Metallica Orgullo, Pasion y Gloria: Tres Noches en la Ciudad de Mexico

This weekend i ventured into a shopping mall in Durban South Africa. Where ever i go i always head straight to the record stores and see what they have in stock. I don't think i have ever been anywhere where i haven't picked up something interesting or seen something completely unexpected. Anyone who buys music still rather than downloading it will know how nice a feeling it is finding something really unusual and cool. I digress as this is not unusual more over something that completely passed me by.


So there i was looking through the Metal section of this record store in Durban and there i found a Metallica release that i simply was not aware of. I always know when stuff is released by my favorite bands so i was initially skeptical of this, maybe it was a dodgy bootleg but it seemed legit, so i thought what the hell. As it turns out the release was only meant for South America but has found its way into the shops around the world. 


What i bought was Orgullo, Pasion y Gloria: Tres Noches en la Ciudad de Mexico. Metallica had in 2009 done 3 nights in Mexico city at a baseball stadium holding 55000 people each night. Impressive right?


Very! 


In a week where the organizer of the Download Festival UK said he choose not to book Metallica this year as he thought they were boring obvious hasn't seen this DVD. Being 2009 its a very good bookmark in the bands live history. I have the basic version but i believe there are extended versions with extras from the other nights and a BluRay version to make Kirks Boris Karloff's Mummy Guitar look even better! 


There are many types of Metallica fan, for a band who has sold over 100million records its hardly surprising, you will very rarely meet one you agree with, say best album you agree on but not the song and so on. So in 2009 the fact Metallica please everyone is somewhat phenomenal. I challenge even the most hardcore of old school Metallica fans to not enjoy this live show. 


As soon as the Ecstasy of Gold Plays you feel the band are pumped. There is something about James Hetfield singing the notes to that piece of music back stage that makes you think, holy crap they boys mean business tonight, and so is the case. 


They launch right into a trio of Ride the Lightning classics Creeping Death, For whom the bells tolls and Ride the Lightning, they don't let up and highlights of this opening is Hetfield voice, he used to sing these very differently but he manages to sing powerfully with control but keeping a heavy edge heard on the original recordings. 


Disposable Heroes is a gem from Master of Puppets, its worth noting that with so many classic big songs, the set list could become predictable. You go and see Metallica and you expect to hear Master of Puppets, Enter Sandman, One, Nothing Else Matters, but its the surprises that keep you wanting to go see them every time. Its pointed out by Lars in an interview on the DVD that they change their set list every night. Its an impressive group of musicians that can do that at the top end, don't be fooled they are one of the biggest bands in the world! 


All four members are on top form, Kirk Hammett' playing is effortless at times and he never misses a note, Rob Trujillo is a fantastic bassist and i genuinely believe he has sparked a new energy into the older members and makes them sound better. Lars Ulrich is often considered not to be one of the better drummers in Metal but he plays like a daemon and my particular highlight of the performance is Fight Fire with Fire where any doubters need watch as Lars is a commanding drummer on top of his game right now. 


the new songs from Death Magnetic stand up beautifully against the older songs and you are not disappointed to hear them as can happen with some bands new material. 


I cant recommend this to any fan of Metallica enough. I watched this and instantly got the buzz for seeing them perform in the Big 4 at Knebworth this summer. A truly amazing live band to watch, what never ceases to amaze is the sheer power yet being delicate and precise at times.


All i can end on is Downloads loss is Sonisphere's gain, SAD BUT TRUE!