Amidst an ongoing “World Magnetic Tour,” Metallica played back-to-back nights to sold out crowds at New York’s Madison Square Garden.

For nearly twenty years fans were left scratching their heads – their once beloved thrash-metal pioneers were going soft, or so it seemed. Fast-forward a decade to the release of “Some Kind of Monster,” internal conflict and clashing artistic visions threatened to separate one of musics all-time largest acts once and for all.
Just when things were looking irreparable and utterly bleak, redemption came in the shape of a roughly 5 in. x 5 in. case: Death Magnetic was released to a combination of critical acclaim and a resounding sigh of relief from one enormous fan base. Following the release of the album, Metallica went on an extensive tour that began in early 2008 and will go well into 2010, stopping to play New York’s famous Madison Square Garden two nights in a row to sold out crowds.
Opening Acts
All the way from Copenhagen, Denmark, Volbeat joined Metallica on tour to play a fusion of rockabilly, hard-rock, and heavy metal. Next up were Lamb of God, the face of a new wave of heavy metal that came with the early 90’s. Both bands sounded great, and were a good fit for the many different types of music Metallica have experimented with throughout their career.
Metallica Fights Fire with Pyrotechnics
If you have ever been to a Metallica show, you know the drill by now. Loud music, enormous fires, a dazzling laser show – everything bigger, louder, and faster. The band took the stage to their signature intro, “Ecstasy of Gold” from the 1966 film “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly,” a tribute to the ethos of the stoic anti-hero portrayed by Clint Eastwood.
Dressed mostly in black, James, Krik, Lars, and Robert took the stage under the cover of dark, meanwhile the palpitating heart intro of Death Magnetic’s opening track “That Was Just Your Life” permeated the arena. Then the guitars came crashing in with laser-like speed and intensity accompanied by an explosive light show. During their fan-favorite “One” band members navigated between enormous explosions of fire that shot up from the stage.
Metallica November 14th Madison Square Garden Setlist
1. That Was Just Your Life
2. The End of the Line
3. For Whom the Bell Tolls
4. Holier Than Thou
5. One
6. Broken, Beat and Scarred
7. Cyanide
8. Sad But True
9. Turn the Page (Bob Seger cover)
10. All Nightmare Long
11. The Day That Never Comes
12. Master of Puppets
13. Fight Fire With Fire
14. Nothing Else Matters
15. Enter Sandman
Encore
1. Helpless (Diamond Head cover)
2. Whiplash
3. Seek and Destroy
Madison Square Garden Review
The band sounded fantastic, and they always put on an energetic and lengthy show. During their final track enormous black beach balls with the words “Metallica Death Magnetic” printed on them are released into the audience, giving the moment a true rock show feeling.
However, for fans who have seen the band before there has been very little variation between setlists and antics during this tour. Kirk and Trujilo did interlude solos at the same moments, Hetfield said nearly all the same things. The set list for this particular show was even a little weaker than others; the band neglected many of the fan-favorites like “Fade to Black,” “Creeping Death,” and “Battery.”
The highlight of the night was the often unsung gem from their second album, “Fight Fire With Fire” which had Hetfield barking like it was 1984 again. Otherwise, Metallica puts on one of the biggest and most professional and competent live shows out there.

Any given moment, countless people are listening to electronic music. It’s hard to believe that a mere ten years ago techno was considered an underground movement.

In the early eighties a trio of pioneers in Detroit began merging the sounds of synthpop and Italo-disco with funk. Juan Atkins, Derrick May, and Kevin Saunderson were high school friends who went to dance parties where the music ranged from Kraftwerk to Parliament. They listened to an influential radio DJ, The Electrifying Mojo, who played European imports alongside Prince and the B-52’s. In 1981 Atkins and Richard Davies, aka 3070, started releasing records as Cybotron. Techno was born.

Around the same time, the infant hip-hop community picked up elements of Kraftwerk’s music, thanks to DJs like Afrika Bambaataa and Grandmaster Flash, and created electro. Electro relied heavily on synthesized beats and computery vocoder voices. In 1982, Afrika Bambaataa took the melody from Kraftwerk’s “Trans-Europe Express,” combined it with the distinctive beat from Kraftwerk’s “Numbers,” and composed the anthem “Planet Rock.” Electro spawned the idea of the funky computer. MCs rapped over its beats, and breakdancers formed a new culture in the cities where electro reigned.

In Chicago and New York, house music was taking a similar path. Larry Levan, Frankie Knuckles, Ron Hardy, and other DJs were spinning synthesizer-driven dance music and creating their own edits and mixes. Before long, Chicago radio caught on with the Hot Mix 5 on WBMX, and locals began creating their own tracks to play.

Techno, electro, and house were made possible by new, inexpensive technology. The Roland TR-808, a programmable drum machine released in late 1980, formed the distinctive sound for the entire electro genre and was used in countless early techno and house tracks. 1981’s Roland TB-303 mini-keyboard was used to create squelchy basslines once people discovered the weird sounds that emerged from a little knob twiddling. Samplers and sequencers also became commonplace.

In the late eighties and early nineties, something odd happened. Techno and house, which had failed to gain mainstream success in the United States, became a huge phenomenon in Europe—especially in Great Britain. In fact, the term techno was popularized by Virgin Records’ seminal UK compilation Techno! The New Dance Sound Of Detroit.

Around 1990 raves began to appear near London. Most organizers of these large, illegal parties made their money dodging British licensing laws. Sometimes the location was a secret until the night of the event, and elaborate phone trees and rendezvous points were employed. Hundreds of ravers would descend simultaneously, making the parties more difficult to break up.

For a brief time in the U.K., rave music went pop. In 1996, The Prodigy hit Number 1 on the pop charts with two different singles, and for a while the record industry tried to push electronic music. At the same time, Warp Records built a roster of musicians who preferred to explore more experimental fare. Autechre (Sean Booth and Rob Brown), Aphex Twin (Richard D. James), and Squarepusher (Tom Jenkinson), created alien atmospheres which pushed the boundaries of musical conventions. They were partially inspired by a second wave of Detroit artists, including Carl Craig, Jeff Mills, and Underground Resistance.

Where is electronic music headed? It’s difficult to say. The Internet transformed the music industry just as genres began to get increasingly specialized. Techno is a soundtrack for the wired world. Some of its original creators are approaching their forties, but many of its current listeners are in their twenties and early thirties—people who grew up with computers. Techno reminds us that humans control the machines, and electronics can be used to express funk and soul.

Bibliography

An Electronic Dance Music Timeline