
Yes, individually the band members worked so well that it could have been the end of it and it would still have made for a great show, but the guys didn’t back away from interacting and having fun with each other either, like when Hammett was playing the solo of The Day That Never Comes and Hetfield and Trujillo were over at the other side of the stage, high-fiving each other with devil horns.

“This is for the music fans who want it live, and who don’t mind sleeping in tents!”
- Hetfield (vocals/guitar)

Speaking about playing a solo, this was something there was also made room for in the, according to Hetfield, unusual setlist. First up was Hammett who played a regular heavy metal guitar solo which ended in a few bars of The Imperial March and this had the whole crowd going of course. After him, and a little later in the set, it was time for a bass solo, short and sweet, by Mr. Trujillo, and then yet a little later still we actually went back to Mr. Hammett and heard him lay down a much more mellow solo this time, perfectly leading into Nothing Else Matters.
I was surprised by the lack of a drum solo, though not really saddened, and I must furthermore compliment the band on the fact that all of the solo’s played were kept short and tight so we never got bored or frustrated with them, a good choice indeed seeing as they wanted to have some solo’s in there.
Hetfield never got a real solo either, and neither did the crowd, something I would have thought would have been executed in a regular shout along fest or something. There were of course several sing-along sessions, but they were all placed inside songs, which was fine by me as I’d rather sing along to lyrics than just stand and shout “hey ho” or some such thing...
The sing along parts in the songs worked really well though, in fact Roskilde was so loud that Hetfield at times completely stopped singing and instead just held the microphone up, pointing it at the crowd, like he did in the ending chorus of Master Of Puppets.
Other working crowd interactions was seen in Nothing Else Matters, where we got a real stadium rock atmosphere going as several thousands of lighters (you know, the real kind, with fire, not just a cell-phone screen) were held in the air.

Not that the crowd had much need in general of providing a pyro show for Metallica, the band had taken care of that part pretty well themselves!
This really kicked off in style with the war sounding beginning of One, where fires and explosions filled the stage, and rockets were fired from rigs to either side of it. This was the only place where it was used massively though, and even though the pyro would show up in several more songs, it was used sparsely and in taste, only adding to the atmosphere instead of overtaking it. Well played, I must say.
This wasn’t the only part of the production to go right either, and the biggest thing I must point out was the sound; it was simply insanely well put together, where every single instrument and note came across clearly and without chopping into something else’s space. It was without a doubt the best live sound I have ever heard, and this being a festival only made the feat that much more impressive! It wasn’t that bands in general had a great sound either, trust me, but I guess when you are Metallica you can get these things done, and we thank them for it.

As I mentioned, Ulrich didn’t make much noise of himself this evening, and it wasn’t until the show was over and the rest of the guys were more or less done with their thanks and throwing of guitar picks that he came out on stage and to the front for a greeting and throwing a handful of drum sticks – Hetfield was in a lovingly teasing mood, and indicated that Ulrich’s head was about to explode, possibly because of the joy the old Dane felt by returning to his roots. Hetfield had teased him a lot earlier in the evening as well when Ulrich wanted to end the gig out of exhaustion, and Hetfield threatened repeatedly to start another encore song against his will, but to our amusement.
Amusing it was, but above all this was simply a kick ass show, and if there indeed had been such a thing as a gold medal for best live-act of the festival, it would clearly have gone home with Metallica, and they wouldn’t even have to dangle at the end of a noose to get it, like good old Tuco...

Setlist:

The Ecstasy Of Gold (Ennio Morricone song)
Blackened
For Whom The Bell Tolls
Disposable Heroes
Harvester Of Sorrow
Solo (Hammett)
The Day That Never Comes
Carpe Diem Baby
I Disappear
Sad But True
Solo (Trujillo)
Welcome Home (Sanitarium)
Orion
One
Master Of Puppets
Battery
Solo (Hammett)
Nothing Else Matters
Enter Sandman
Fuel
Creeping Death
Seek & Destroy