Metallica, Kemper Arena - Kansas City, MO. 1-31-97

Metallica is either the last big metal band, or big metal's last band. Friday night, their tireless juggernaut demolished the adoring fans that sold-out Kansas City's Kemper Arena.

The magnitude of their stage show was apparent before the lights dimmed for the opening act, Corrosion of Conformity.

Their in-the-round set consisted of not one, but two complete stages that took up most of the arena floor. Metallica used wireless instruments and both stages were completely ringed by vocal mics, and each accommodated a complete, rotating drum kit. In this way they were able to treat every corner of the arena as though it were the front row again and again t hrough the two-and-a-half-hour show.

Such a large production, filling 17 trucks, is very expensive to take on the road. Additionally, such a large set eliminates two or three times as many tickets on the main floor. Metallica's interest in providing the best possible show for their fans seems to take precedent over their need to sell every possible ticket.

The smaller of the two stages featured two massive, deformed electrical towers. The larger of the two stages was shaped something like a guitar body. At each of it's corners was a large, articulating arm, topped with a variety of lighting equipment and pyrotechnics. The massive, grey metal-clad stage consisted of numerous ramps and platforms ringing it's drum riser. It was from within this full metal jacket that Metallica brought their onslaught.

One by one, drummer Lars Ulrich, bassist Jason Newsted, guitarist Kirk Hammett, and guitarist and frontman James Hetfield took the stage after circling the arena floor and greeting fans. They wasted no time getting the headbanger's ball underway, launching into "So What." The fourteen song set of fierce, tight mayhem included favorites such as "One," "Nothing Else Matters," and " Wherever I May Roam."

It was during the six song encore that Metallica's taste for showmanship erupted. Following "Seek and Destroy," and "Master of Puppets," they began to perform "Enter Sandman." The next thing you know, it's an attraction straight out of the Universal Studios tour. First there is an apparent malfunction on one of the articulating arms. Two roadies begin to frantically affect a repair. Having completed that, an explosion causes one of the electrical towers to crash to the stage. A technician is left dangling from a rope, another tumbles down a ladder. One more erupts in flames, his fire walk ending when his comrades extinguished him. The other tower then fell.

With the stage a tangle of wreckage, there is a delay while the crew sorts the situation out. Four bare bulbs are dangled in the vicinity of the one functional drum kit. Guitar amps and microphones are hastily assembled around it. It's garage band days revisited, and the band finishes their last three songs under swinging work lights for ecstatic fans.

Metallica isn't merely the last practitioner of such ferocious metal. There never was another band that could match them. They manage to have a great time performing their serious metal without appearing humorless. It's their most endearing quality.