Show review/photos: CBS's The Night Before - Metallica

On the weekend of the biggest sporting event in the country, in what’s become somewhat of an annual tradition, San Francisco hosted the 3^rd annual CBS RADIO’s The Night Before concert. Headlining the show was none other than “The Four Horsemen From the Bay”, Metallica. Prior to Super Bowl 50, a grassroots campaign to get Metallica to play the Super Bowl Halftime Show garnered a tremendous amount of support. Ultimately, the Super Bowl committee selected a performance that would be a bit more “mainstream”. The hashtag #tooheavyforhalftime was born.

Metallica is no stranger to Bay Area sporting events, recently making appearances at San Francisco Giants and San Jose Sharks events. In fact, Metallica is such a part of the Giants organization that they recently celebrated a 4th annual Metallica Night. Suffice it to say, it’s good to be the hometown crowd when it comes to this band.

Speaking of hometown crowd, a measly 40,000 fans filled AT&T Park and rocked for a solid 3 hours, with Cage The Elephant kicking it all off. The stage setup was enormous. Five large video panels – each sitting approximately 100 feet wide and 60 feet tall – spanned the stage. Massive laser displays, flame pillars, and pyrotechnics made up one of the most complex and visually stunning productions I’ve ever seen. The rest of the night proved to be nothing short of amazing.

Cage The Elephant came out strong, opening with “In One Ear”, and playing a full set of 11 songs, closing out with “Come a Little Closer”. Lead singer, Matthew Shultz, covered every inch of the massive stage, as well as several areas off-stage. He was no stranger to jumping into the crowd – making that trek a few times during the performance. At one point, Matthew caught his toe on the edge of the stage when trying to jump back up, and he ended up on his side and rolled over onto his back whilst trying to regain his composure. It wasn’t long, however, until he was back on his feet and rocking the shouting and singing fans at AT&T Park.

At 8:25, the lights in AT&T Park went out. Thin Lizzy’s “The Boys Are Back In Town” began playing. I chuckled at how fitting this was, given that Metallica has been calling San Francisco home since 1983. But, would this be a departure from their traditional opening? A collective sigh could be heard throughout the ballpark when the enormous video panels began showing “The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly – The Ecstasy of Gold” through the enormous video and sound system. Far be it for Metallica to break from tradition, after all.

Opening the show was a battle-tried and tested favorite, “Creeping Death.” Obviously, 40,000 fans screaming, “Die!” was just too irresistible to leave off the set list. The set list for CBS Radio’s The Night Before spanned the entire Metallica catalog, excluding that album which we do not speak of. The largest percentage of songs that they played came off of their most commercially successful album, Metallica, (aka The Black Album). Master of Puppets and Ride the Lightning were also well represented, with three and four songs played, respectively. The band showed a little bit of rust, not sounding as tight as they have in the past. We’ll attribute that to time spent in the studio, and we’ll completely disregard the fact that Metallica members have a combined age of 208! Rob played a wicked bass solo, and Kirk got the spotlight twice. Were Kirk’s solos more than just an inspired freestyle? The experienced ear would be able to identify the main riff from “Bleeding Me” in the first solo. The second solo opened with the whole band playing a new riff, followed by just Kirk shredding some freestyle, then the riff from “Hero Of The Day”. Was this new riff a taste of the new album? Let’s hope so! The crowd ate both solos up whole, regardless of their origins. It was easy to get lost in the infectious cheers and hollers of appreciation from those around me. The fans, obviously, love their hometown boys.

After nearly two hours of crushing metal, Metallica left the stage for the concert tradition of the encore. After coming back on stage, James joked about coming back and finding out that everyone had left, or that his guitar cord was too short to allow him to reach the microphone. Sharing his pre-tour nightmares, he joked, “Anyway, that’s what I have to deal with!” For the first encore, James made a dedication: “To Mr. Cliff Burton, a brother of ours that’s still alive in our hearts, from his favorite band, Thin Lizzy,” before playing the cover of “Whiskey In The Jar”. The final two songs, from Metallica (The Black Album), “Nothing Else Matters” and “Enter Sandman” ripped through the roaring crowd, bringing young and old alike to a rousing crescendo of cheers and screamed lyrics. It was truly a sight to behold from where I was sitting. Taking it all in, I realized how incredible this event really was, from the music to the visuals, and everyone in the audience seemed to come away with the same sense of awe I felt as well. It was a unique and rockin’ community to be a part of, if only for the night.

At the end of the show, the house lights came up, and the band thanked the crowd. From the press section, we had an incredible view of the show. We also had front row seats for the fireworks show happening in the Bay directly behind the concert stage. That was a gorgeous spectacle of color and light, glowing and popping over the water. It was the perfect ending to the night.

The band members all expressed their sincere gratitude for making it all possible. I thank you, Metallica; for it was I that was on the receiving end of this epic and unforgettable experience. My team and I also extend a hearty “Thank you” to CBS Radio and Salesforce for helping make it all happen. Without you, we can’t do what we do. And, that’s a fact!

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