Metallica
February 16, 1997
Market Square Arena, Indianapolis
Rating :
Metallica at MSA on February 16 was the best show of the year. The stage was nothing
like I have ever seen before and believe I've seen more shows imaginable. The stage
was figure 8 and took up the majority of the main floor. We were sitting center stage,
what would be center court seats for basketball game, about 10 rows from the floor. We
counted 18 semis all around the arena. Metallica just jammed playing great song after one
another. Including most of my favorites: For Whom The Bell Tolls, Fade to Black, One, etc.
The crowd was really into it. Standing and headbanging the whole time. Sure
sign I loved it because my neck was really sore the next day (head bangin' injury!).
It goes without saying that Metallica kicks heavy metal ass regardless of the size of
the venue or the stage setup. It is hard to ask for more energy or stage presence than
what these guys put out. This is one band that has not forgotten about their fans. The
stage setup for this tour was nothing less than impressive. The stage took up about 80% of
the arena floor space in somewhat of an oval shape resulting in a good view from virtually
any seat in the arena (by the way, it took 18 semis to hold all of the stage
and gear for the show). I happened to have Metallica Fan Club seats which were about four
rows up from the floor on
the side (Rick Smits, NBA Pacers player, was right below me on the first row!). I
was facing the middle of the larger of two circular pieces of the stage. The band members
moved around to various places on the stages throughout the entire show. The smaller of
the two stages had a pit in the middle with a drum kit which rose up in the air with Lars
playing it. Of course, no one can forget the faked stage accident in which one roadie fell
from above dangling by a rope and another caught on fire and ran off the main stage to be
immediately put out with fire extinguishers. James did a good job of making it seem real.
The band played for a little bit without their main sound equipment, and there was a light
bulb dangling in the darkness after the accident, and some roadies running around with
flash lights trying to "fix" things. Many people thought it was real, but I had
previously read about it and knew what to expect. The usual canon/gun-fire special effects
were present for the song "One". They played most all of their hits, including
"Fade to Black" and "For Whom the Bell Tolls" which are my personal
favorites. This show really rocked.