Monday, July 10, 2000
Hetfield-less Metallica turns concert into karaoke
By Chris Varias
The Cincinnati Enquirer
The concern leading into Saturday's Summer Sanitarium concert was for a crowd subject to general-admission seating in a venue that had never before put on a full-fledged rock show.
Nobody though to worry about the big, bad star of it all.
James Hetfield — lead singer of Metallica, headliners of the seven-hour concert at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta that also included Korn, Kid Rock, Powerman 5000 and System of a Down — was a no-show, but the show went on.
A back injury kept away Mr. Hetfield, according to the band's website. At 9 p.m., 45 minutes before a revised edition of Metallica would begin its performance, drummer Lars Ulrich and bassist Jason Newsted addressed the crowd of about 54,000 and spoke of Mr. Hetfield's injury in vague terms.
“(Mr. Hetfield) is (messed) up in a bad way,” Mr. Ulrich said. “He is sick. He can't move.”
Mr. Newsted added, “I'd take a lot to keep him away. He's the toughest (person) I know.”
Then, Mr. Ulrich brought news that quickly changed the mood of the crowd.
“You guys want a free Metallica show? August 2nd at Buckeye Lake. (Expletive) free Metallica show, baby. Metallica is yours for 21/2 hours for (expletive) free.” The crowd was told to save its ticket stubs to get into that bonus show in the Columbus area.
Speedway officials have been looking for different events outside of car races to fill its seats, and now they have one: karaoke night.
With Mr. Hetfield absent, a revolving cast filled in as lead singer for what was an irreverent, if not dynamic, performance. Members of the other bands on the bill sat in on various instruments at various times, and the songs weren't limited to Metallica stuff, which made for a giant hootenanny, heavy metal-style.
Mr. Newsted sang several songs, including the first two of the set, “Creeping Death” and “For Whom the Bell Tolls.” The latter ended prematurely. Somebody got their signals crossed.
“I told you this was gonna be weird. Things are gonna be (messed) up so bear with us,” Mr. Newsted said.
The show proved that singing for Metallica takes more than getting up there and growling. Nobody who took the microphone did as well as Mr. Hetfield would have. Mr. Newsted sang in a guttural voice similar to Mr. Hetfield's, but the power wasn't there.
It also proved the guitarists from other bands know the Metallica songbook better than the singers. Guitarists that sat in nailed most of their parts. Kenny Olson from Kid Rock's band handled “Seek and Destroy.” Mr. Newsted said Daron Malakian from System of a Down told him he knows every Metallica song, and he did fine on “Master of Puppets” and “Welcome Home (Sanitarium).”
The singers weren't so familiar with the lyrics. Kid Rock and System of a Down's Serj Tankian were clearly reading their lyrics — Mr. Tankian held a piece of paper in his hand for all to see as he sang “Welcome Home.” That was a guttier move than what Korn's Jonathan Davis did, sitting down, singing with head down, pretending he was brooding as he sang “One” when he was really reading the lyrics off a piece of paper on the ground.
Then a mini-Korn set ensued, with Mr. Urlich on drums and the rest of Korn on guitars and vocals bashing out three of their own songs in a reprise of their hour-long, thrash-rap set that preceded Metallica's.
Kid Rock not only put on the best set of the day a few hours earlier, he returned to leave his mark as the best fill-in singer. He alternated between reading from paper and pretending he knew the words, but he led the band with gusto throughout.
He sang Metallica's “Sad But True,” which naturally led into “American Bad Ass,” his current single that takes its central riff from the Metallica song.
There were two predominant sides to Kid Rock's style on display. During his own set he was a hardcore rapper of the Too Short variety. With Metallica the crowd saw a long haired balladeer a la Bon Jovi.
Of all the Metallica songs to choose, he did a couple ballads: “Nothing Else Matters” and their cover of Bob Seger's “Turn the Page.” Despite how overwrought these songs might be, there's something about hearing a Too Short-style rapper sing them that makes them cut through a little bit more.
Seeing Kid Rock lead Metallica through Creedence Clearwater Revival's “Fortunate Son” and the Rolling Stones' “Jumping Jack Flash” isn't an everyday occurance, but it couldn't prevent a steady stream of patrons out the exits.
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