After seeing Pantera and half of Metallica on Thursday night at First Avenue, Friday night felt more like a bonus show than the highlight for me. Don’t get me wrong, I was stoked to see Pantera for a second night in a row and to see the almighty Metallia do their thing but my head was still in the clouds and my feet had not touched the ground since my Thursday night at First Avenue.
The beginning of the night was plagued with ticketing issues for many heartbroken and frustrated fans. I was having some issues tracking down my ticket, which led me to miss the opening act Mammoth WVH, but, again, I wasn’t too bothered by it. It gave me plenty of time to people-watch. People of all ages flooded into the massive U.S. Bank Stadium, all with smiles on their faces and anticipation in their hearts. I loved watching the fans stream into the giant stadium, but seeing so many people who had been scammed by fake tickets online broke my heart. I understand that we all have phones, and not printing tens of thousands of tickets saves paper, but most of these issues could have been solved by just going back to the old days when tickets came in paper form. But I digress. You’re not here to listen to me on my soapbox about how we overcomplicate things with phones; you’re here to hear about the show.
Although I missed Mammoth WVH, Alexa (the amazing photographer who took all of the killer photos in this article) caught some of the set:
Kicking things off for the first night of the M72 tour was Mammoth WVH. Fronted by Wolfgang Van Halen and accompanied by a full band, the four piece took the massive stage in the round by storm as the crowd continued to trickle into the stadium. As previously mentioned, the night was full of excitement and anticipation, and Mammoth WVH delivered as the opener to night one of Metallica. The four piece wasted no time on stage, and quickly powered through their short and sweet set, getting the crowd warmed up from the snake pit in the center of the round stage all the way to the upper deck of the stadium. Even though it was not a packed house for Mammoth WVH, the group set the tone right away with their hard hitting brand of rock, fitting into a stadium setting with ease, and effortlessly flowing from one song to the next. Although not 100% sonically to my taste, the group commanded the stage and definitely leaned in to the hype of the night. All too soon, Mammoth WVH departed the stage as the anticipation for Pantera and Metallica continued to climb.
Things felt a little bit familiar about the songs I heard from Pantera, and now that I dig into it, I realize that it was the exact same set as Thursday night outside of two tracks. Normally, this would irk me. When bands play back-to-back shows in the same town, I would expect them to come with two very different set lists, but with all of the other stark differences between the two shows, I didn’t mind. Although I had just heard these songs the night before, everything about Pantera’s set felt different on Friday night, and that’s not a bad thing. Just as they had on Thursday, vocalist Phil Anselmo asked the huge audience if Pantera came back, would they come back. This was obviously followed by a massive roar of applause. I don’t know if this means that Pantera plans to come back to Minneapolis sooner rather than later, but I know that if that’s what it means, there will be a lot of happy metalheads in the Twin Cities.
I am struggling to find the right words to describe to you just how massive this stage was. It was a circular track with fans in the “snake pit” in the middle of it all, and then fans packed against the sides. The stage (or “track” for lack of a better term), I about 120 feet wide and has a diameter of 40 yards. You can do the math if you want to but, long story short, the members of Metallica spent the night dashing yard after yard to make sure everyone in the stadium had the best seat in the house if only for a little bit. This is a feat in itself, but let’s add to this the fact that the members of this band range in age from 59 to 61. Yeah, it was pretty insane to watch and, honestly, proved that, although this band is not made up of spring chickens anymore, nothing is going to slow this group down. Even drummer Lars Ulrich had his chance to wander the stage as his drum set would pop up and disappear from various points along the stage, giving him a chance to see the entire audience and the other members a chance to catch their breath.
Friday night was the first of a two-night series for Metallica in Minneapolis. They will play again on Sunday night but, here’s the catch: Each night will have a completely different set list and completely different openers. I love this because it just goes to prove the true power of this band and the fact that they actually care about their fans. It would be so easy for them to play back-to-back shows and give the audience the same thing each night, but, instead, this band wants to make sure that, if you want to spend the money, you are going to get two completely different nights. Unfortunately, this meant that some of the group’s massive hits were left out of their set on Friday night including “Enter Sandman”. That’s okay though, we were treated to a little diddy from guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo titled “Minneapolis Funkatropolis Purple #1”. It was their ode to Minneapolis and, although really nothing more than a little doodle in their setlist, it was fun to have a front row seat to the musical creativity and genius of this group.
