Livesey Blog

Metallica with opening acts Lamb of God and Volbeat played Ottawa at Scotiabank Place, Ottawa, Ontario on November 3rd, 2009.   This show was re-scheduled due to a scheduling conflict from October 29th, which was cool only being a few days later, instead of putting us at the end of their tour....   This show was a record attendance for Scotiabank Place at over 19,100.    The stage was in the middle, so all the seats could be filled, plus the floor.

A friend and I went to meet some friends from work at a place called Wild Wings in Kanata, Ontario.   Obviously, they specialize in wings.   Being my first time, and running late, I was in information overload looking at the menu.   So, I just got 1lbs of hot wings with sour creme.   I strongly suggest checking the menu before going to see what they have, or if you have the time, have a couple cold beers absorbing their huge selection.

So, after the wings, we got to Scotiabank and made our way inside to get our presale tickets.   Surprisingly, no pat searches or anything,  they just scanned our tickets and we went in to get a couple beers.

We got there late and only saw the last 4 songs from Lamb of God, and missed Volbeat completely, which was a disappointment,   I wanted to check out the first band, and Lamb of God.   At least I saw Lamb of God play Redneck and Laid to Rest (my favorite songs from Lamb of God).

At Metallica's request, alcohol was stopped at 9pm and no lids were given on any drinks... strange! Even the guy getting our beer had never seen that in any show before...  no biggie, just have to suck back some beer before getting back to our seats so we don't spill it on people..  hahaha.

Just after 9pm, the smoke machines started, the lights went dim, and the intro started...  lasers started going to the intro, then BAM!, concert lights go on and Metallica are on the stage playing "That was just your life."    The sound was just awesome, the show was well planned out, and Metallica definitely gave us our money's worth.  The stage was a long octogon shape in the middle of the floor, so everyone got a good seat to watch the show.   There were 8 microphones around the stage, so we all got a good view as the band circled around the stage during their set.  They had 4 huge silver coffins like on the Death Magnet cd cover that would come down and move around with the stage lights making them change colours...  a very cool effect.   Lars interacted with the crowd whenever he could get away from his drum set.   The show was divided into 4 sections, and during each section, they would spin Lars's drumset 90 degrees, so we all could see him from all angles.   Kirk played 2 guitar solos and Rob played one very quick bass solo, but Lars did not play a solo.   James was very interactive with the crowd, showing his appreciation of all of us in the Metallica family.   He asked how many of us were at our first Metallica show, which surprisingly was about half the crowd.

It was a cool setlist, playing many old favorites and some great new songs. They even played Motorbreath from Kill 'em All, and Last Caress from Garage Days (as James said, playing tribute to their influences everynight, and ours was their Misfits cover).   The last 2 songs were played with all the lights on in the Arena so James could see all of us.   They had these huge black beach balls with the Metallica logo fall from the ceiling, bouncing all over the place, and Metallica kicking them into the crowd.   I had never seen that before, and one bounced j ust next to me, too far for me to grab to bring home :)

At the end of the show, everyone there got a card for a free MP3 download.   I thought it was for 1 song from the show, so we would buy the rest..  But no, it was for the whole show.   Metallica has had no issues with people recording their own bootlegs of these live shows, but now they do high quality recordings for us for download of every show they do, so we can enjoy the show.  It is so cool you can have a keepsake and always listen to the concert you were actually at and bring back some of the memories.   

The last show I saw was Marilyn Manson, and I have been a huge fan of Manson since 1994, and the best concert in my life was Manson in Ottawa for the Antichrist Superstar in 1997 (a few have come close, NIN, Trans Siberian, and this show).   After seeing Metallica, the time and effort they put into the tour and live setup... There is no comparsion.   Metallica showed after almost 30 years, they can still put on an amazing show!   James promised they will be back to Ottawa within 2 years, we'll see if they hold their promise....




Set List
That Was Just Your Life      
The End of the Line     
Creeping Death
Fuel     
Fade to Black     
Broken, Beat & Scarred
Cyanide
Sad But True
One
All Nightmare Long     
Kirk Solo #1
The Day That Never Comes     
Master Of Puppets     
Battery     
Kirk Solo #2
Nothing Else Matters     
Enter Sandman     
Encore Jam
Last Caress     
Motorbreath     
Seek and Destroy

   

Comments (21)
Jeff Livesey November 6 2009 07:37:06