The band looked invigorated in their two hour plus set, that brought the action with an “in the round” set up. The “in the round” set up is great in theory, but if you are at one end of the stage, there are certain times during the show where your view of the band is severely compromised. Metallica did a decent job during the set of moving around the large stage and seemed to keep the crowd of 19,000 happy.

The band came out blasting 1988’s “Blackened,” and sent the old school fans heading for the pits. Since their battles, Metallica has seemed to lean more towards the pre-1996 set list in their shows. Old favorites such as “Fight Fire With Fire” and “Fade To Black” were covered. An early surprise was the 1986 song “Disposable Heroes,” which left some of the newer Metallica fans puzzled, but was one of the highlights of the night.

Even though the band leaned towards much older material, songs from “Load” and the symphony project “S&M” were covered as well. The show hit a lull during songs such as “Bleeding Me” and “No Leaf Clover,” but quickly recovered with a blistering “Master of Puppets” and a charging “Sad But True.” Newer material, from their “St. Anger” album, including the title track, and “Frantic” seemed a little limp compared to how they sounded on the studio album.

Along with war sounds at the beginning of “One,” which gave one a small feel of a war scene, the band made abundant use of pyro. Flames were gushing out during “Fuel,” which always looked good, but images of the ill-fated Great White concert ran through this reviewer’s head.

Lead singer James Hetfield stressed that he was happy to be alive and continuously thanked the crowd for coming out. One wouldn’t think that would be the first thing a metal singer would say, but given Hetfield’s bumpy road, it was fitting. Drummer Lars Ulrich rotated his drum set around the round stage the entire night, this reviewer was happy he did have to look at Ulrich for too long. Guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Rob Trujillo did a solid job of getting the crowd into the show. Metallica proved that even though some people don’t get your new album, and seen you almost breaking up on film, you can still provide a killer show.

Godsmack opened up with a 55 minute set that focused on the harder material the Boston band has. “Straight Out Of Line” and “Keep Away” got the crowd ready for the main attraction, but one wonders why Godsmack wasn’t playing an arena on their own, given their popularity in the rock world. A big highlight of the set was the dueling drums between drummer Shannon Larkin and lead singer Sully Erna which was very fluid and created one of the strongest jam sessions this reviewer has seen in a long time.
Metallica and Godsmack put on a great show that will be something you’ll be regretting, if you missed the show.

Art can be contacted at arthatesyou@detroitbuzz.com