Metallica/March 10/1985…. Los Angeles CA

Metallica recently released Deluxe Editions of there first two albums Kill Em All and Ride The Lightening. On both of these reissues they seem to have done it right with a slew of demo tracks and unreleased live shows from that era (1983 and 1985).

The live dynamic of a bands output has always intrigued me  forever. Though a band’s music would no matter how good it sounded in the studio always would  have a little more edge live( as long as the band didn’t  mess with fixing up the performance in the studio)

iTunes has both of these deluxe editions for sale. They run about $75 each without any packaging which if you’re gonna drop that kinda dough you need the physical product as a book is included with each and to see the credits etc. This is my knock on iTunes for that kind of cash  at least toss in the digital books along with the albums if one is dropping $75!

The good thing about iTunes  though is you can just pay for individual tracks and in this case there was no way I was dropping $75 on these albums but I wanted to at least nab a live show from this era of the band.

I did a bit of homework read some reviews and decided to go with the March 1985 Ride The Lightening show from Los Angeles. Basically it cost about $15 which is pretty good actually so  I delved in and pushed click!

This period of Metallica has always intrigued as they were fast man! These dudes as in James Hetfield(vocals),Lars Ulrich(drums) Kirk Hammett(guitar) and the late Cliff Burton( bass) basically ramped everything up and for me this was all the speed metal I needed. Of course there are heavier faster bands out there at the time but Tallica was heavy enough for me…

Things that come to my mind about this show is the  “Go For The Throat ” mentality  Metallica adapts here! Fight Fire With Fire sets the pace for that nights show! Lars and Guitars just blitz at a rapid rate. It’s funny how you forget how young  James sounds singing!( than again I was 17 when this show was recorded) Full of Piss N Vinegar is in his voice and he does sing good on this album. Thats perhaps the main reason I can handle old school Tallica as the dude does sing and it’s not a continuous ” Aaaaaaaargh” all the time. I can live with this.

Of course one of the drawing features as well is Cliff Burtons bass playing as the guy is a beast on that  4 String Rickenbacker! (Anesthesia) Pulling Teeth ( great title) is Burtons bass solo and man what a heavy supped up sound and listen to his fingers wail all over that Bass! Holy Shit comes to mind! Its real cool when towards the end of Cliffs solo Lars joins in and then do a rapid fire one two bass and drum punch that leads right into one of my favourite Metallica tracks For Whom The Bell Tolls as Cliff and Lars control the tempo  while Kirk plays a super cool lead in on guitar. Click the vid below and watch Burton man….phenomenal!

I recall when reading all the Metal Magazines back than (especially Kerrang) that Metallica liked the booze and the party that went with it even so much as there were Alcoholica  t-shirts floating around at the time so it amazes me with all the shenanigans going on they could compose a tune like Fade To Black. This tune is Metal done right it builds from the chillness up. Great all round performance by the band and YUP 31 years later it still freaks me out how good this tune  was and is! Of note the video I  posted is from the show that night but its not the  deluxe edition song as Metallica cleaned up the sound a bit but this version gives you a idea how it was back than and how it was sounding  bootlegged….

The Kill Em All material you can hear Kirk play Dave Mustaines solos. Well you can hear Mustaines vibe on these tracks like Phantom Lord and No Remorse. Interesting to hear it now as back than I would have never picked out Dave’s style at all on Kill Em ALL.

James when he talks to the crowd calls them ‘FREAKS” ha ha…but in a complimentary kinda metal way circa 85!

The band sonically that night is heavy and its a good representation of an era of the band starting to slowly take over the universe!

Metallica Setlist
at Hollywood Palladium, Hollywood, CA, USA

The Ecstasy of Gold
(Ennio Morricone song)

Fight Fire With Fire

Ride the Lightning

Phantom Lord

(Anesthesia) Pulling Teeth

For Whom the Bell Tolls

No Remorse

Fade to Black

Seek & Destroy

Whiplash

Encore:

Creeping Death

Guitar Solo

Am I Evil?

Motorbreath