Classic Concert of the Day: Metallica at the Metro, Chicago, IL, 1983

You’re all cooped up. We’re all cooped up. Everyone’s friggin’ cooped up! You’re scrolling through our social feeds, texting with friends, eating, drinking coffee, watching TV, scrolling through our social feeds again, eating again, playing that dumb mobile game you downloaded from an Instagram ad and can’t stop playing, eating again, chatting with friends on a Zoom call, scrolling through our social feeds again, all while worrying about where your next paycheck is gonna come from. These are tough times, people.

To help pass the time, we’ll periodically be sharing a classic metal concert. Watch some of it, watch all of it, watch only one song… we don’t care! As it long as it provides you with a bit of entertainment.

Last night, as part of their ongoing “Metallica Mondays” series, Metallica shared their performance from the Metro in Chicago, IL on August 12, 1983. And even with crude video, and the fact that they had to cut out the first fifteen minutes of the show due to audio issues, it’s a must-watch for every Metallica fan. Half the band couldn’t even legally drink: James Hetfield had LITERALLY turned twenty-fucking-years-old just nine days prior, and Lars Ulrich was still nineteen. But beyond the “Aww, weren’t they cute?”-ness of it all, it provides some most-excellent footage of Cliff Burton just absolutely raging. It also just offers a lot of general insight into The Band That Would Be King: how their performances have changed so drastically in the 37-years since, and how it hasn’t. It’s great stuff.

Seek and destroy: