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The return of Metallica was without a doubt one of the most anticipated events of the summer. Their two concerts at the Olympic Stadium were announced as a ‘no repeat’ weekend and they even had different opening bands.

With each passing day leading to the Friday concert, we could feel the excitement in the city with more and more people wearing Metallica shirts. Finally, Friday was upon us and it was time to go to the Olympic Stadium to see Metallica, Pantera, Mammoth WVH and Sword. That was in addition to all the other Metallica related events that were happening in the city as part of the Metallica takeover.

A few days prior to the first night, it was revealed that the Montreal-based band Sword would be the band selected for the Friday pre-tallica concert. There is not a more deserving band than Sword to kick things off as they are not only an excellent band that released their third album not too long ago, but it was also a logical choice because they toured with Metallica back in 1986.

Once you were able to navigate through all the security and find your way to the esplanade, you could see that people were getting ready for the first band of the day as many others were waiting in line for the doors of the Olympic Stadium to open so they could rush to the best spot available for the inside concerts.

Rick Hughes came on stage with his original 1986 Metallica shirt from the Master Of Puppets tour and the band kicked things in gear with “Prepare To Die” and “Dare To Spit”. As their set went on, more and more fans were gathering in front of the stage and enjoying their guitar-driven music. You could see that the band was more than happy to be there and Rick was in top shape. Chills came down my spice as they played the exquisite “The Trouble Is” and you could see many fans headbanging to the rhythm of the song. The band also played a few songs from their most recent album, those were “(I Am) In Command”, “Dirty Pig’”, “Took My Chances” and “Unleashing Hell”. Once again, you can see the chemistry between all these original members and you can see that they know each other inside and out. It is always amazing to see Rick hit those breathtaking high notes with precision and power, they give you goosebumps each and every time. If the fans are not looking at him, it is because they are picking up their jaw on the floor from watching Mike Plant’s memorizing guitar solos and his heavy riffs. He is definitely a guitar player that flies under the radar, but he can play like no other. 

Sword’s rhythm section is rock solid with Dan Hughes on drums and Mike Larock on bass and this is well displayed on songs like “Stoned Again” and “Unleashing Hell”. The band kept the best for last and ended their hour-long set ended with the classic “F.T.W.”. Sword’s music never gets old and the band deserved this opening slot and we can only hope that this will open new doors for them and draw more attention to the band. As far as I’m concerned, Sword should have played inside the venue, on the main stage, they are that good, but on the positive side, they had the best sound quality of all the bands.

Fans that were getting inside the venue after Sword’s performance could see that many people were stacked against the fence surrounding the circle shaped stage and it did not take too long for Mammoth WVH to play their thirty-minute set. It is not easy to be the band playing as the venue is slowly filling up, especially on this big stage where you hear the band and try to figure out where the musicians are located on stage. The sound was far from great and you could hear the sound bouncing from every corner of the Big O. These guys are more suited for a club than a gigantic stage and it showed. Their short set included song from their first album as well as song from their second album that was released barely a week ago. Sadly, most fans used that time to figure out where would be the best spot to see the show from the floor and did not really pay attention to the band, but you could see a small number of fans that were really into their music and really like their performance.

It was now the time that many older fans were awaiting, the return of the mighty Pantera.  You can see Philip Anselmo and Rex Brown all smiles as they walk the stage accompanied by Zakk Wylde and Charlie Benante. Again, you can see that this huge circle stage is not working, the band is everywhere and if you are in the general admission area, you can’t see a musician if he is not standing next to you on stage. That being said, the band uses all the stage and even Charlie switches drum kits so fans on each side of the stage can see him. Their music is powerful but the sound quality is far from good. That was the main thing that fans were anticipating prior to the show, many have seen concerts here and know how bad the sound quality is, and it did not improve much with the new technologies. The sound quality also depended on where you were, it was not too bad if you were near the stage, but as soon as you were further away or in the stands, you could hear how muddy it was. 

That being said, you could see the fans singing with Philip as soon as “A New Level” was played. The band followed up with “Mouth For War” and “Strength Beyond Strength”, but it was with the songs “Becoming” and “I'm Broken” that the crowd really got into their performance. For an older fan, it was like being back in 2001, this was simply magical. The touching moment came with “Cemetery Gates” as the eight giant screens that were at the top of the pillars surrounding the stage were showing footage of Dimebag Darrell and Vinnie Paul. This moment was also a breather before the band kicked things into high gear for the second half of their set with “This Love”, “Fucking Hostile” and “Walk”. At this time, you could see some people pushing each other or doing circle pits. It was great to see people enjoying Pantera’s music once again after all these years. Their hour-long set ended with their classic “Cowboys From Hell” and Philip added that Pantera will return, we can only hope that their next stop in Montreal will be in a better venue as headliners so we can truly appreciate their vulgar display of power.

It was now time for the might Metallica get on stage and satisfy the eager 60 000+ fans that have been waiting to see them. You can feel that the fans on the floor are excited for the show because the crowd starts compacting itself closer to the stage, leaving the rest of the floor empty, like the floor was half full. Fans start screaming with James during “Creeping Death” and once again, the sound was not great, I would say OK at best and even bad at times, depending on the song. The band continued with older songs like “Harvester Of Sorrow”, “Leper Messiah” and “Until It Sleeps” before playing the title song from their most recent album and “If Darkness Had A Son”. 

“Fade To Black” quickly followed and I thought that this was a special moment because it was the song where James got burned the last time he played in the Big O. I must say that even with the eight screens around the stage, it was hard to see the musicians if they were not playing in front of you. If you were in the stands, you still had a hard time seeing them on stage because you were so far away. As usual, “Nothing Else Matters” had one of the best crowd participation of the night, and yet, that slow song had the worst sound as it displayed all the acoustic flaws of the installation and you could hear the sound bouncing from everywhere. Kirk had guitar issues and had to swap guitars in the beginning of “Sad But True”, but luckily for him, he was next to his guitar rig when it happened, so that was barely noticeable. 

The band swapped a few songs and played “Hardwired” for the first time on the tour and followed with “Fuel” where the band used flames and pyros for the first time of the night. The traditional Metallica balloons were released during “Seek & Destroy” and you could see fans trying to catch one as memorabilia, but they are so big that fans were fighting over some of them. Robert was getting engulfed by them on stage as many balloons ended up where he was standing and you could hardly see him at some point. Their set ended with the excellent “Master Of Puppets” where all the fans were on their feet screaming “Master”, “Master” with James during the chorus. 

As expected, Metallica killed it on stage and the love story with the city of Montreal keeps growing with each concert. Their set list was a nice mixture of new and old songs and there was something for everyone. The real issue was the poor sound quality that was anticipated by many fans and the huge circle stage that was just too big. I must say that this setup will be excellent to watch on a concert video with all the different camera angles and close-ups, but it simply does not work if you are attending the concert as far as I’m concerned. But that did not stop the fans in the stands to do the wave and that was definitely something you often see at concerts.