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The nights of April 21 - 22, 1999 in Berkeley, California, The San Francisco Symphony was joined by the rock band, Metallica for a performance at the Berkeley Community Theater. It was conducted by Micheal Kamen. The hall was filled to capacity with both hardcore Metallica fans. Before the concert even started, they were on their feet, cheering for both Metallica and the members of the symphony.
The were all dressed in street clothes. Most opted to wear jeans and a Metallica shirt. The members of Metallica, James Hetfield, the guitarist and vocalist, Lars Ulrich, the drummer, Kirk Hammett on lead guitar, and Jason Nested, on the bass guitar, were also in street clothes. With the exception of Lars, who wore a white T-shirt the band wore all black.
The conductor and the members of the symphony all dressed formally, wearing ties and tails. Ushers also wore formal uniforms. The music was amazing. The symphony complimented the electric instruments perfectly. The symphony played so well, that someone who had never heard a Metallica song before would think Metallica had always been backed by a symphony.
The orchestral music was in the style of the 20 th century because it was by Micheal Kamen, a 20 th century composer. The song that appealed to me the most was No Leaf Clover by James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich, written in 1999. It starts off slow with just strings, some brass, and Kirk Hammett playing lead guitar. Then Lars comes in on the drums, while James and Jason come in with rhythm guitar and bass guitar. James sings a verse and then the rhythm guitar and bass stop and the intro repeats but the drums play with it this time, and the lead Kirk plays on his guitar is slightly different.
James also sings this time while it is being played. After that they go back into a verse with all the electric instruments, the drums and the strings playing. This is followed by the chorus. During the chorus James sings the words, while all of the electric instruments are played. They were backed by strings.
Then the strings and drums continue, while Kirk plays an incredibly complex lead. After this he is once again joined by the other electric instruments, and eventually they go back into the chorus. Then all the instruments keep going higher and higher in tone, until they crescendo and the song ends. All of the songs are very intense. The pounding drums and raunchy riffs, backed by the orchestra make you want to jump up and down and shout, with your fists in the air. The feeling is like a drug, you dont want the music to stop, and when it does stop you want more.
The members of Metallica are professionals when it comes to working the crowd, but the players in the orchestra also put on quite a show. The members of the symphony would stand up when a member of Metallica came over and played in their area, giving themselves to the music. They really got into it and the crowd loved them for it. All in all the rock musicians and the classical musicians looked comfortable with each other and their music blended very well together. While the rock is nothing new to me since I play guitar myself and work for a local band as their sound tech, the symphony was a new experience for me. The only classical music I had ever heard up until this point was from Bugs Bunny cartoons.
I really enjoy listening to this album. I find myself even listening to the tracks that Metallica doesnt play on. S&# 038; M is unlike any other album I have ever heard. I wouldnt say the performance was different from what I expected because I really did not know what to expect. Metallica is a very versatile band and when they are backed by musicians as talented as those in an orchestra, anything is possible. While many rock bands have used orchestras to back them on a song or two they have never made use of an orchestra of this size, for this many songs.
The Beatles did in on Sgt. Pepper, Bush did it on Glycerine, and Creed did it on With Arms Wide Open, but none of them were able to fully capture the feeling of a full orchestra as well as Metallica did. I would definitely recommend this album to anyone that likes either rock music or classical music. If Metallica was ever to do something like this again I would most certainly try to get tickets to it whether I was required or not. Bibliography S&# 038; M Metallica
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