GODSMACK
METALLICA
NASSAU COLISEUM
APRIL 21, 2004
by Christine Natanael/photo by Wayne Dennon
LINKS:
godsmack.com
You know I must really, really like a band if you get me to travel the two hours by train from Manhattan out to the Nassau Coliseum in Hempstead, NY. On this particular night, it happened to be the double threat of Godsmack and Metallica.
Now say what you want about so-called “nu-metal”, love it
or hate it, you have to respect one fact…and that’s that most
of the bands in that genre have amazingly catchy tunes. And Godsmack is
at the top of that heap. Stylistically, they made much more sense as an
opener for Metallica than some of their peers. Why? Sheer angst my friend.
The stage set-up was a bit
disarming at first, as instead of having the stage at one end of the arena,
as usual, it was set up dead in the middle. Sort of a combination deal…part
in-the-round (as the center section rotated) inside of a big black square--sparse,
with two drum risers and microphones spaced around the outer perimeter
of the entire set-up. This left both sides of the floor open for the general
admission crowd, which made good use of it, swirling and forming pits
here and there. (And I must admit that’s it’s been a really
long time since I’ve seen general admission in an arena setting.)
The band took the stage and
blasted the crowd with “Awake” right out of the gate with
the rubbery, liquid sensuality of bassist Robbie Merrill’s lines
leading, the hugeness of Larkin’s toms punctuating, Rombola’s
soulful guitar giving us a top-note to follow, and Sully doing his angry
bastard biker routine, stalking the stage like a sexual predator. Highlights
of the set included, “Bad Religion,” “Voodoo,”
“Whatever,” “Keep Away,” and “Stand Alone.”
Then came the part that I liked the best…watching Erna and Larkin
do dueling drums. Having seen Sully in Meliah Rage and Shannon way back
in the Wrathchild America days, it was a thrill to hear them do the big
tribal drum-off. They were seriously going for that big drum nut, and
you could tell that this is one of the favorite parts of the show for
those two.
After the standard stage change,
you could see the crowds finally getting larger and tighter as it got
closer to the time for Metallica to take the stage. Having removed the
two drum sets that Godsmack used, Lars set his drums up right out in front,
on the stage itself and not the two risers behind him. He was literally
about two feet from the edge of the stage, but still within the circular
rotating part. The two risers were each given their own microphones to
add to the eight surrounding the perimeter of the stage. A unique addition
to the set-up was the cameras mounted in each mike stand—one by
the mike itself, and one in the middle. These were given live feeds to
four huge screens mounted above the stage that gave a continuously rotating
look at things like Lars’ foot hitting the pedals, and Kirk’s
crotch (although I guess it was meant to show the guitar fingerings as
it did in James’ case…gotta teach that Kirk which way to turn).
It was gritty and kind of reminded me of those flashing video monitors
at the local 7-11.
James and Co. hit the stage
with an opening salvo of “Blackened,” as is their habit. And
that got the crowd roaring and the two huge pits on either side of the
stage moving. The guys seemed to just be having fun with it. It’s
strange to see James so happy instead of scowling, but really, what does
he have to grumble about at this point anyway? He and his band are on
top of the world.
They did a good mix of old and new, with, thank God, only two songs from
that mess titled St. Anger…(okay, so the songs do grow
on you after a while, but the production still sucked). As far as this
live show, it took the sound guys a couple songs to get it right due to
the stage set-up. Lars was slowly rotating around so he could play to
all sides of the venue (eventually), and the rest of the guys were running
around the absolutely empty stage, stopping at a microphone here or there.
It looked like it was a free-for-all, but the boys, especially James,
were well aware of when the flash pots would be going off. There was about
eight of them spaced around the stage, and you could tell it was totally
orchestrated. (Hell, do you blame them? No one wants to see James flambee
again.)
The pyrotechnics were sparse until the intro of “One.” Much
in the same way that the stage set fell apart on the And Justice For
All… tour, this time they had the lighting trusses rigged to
separate and hang after the many explosions. Being only about 40 feet
from the stage, I can tell you that it truly felt like I was in the middle
of a war zone—deafening noise and scorching heat from every angle—the
impact was astounding and was the definite high point of the show.
Also on the set list were “Leper Messiah” and “Dyer’s
Eve,” which I don’t think I’ve heard them do live since
at least ’88 (which is the date on the bootleg cassette I have that
was taped at the Cow Palace in San Francisco). The guys played in an off-the-cuff
manner, a bit relaxed, sometimes with uneven tempos yet still not quite
totally sloppy, andthe crowd surely didn’t give a shit. They were
just happy to be there to see Metallica.
For those of you who live for this sort of thing, here’s the set
list as I remember it:
Blackened
Fuel
Ride The Lightning
Welcome Home (Sanitarium)
Frantic
Leper Messiah
I Disappear
St. Anger
Sad But True
Creeping Death
Battery
-----------
No Leaf Clover
Nothing Else Matters
Master Of Puppets
One
Enter Sandman
------------
The Wait
Dyers Eve