Saw Metallica for the eighth time on their “Escape from the Studio 06″-tour. On Laululava in Tallinn, Estonia.
This was the first time ever to go see a band abroad. And the trip was pretty much as painless as you can get. Took an express boat both ways, at 1:45 the trip was not too long by any means.
The stage was set on Laululava, about three klicks away from the harbor. Walked both ways. And took a wrong turn only on the way back.
Despite only three gates for seventy thousand people, the utterly failed entry like two years ago in Helsinki wasn’t repeated, entry was quick, as was the exit.
The place itself is a natural amphitheatre, with sloping hills allowing excellent view on the stage. A food court, a couple of overworked drink stands and toilets were set off by a couple of hundred meters.
Missed the first two bands by arriving late. The real warm-up act Bullet for my Valentine wasn’t bad at all. Apart from the screamy vocals the rather variable nu-metal/crossover/whatever music was pretty interesting and probably merits further investigation if albums turn up at a decent price.
The main event started with a familiar sound. Ennio Morricone’s Ecstacy of Gold still brings chills up and down my spine. After a trio of true classics (and Fuel), the band played through the 20-year old Master of Puppets in its entirety. Nope, not just the song (which is usually cut off mid-point), but the entire album. Including Orion, their grooviest instrumental and Disposable Heroes, which due to its length is rarely played live. The eight songs were backed by title-related imagery on the video screens: Leper Messiah had images of television preachers as a mosaic, while Sanitarium featured a straitjacketed guy thrashing in a padded cell.
Surprisingly the excellent song selection lasted throughout the gig, and Fuel remained the only title from last three albums.
Set list:
Creeping Death
Fuel
Wherever I May Roam
For Whom The Bell Tolls
Fade To Black
Battery
Master of Puppets
The Thing That Should Not Be
Welcome Home (Sanitarium)
Disposable Heroes
Leper Messiah
Orion
Damage, Inc.
Sad But True
Nothing Else Matters
One
Enter Sandman
//
So What
Seek and Destroy
Had to make it to the ferry leaving at 1:15, and decided to take off around the beginning of Seek and Destroy. Picked up a commemorative t-shirt along the way, and walked back to the ship. And noted that I’m as bad sleeping in boats as in planes – hopeless, in a word.
This was indeed the eighth time I saw Metallica live. Fourth time in an outdoors-setting. And by far the best of the four. Due to late-ish arrival the view onto the stage was limited (we were far indeed, as shown in the attached image). There wasn’t really anything wrong with the place. The weather was close to perfection as well. Around +26C, with a nicely timed sunset during the headliner’s set. Some of the catering services could have been a wee bit faster, but that’s a minor complaint – altogether the crew got off clean.
The organizers had extra base stations available for mobile phones, and a nice touch was the cell name shown on the phone screen, on some it was plain boring laululava, but on others: metallica…
So, all of a sudden the street-level map of Helsinki (and probably of many other places) is available in google maps. Missed the addition of non-satellite map data completely. And the satellite map data seems to have vastly increased in clarity.