A HUGE bubbling cauldron of molten heavy metal…rock legends Metallica returned to the stage at Attercliffe without pulling any punches.
Lighting the blast furnace with two songs from new album Death Magnetic, That Was Just Your Life and The End Of The Line immediately forged a bond with the sell-out crowd for two hours of vintage hard rock.
Forget the band's advancing years, they proved there's plenty more left in the tank and gave off enough energy to power Outokumpu. "We're going to be tired by the end of this," announced singer/guitarist James Hetfield.
Were you at the gig? What did you think of it? Add your comment below.Drummer Lars Ulrich kept up the frenzied beats with apparent ease, driving the music alongside maniacal bassist Roberto Trujillo, his fingers a blur as he bounded around the stage like a primary school kid.
Lead guitarist Kirk Hammett can still tear through the high-speed solos, dynamic frontman Hetfield lending a hand when needed on lead and blasting out lyrics with power and conviction.
The set was weighted heavily with new songs, six of 10 album tracks, but given that the gear sounded more circa 1989, sat pretty well with the more classic Metallica; Broken, Beat & Scarred much better live with the lyrics thankfully barked out with venom rather than sounding like a pirate as they do on record.
The Black album got a good airing too with The Unforgiven, the melodic Nothing Else Matters, heavyweight Sad But True and Enter Sandman earning one of the best responses of the night.
Old favourites Master Of Puppets, Battery and Seek and Destroy were gratefully received, flame blasts adding visual atmosphere to the war sounds on the outset of One and lazers lifting the mood alongside the huge metal coffins which the stage show just about got away with without looking too naff.
Yes there were a couple of amusing cock-ups and the odd bum note here or there, but when there's more notes in one song than most bands play in a full concert you can't really criticize.
Buy The Star - Monday to Saturday - for local news, sport, features and ads. To subscribe CLICK HEREREAD MOREMain news indexYour lettersFeaturesSouth Yorkshire's environmental newsKids ZoneMore business newsMore Rotherham newsMore Doncaster newsMore Barnsley newsLatest sport