Day 4, November 4th
Decided to wait til the afternoon to watch. Found myself feeling like I was anxious for a fix.
Yesterday lead me to watch some interviews with James from 1997, just to see what their mindset was. Back then, I was a fan, but not hanging on their every word necessarily. Over time I started to care more, but not sure why. The Load/Reload era is currently interesting to me because it was a transition phase in a way. The big climb to the top was over, and now they were MTV Darlings trying to navigate what new stuff that kind of attention brought to their lives. Basically it seems like it amounts to new people giving new opinions that they had to decide whether to care about or disregard. So many bands say they don’t care what people think. Like “Cool if people like this, but who cares if they don’t. That’s fine.” But I think they care about the diehard opinions are of those who ride the roller coaster with them, but stay honest throughout. I mean that’s how I’d feel about people in my life anyway. Interested in constructive criticism or being called out for being disingenuous. But not interested in what strangers who didn’t grow with me had to say.
This Metallica era is also a few years before Some Kind Of Monster, when they finally stopped to sort out everything they had just gone through and figure out ways to deal with each other better. I just watched that again for the first time in awhile a few weeks ago. It left me feeling a bit drained, like I was going through it alongside them. When it originally came out, it was fascinating to see the band in that light and be part of the process of selecting Robert as their new bassist. But for me, sometimes it was annoying to sit through tedious explanations of their feelings to each other. Especially that scene with Mustaine. One of the most awkward things I’ve ever witnessed at the time (but now feels pointless, because 20 yrs later, Mustaine continuously brings up the same issue despite having his own massive successes). Since this movie was out, a lot of time has obviously passed and I’ve learned a lot about communication myself. I see that you have to be that way with some people or it’s over between you due to way too many misunderstandings. Sometimes it’s over anyway, even with all the extra efforts.
Anyway, today’s thoughts while watching:
-Still amused by Robbie Williams’ childlike intro
-Whoever did the lighting did a good job. But it wouldn’t apply to King Nothing’s tempo. So was that one of Metallica’s people in on it beforehand or some lighting person really good at adapting? I am going to have google more about this event.
-If I didn’t know the backstory, this would still be great. They’re always great. They always sell me on every song in every video I watch and every time I’ve seen them play live. Actually it doesn’t feel like I’m being sold on anything, which is probably why I like them so much. Feels like they’re authentically into every note. Even from the other side of Central Park, the last time I saw them.
-Maybe Kirk’s annoyed because he was supposed to have his own mic stand and didn’t?
-I hate when people throw things on stage altogether. I get that’s their only way to be one with the show, like “I want to be on the stage, but can’t, so I’ll throw an object up there as a weird representation of my presence and that’s how I’ll feel part of it.” I mean, assuming it wasn’t thrown out of hatred for the band. In this case, a sunflower being thrown gives me “60s protester shoving a flower into the end of a gun.”
-Just noticed someone was grabbing Kirk’s ankle while he was playing the solo. People are crazy. The only time I’ve had someone grab at me like that was when my dog was a puppy and wrapped his mouth around my ankle every time I got up to go to the kitchen. I guess some fans are like wild puppies with no sense of boundaries.
-The mic thrash at the end doesn’t feel calculated like when people do it now. Feels victorious and I love it.
-Lars trashing the set makes me worried that’s going to go wrong and someone in the crowd is going to be attacked by a rolling drum.
-Did the stage diver just land on his feet? I feel like the sunflower mob probably didn’t know what to do and just backed up.
-I hope the audience was louder than this video suggests.
Update: I googled a bit more and found out apparently the Sound man at the time was in on it. Perhaps he tipped off the lighting person so that there was appropriate pacing and proper effect. I don’t know why I’m focused on this. Probably cus it matched the energy so well for something so unplanned.
Did it affect my day?
This video is making me want to watch Metallica stuff more on a daily basis. I tried to watch Cunning Stunts on YouTube, but the ad breaks every 5m eventually drove me nuts because it kept happening mid-song. So it almost affected my wallet in that I entertained the thought of paying for YouTube Premium so that I never had to see another politician or Wayfair ad ever again.
I watched the Making Of Cunning Stunts and saw the amount of work that went into that tour. Wondered where all those people are now and if they’re still on staff. It made me feel like Metallica does not get enough credit for their creativity. I didn’t see that tour, but I’ve seen pretty much every other tour since then (plus my first show of theirs in 1992 with my beloved Guns N' Roses and Faith No More). They always do something innovative every time, whether it’s multicolored flames, drone lights choreographed to the music or faking a set destruction including torched humans like they did there. Also, they performed "So What" and while it was fantastic, not the same energy as this video. This one is just. so. fierce.
