Backstage at Yankee Stadium, METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich told Rolling Stone that his band couldn't refuse an invitation to bring their Big 4 show with ANTHRAX, SLAYER and MEGADETH to the home of the Bronx Bombers.

"There's never been a hard rock experience in Yankee Stadium," says Ulrich. "Ninety-nine percent of the rock experiences in New York are at Giants Stadium, the Meadowlands thing. So anytime Metallica gets a chance to do anything that's unique and different... getting to come here to the hallowed grounds of Yankee Stadium was something we couldn't say no to."

Check out video footage below:

NYTimes.com, the most popular American online newspaper website, has reviewed yesterday's (September 14th) Big 4 show at New York's Yankee Stadium. Check out an excerpt written by Ben Ratliff below:

The concert, or the tour, or the notion, is called the Big Four, and it needs an asterisk. Long ago, one of the four became much bigger than the rest.

In alphabetical order, Anthrax, Megadeth, Metallica and Slayer—who all played at Yankee Stadium in a thorough and memorable seven-hour concert on Wednesday night — were the most popular bands of mid-80s thrash-metal. (Some would prefer a Big Five, and include Testament or Exodus.) Thrash was a powerful mutt: it ran at hardcore-punk speeds and wedged hyper-articulate firebomb guitar-solos into small spaces.

Now that all those bands are touring together, under that old banner, the order of billing becomes an important question. Imagine all the lawyers, all the cold logic. (Metal, in the ‘80s, was a boys’ game built on aggression, not love, and there are well-documented feuds among some of these bands—particularly between Metallica and Megadeth, since Megadeth is led by Dave Mustaine, who was kicked out of Metallica.) In the end, in order of appearance, the order was Anthrax-Megadeth-Slayer-Metallica.

Of course Metallica goes at the top. Its self-titled fifth album from 1991, with ballad sections and expensive production values, exploded the logic of thrash metal and reached an awful lot of teenage bedrooms. It sold more than 15 million copies in the United States. So Metallica floats this operation. No Metallica, no Yankee Stadium.

Read the entire review here.

In what turned out to be a triumphant night of thrash metal - Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax - performed in front of 50,000 fans. Band set-lists follow:

Metallica:

'Creeping Death'

'For Whom The Bell Tolls'

'Fuel'

'Ride The Lightning'

'Fade To Black'

'Cyanide'

'All Nightmare Long'

'Sad But True'

'Welcome Home (Sanitarium)'

'Orion'

'One'

'Master Of Puppets'

'Blackened'

'Nothing Else Matters'

'Enter Sandman'

Encore:

Overkill (MOTÖRHEAD cover with members of Slayer, Megadeth, Anthrax and Exodus)

'Battery'

'Seek & Destroy'

Addidtional images are available at Metallica.com.

Slayer:

'Disciple'

'Postmortem'

'Hate Worldwide'

'War Ensemble'

'Psychopathy Red'

'Mandatory Suicide'

'Chemical Warfare'

'Silent Scream'

'Dead Skin Mask'

'Snuff'

'South Of Heaven'

'Raining Blood'

'Black Magic'

'Angel Of Death'

Photo above courtesy of Andrew Stewart Photography.

Megadeth:

‘Trust’

‘Hangar 18’

‘She-Wolf’

'Public Enemy #1'

‘Head Crusher’

‘A Tout Le Monde’

‘Sweating Bullets’

‘Symphony of Destruction’

‘Peace Sells’

‘Holy Wars... The Punishment Due’

Check out more photos at Megadeth's Facebook page.

Anthrax:

'Fight 'Em Till You Can't'

'Got the Time'

'Madhouse'

'Caught in a Mosh'

'Antisocial'

'The Devil You Know'

'Indians'

'Metal Thrashing Mad'

'I Am The Law'

Check out video of they Big 4 encore of Motörhead's 'Overkill' below: