Metallica Wembley Stadium (from The Northern Echo)

This was arguably the most exciting musical event this year. Sod the festivals, this was Metallica, and at the new Wembley stadium! Albeit it not being the full whack of 90,000 people, the 60,000 odd metalheads still made the atmosphere more electric than Hetfield's guitar.

Once the stage was set, the short scene from the Good, the Bad, the Ugly, appeared on the 3 giant stage monitors, along with the delightful sound of the ecstasy of gold'. The song itself seemed even longer than the entire day put together, through some hellish car journeys and horrendous queuing. But then, one by one they appeared, looking ready to pull down the walls of this epic stadium within the next two hours and fifteen minutes.

Kicking off with the furious Creeping Death' and rolling into For Whom the Bell Tolls' and bringing out the heavy with Sad But True'. The best thing was I was completely hyped and yet they were only three songs into the set, you only had to look over your shoulder briefly to examine the level of enjoyment on the pitch as many a fan kicked the crap out of each other.

The old headbangers' as they called themselves, continued to ride through the set one handed, with classic after classic after classic. No songs from St. Anger, and nothing from the studio demo board, which made the set all the more delicious with Disposable Heroes, Master of Puppets, and The Unforgiven.

Surprisingly, one of the highlights of the day and one which I'm sure will go down in Metallica history was the chanting at the end of The Memory Remains'. Having 60,000 fans belting "nah nah nah naah nah" for about five minutes non-stop was breathtaking for me, let alone the monsters of metal.

Front man, James Hetfield then remarked: "That is why we do what we do my friends, excellent for you. I don't know how we're topping that but we're sure as hell gonna try."

After a quote like that, you knew it hit home, and ironically it's a song from an album that isn't as dignified as Puppets', Ride the Lightning' or And Justice For All'.

Continuing through the barrage of riffs in the form of Battery', the volume was taken down a touch for some enlightenment with a rare treat in the form of No leaf Clover', followed by the definitive ballad that is Nothing Else Matters'. The hairs on the back of my neck had never stood higher.

Soon after the volume was cranked up yet again, with the Black Album beast Enter Sandman' before being thrashed by a raging encore featuring Whiplash' and finally Seek and Destroy'. This was truly a gig to remember and one which will be extremely hard to beat in terms of awesomeness.

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