Metallica Rocked Cape Town!
The day we heard Metallica was playing at the Coca Cola Colab Massive Mix, my girlfriend booked the tickets. Golden Circle, no less, and driving through on the day of the concert we we’re listening to their Black album at full tilt!
Now since neither of us are teenagers anymore we decided beforehand we weren’t going to go for the full twelve hours, or bother trying to queue for alcoholic beverages, specially after all the negative publicity surrounding the Centurion concert.
We arrived just after 8:00pm and entering the stadium grounds heard Collective Soul starting their gig. We entered at gate 5 - by then there was no queue, Yay! And then proceeded to the golden circle, which we found with some difficulty since the entrance didn’t appear to be signposted. Again we probably got in under a minute, Double yay! The golden circle enclosure fortunately wasn’t too crammed, although it did look like the contents of a giant sardine can at the front of the stage. Collective Soul was great, playing all my favourite songs, but let’s face it. We were there for one reason and one reason only: Metallica!
During the change over my girlfriend and I decided to dart out and try our luck at one of the bars. Well, it seems our luck run out at that point. The queues were seriously long and had we joined them probably would have missed a couple of Metallica’s songs. Of course we could still see it on the big screen, but we wanted to see them in person! So we decided to go for soft drinks and those concession stands were virtually empty. We got some cokes in no time and paid a very fair price – R6 each for two bottles of 500ml coke.
Now since bladder control is quite a priority at our advanced ages we were quite happy to see rows of portable loos inside the stadium. Again there was a substantial waiting list at the loos just outside the golden circle, but you could walk right in at the ones at the back of the stadium. In that regard we felt quite fortunate.
Then it was back to the golden circle and we joined our friends about 30m from the stage – far enough from the sardine can but close enough to have a great view of Metallica. Shockingly enough there were technical problems at the start of their performance – the lights didn’t go out – so it probably wasn’t Eskom’s fault, but some of their instruments lost sound. James Hetfield quickly disappeared off the stage and I felt really sorry for the person he was going to be having a conversation with. The rest of the band didn’t seem too put out, even asking if there was a comedian in the audience to entertain us. The glitches were sorted out in a couple of minutes and Hetfield appeared back on stage, joking they had been cut off because there wasn’t enough “metal” in the song. We weren’t too upset – we were seeing Metallica live in Cape Town, something neither of us had ever dreamed of as school children – but I’ve seen R.E.M, Counting Crows, Live and The Offspring in Cape Town and those concerts went off without a hitch. Considering the magnitude of this concert and the ticket prices people paid, nothing less than a flawless evening was expected.
Metallica were superb. The initial glitch aside they are not only amazingly talented musicians, but also very professional in their approach to performing. They gave their all in each song, which is no mean feat considering they performed for over two hours – much longer than any “stand alone” concert I’ve seen before. My girlfriend also saw them in Arkansas last year, something she feels she needs to remind me of on a regular basis (not to mention U2 at Madison Square Gardens), and also felt the performance was awesome, but substantially longer. The transitions between the different songs and albums – from their latest album to their very first – were very smooth and they didn’t break the momentum by continuously talking between songs. They were there to party and play music. And that’s what they did. As only Metallica can.
If you were at the concert, I’d love to know what you thought!
By the way, at the end of Metallica’s performance Hetfield cryptically said “See you soon” and don’t quote me on this, but I’ve heard they’re coming back next year… With the Red Hot Chilli Peppers! Triple Yay!
Now since neither of us are teenagers anymore we decided beforehand we weren’t going to go for the full twelve hours, or bother trying to queue for alcoholic beverages, specially after all the negative publicity surrounding the Centurion concert.
We arrived just after 8:00pm and entering the stadium grounds heard Collective Soul starting their gig. We entered at gate 5 - by then there was no queue, Yay! And then proceeded to the golden circle, which we found with some difficulty since the entrance didn’t appear to be signposted. Again we probably got in under a minute, Double yay! The golden circle enclosure fortunately wasn’t too crammed, although it did look like the contents of a giant sardine can at the front of the stage. Collective Soul was great, playing all my favourite songs, but let’s face it. We were there for one reason and one reason only: Metallica!
During the change over my girlfriend and I decided to dart out and try our luck at one of the bars. Well, it seems our luck run out at that point. The queues were seriously long and had we joined them probably would have missed a couple of Metallica’s songs. Of course we could still see it on the big screen, but we wanted to see them in person! So we decided to go for soft drinks and those concession stands were virtually empty. We got some cokes in no time and paid a very fair price – R6 each for two bottles of 500ml coke.
Now since bladder control is quite a priority at our advanced ages we were quite happy to see rows of portable loos inside the stadium. Again there was a substantial waiting list at the loos just outside the golden circle, but you could walk right in at the ones at the back of the stadium. In that regard we felt quite fortunate.
Then it was back to the golden circle and we joined our friends about 30m from the stage – far enough from the sardine can but close enough to have a great view of Metallica. Shockingly enough there were technical problems at the start of their performance – the lights didn’t go out – so it probably wasn’t Eskom’s fault, but some of their instruments lost sound. James Hetfield quickly disappeared off the stage and I felt really sorry for the person he was going to be having a conversation with. The rest of the band didn’t seem too put out, even asking if there was a comedian in the audience to entertain us. The glitches were sorted out in a couple of minutes and Hetfield appeared back on stage, joking they had been cut off because there wasn’t enough “metal” in the song. We weren’t too upset – we were seeing Metallica live in Cape Town, something neither of us had ever dreamed of as school children – but I’ve seen R.E.M, Counting Crows, Live and The Offspring in Cape Town and those concerts went off without a hitch. Considering the magnitude of this concert and the ticket prices people paid, nothing less than a flawless evening was expected.
Metallica were superb. The initial glitch aside they are not only amazingly talented musicians, but also very professional in their approach to performing. They gave their all in each song, which is no mean feat considering they performed for over two hours – much longer than any “stand alone” concert I’ve seen before. My girlfriend also saw them in Arkansas last year, something she feels she needs to remind me of on a regular basis (not to mention U2 at Madison Square Gardens), and also felt the performance was awesome, but substantially longer. The transitions between the different songs and albums – from their latest album to their very first – were very smooth and they didn’t break the momentum by continuously talking between songs. They were there to party and play music. And that’s what they did. As only Metallica can.
If you were at the concert, I’d love to know what you thought!
By the way, at the end of Metallica’s performance Hetfield cryptically said “See you soon” and don’t quote me on this, but I’ve heard they’re coming back next year… With the Red Hot Chilli Peppers! Triple Yay!
posted by Jeremy at 12:45 AM
5 Comments:
What a show! Metallica proved to be as professional as their magnificent albums promised! I've been waiting since teenage years to see them live and went home with a seriously stiff neck, but it was worth it and I hope to do it again very soon! And I have to mention Seether - wow - did their guys rock!
It's a little depressing to read about this... I've wanted to go to the event from the moment I heard about it... and as much as it's no excuse, I was already invited to a birthday bash of a close friend's. Couldn't do much to get out of it. Sounds like it was a blast. And from listening to the Centurion show on the Radio, Metallica rocked the set! Depressing... very depressing!
I was brave enough to see the concert through from A to Z. Twelve hours plus is a long time (for a 33 year old mom) to spend in a confined area with no pass outs, hellishly long queues and that in scorching summer heat. I am disappointed at the poor organisation considering I paid about R450 for my ticket. The fact that our local outfits were given what I guess to be 30% output as regards volume, was a huge letdown. I can understand that Metallica deserved all the attention, but with the constant dinn I barely heard Fokofpolisiekar and Arno doing their bit for the SA music scene.
Oh, and I may not have a cleavage to speak of but my chest was SOAKED in beer. Guys, really... give us plastic bottles with screw tops next time! Oh, and even the Radisson Hotel doesn't charge R15,00 for a beer. What a rip off!
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What a shambles, worst concert I have ever been to,availablity of basic commodities queues a mile long.Food was crap.Imagine losing sound on stage,what an mbarassment for Coca Cola
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