Review By: David Priest
Photos By: Becky Hoyle © 2003 On Track Magazine.com
(click
here to view this article at ontrackmagazine.com)
There truly are some quite
extraordinary situations in this life that you never expect to find
yourself in, some good, some bad, and although you hope and pray for
the good to outweigh the bad you are never really sure of what the
future holds. To some, its fate to some destiny, still others view
it as just part of the overall plan or the big picture. Whatever
particular belief you may subscribe to, the mystery and awe of such
things remains a constant. I often reflect back on those divine
moments in my own life and become so overwhelmed by the
circumstances that I am left to ponder the eternal question: Why me?
As do most, I choose to look to the positive more than the negative.
After all, it is better to see the cup half full rather than half
empty. Although I am still relatively new to the music journalism
business - coming up on five years now - I have, in fact, been
blessed with more insight, opportunity and experience in a short
period of time than most. Having already achieved a great number of
my adolescent goals, at least as it pertains to the music business,
I was totally unprepared for the most recent chapter that took place
in my personal life saga…
Keeping me
ultimately humble, on May 19th, 2003 I was very privileged to have
witnessed a truly magical evening as the legendary Metallica
played a very rare club performance at the Fillmore in their home
town of San Francisco. The event was the second show in a four night
string of sold-out gigs. Initiated as a warm-up for their upcoming
Summer Sanitarium stadium tour, which will feature support from
Limp Bizkit,
After a six-hour
drive from
Now I know for a fact that these guys were
nervous as hell from the time they were offered the gig, to when
they hit the stage. When you take into consideration that they would
be opening for the recently dubbed MTV icons its one thing, but to
Systematic these guys are even more than that, they are their
childhood heroes. And if that wasn’t stressful enough they would be
playing to the most extreme diehard fans that Metallica could
rustle up. All fear must have subsided when they hit the stage,
because the fans embraced Systematic with a profound welcome
and voice of approval. Basically if they’re ok in Metallica’s
book they’re ok in ours – besides, they kick ass! I recently caught
Systematic’s show on a few
separate occasions in So Cal. when they came through on this year’s
Jagermeister tour with Saliva, and a few days prior to the
Fillmore gig with Stone Sour. I have to say that fans in the
L. A. rock scene wouldn’t recognize a good thing if it came up and
bit them on the ass. To truly appreciate a band’s talent you have to
show some enthusiasm, damn it. When a band like Systematic
comes to town, a band whose musical abilities are right on target,
the only thing holding you back from having a great f*cking
time is yourself. You bought the ticket - so don’t be afraid to have
the time of your life. Let it be known that all you dead weight
posers in L.A. can take a lesson from the rest of the country,
starting with the San Francisco crowd; these f*ckers
really know how to have a good time and made Systematic feel
appreciated for being the talented musicians they are.
The band ripped through their 45 minute set
with balls-out aggression. Covering songs from their debut,
Somewhere in Between, as
well as their latest work of genius, Pleasure To Burn. On
this night, Systematic were at the top of their game and
played like the pros I knew they were. Song favorites included the
angst-driven “Breakable”, the overpowering title track “Pleasure To
Burn”, “Not Like You” and the current single “Leaving Only Scars”.
The response from the audience was tremendous, and being a fan who
was positioned right up front, the comments I heard were all
positive, i.e., “Damn these guys f*cking
rock”, and “Where can I get this album”, or “How come I’ve never
heard of these guys before? They’re great!” In the end Systematic
gave the performance of a lifetime and did an outstanding job of
warming the crowd up for the headliner and Adam, if it sucked you
know I’d tell you!
After about a forty minute changeover the
crowd had become a little bit more than restless. Given that many
were way past the brink of intoxication by this time and the rest of
us were just hoping our legs wouldn’t give out while we danced
around and tried to hold our positions in front of the stage, the
moment of truth couldn’t have happened at a better time. As the
mighty Metallica emerged and took their place in front of the
hoard of fervent fans, a sentiment of tremendous authority washed
over the audience. Slamming head first into the opening song of the
night it was evident the guys had not lost their touch one bit. As
they continued on, force-feeding us the rage and order that made us
all fans in the first place, there was not a moment of confidence
lost on their part. James at one point announced that it was great
to see so many friends and hoped we wouldn’t mind that this was
actually rehearsal for the band. Of course none of us even gave it a
second thought; we knew we were being treated to something
magnificent. Their set was nearly flawless and for the few times
they did mess up, it was later laughed off by all. I myself have
never seen a band play music of Metallica’s caliber with such
precision; and to tell you the truth, when I heard the few slip-ups
that did occur, I thought, “Wow, they are human after all.” I
mean these guys are like machines when it comes to their art. The
band opted to play an entire set of nothing but classic shit and one
new tune. Every song, except for the one, came from a time prior to
the black album and made this night even more of a surprise. The
full set list consisted of 18 songs and played as follows:
Blackened
No Remorse
Ride the Lightning
Welcome Home (Sanitarium)
The Thing That Should Not Be
Frantic
Creeping Death
Whiplash
Leper Messiah
Master of Puppets
One
Battery
----------
(First Encore)
Harvester of Sorrow
Seek and Destroy
Hit the Lights
----------
(Second Encore)
So What
Breadfan
Damage, Inc.
The guys played
for just over two hours and performed two encores in that time, both
of which they announced they would return in three minutes. I
suppose they didn’t want to tease the crowd too badly and kindly let
us know they weren’t finished just yet. As ever, they closed with
the monstrous favorite, “Damage, Inc.” and brought to an end what
could only be considered a perfect night - or so I believed at that
time. As another unforeseen turn was thrown my way, and as if things
weren’t already more than I had anticipated, I soon found myself
hanging out at the after show party and actually got to meet the
guys for the first time. Now I’ve met a lot of rock stars in this
business as it kinda comes with the
territory, but it doesn’t really get any bigger than this and I will
forever be grateful. Look out ‘cause the Metallica guys are
back and will wreak havoc in a city near you soon. Metallica
St. Anger in stores
-Priest
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