Metallica and its Pittsburgh 'family' members shared head-banging vibes

PITTSBURGH − Metallica on Sunday capped off an unprecedented three-concerts-in-four-nights stretch for PNC Park.

And you know what Metallica means: Head-banging, fist-pumping, eardrum-ringing joy and mayhem for one of rock 'n roll's most devout fan bases, which singer James Hetfield referred to multiple times that evening as "family."

Metallica hit 'em hard, with "Whiplash" to start, as singer-guitarist Hetfield, lead guitarist Kirk Hammett, drummer Lars Ulrich and bassist Robert Trujillo formed a tight circle at the farthest end of a U-shaped stage extension jutting into the crowd.

They'd stay put there through the third song, the famed "Enter Sandman," which Hetfield embellished with several extra guitar squelches.

He asked the sea of black-shirt-wearing fans how they were feeling, adding "Whatever you're feeling, we're going to make it more intense, OK?"

Challenge accepted and delivered.

The career-spanning, speed-metal onslaught continued, with the 1984 title track "Ride The Lightning," on which Hammett, Ulrich and Trujillo took a gear shift to full-throttle.

The audience needed no prodding to sing the "na-na-na-na" outro to "The Memory Remains" accompanied only by Ulrich lightly tapping his cymbals. When he stopped tapping, the crowd stopped singing, though Ulrich's hand gestures indicated he wanted the crowd to keep going, truly a cappella.

For a stadium show, the sound was really good, even up in the right field seats that weren't opened for the Motley Crue-Def Leppard concert there two nights earlier (but were open Thursday for Billy Joel.)

More:Motley Crue, Def Leppard, Poison, Joan Jett rock a rowdy PNC Park

Hammett's piercing guitar notes rang out with clarion precision on "Nothing Else Mattered." Hetfield slipped effortlessly into one of his trademark vocal growls during one of the "trust I seek, and I find in you" lines.

"Have you been practicing your singing?" Hetfield asked the Pittsburgh faithful that gave an affirmative scream. "Good, because I have not."

He sounded fine, and the necessity of playing to a more sizable and spread-out audience seemed to inject more energy into Metallica compared to the band's last Pittsburgh show in 2018 at PPG Paints Arena.

Hetfield polled the "family" on how many liked 2003's "St. Anger" album. Their response wasn't exactly the loudest of cheers. Hetfield said that 2003 album gets a bad rap, as the band then ripped through one of its album cuts, "Dirty Window," for which Trujillo took a deserved moment alone at the edge of the stage extension applying the swift and strong bass beat.

Metallica played a hard-thumping version of the Irish folk song "Whiskey in The Jar," with Hetfield explaining Metallica loves Irish hard rock band Thin Lizzy, which took that song to the charts in 1973.

"Thanks for playing along," Hetfield said to fans who gave Metallica's version a hearty cheer.

Metallica's slash-and-burn classic "For Whom The Bell Tolls" brought the first bursts of fire shot skyward from cannons beside and above the stage. More fire warmed fans' faces for "Moth Into Flame."

Partway through "Fade to Black," Hetfield took a deeply serious turn noting that was a song about something people mistakenly assume they shouldn't speak about − suicide. Speaking in a fatherly tone, he urged anyone contemplating taking their own life, "please do not... Please talk to somebody who loves you. You are not alone. I love you, no matter what you've done."

It was a gutsy moment that could have turned mawkish, but the bond between Metallica and its fans made Hetfield's speech feel right.

But then it was back to the head-banging, with the thrashy "Seek & Destroy."

The encore began fiercely with "Battery" then the ultra-intense "One," accompanied by a video depicting a World War I battleground with pyro sound effects replicating bombs and a landmine. Ulrich's kick drum and Hammett's and Hetfield's twin guitar attack were riveting.

Then came "Master of Puppets," launched with a video clip from this past season's "Stranger Things," the Netflix sci-fi series that based a pivotal scene around that very song. Metallica's pacing on "Master" seemed a bit rushed − they still had seven minutes to spare before Pittsburgh's 11 p.m. outdoor concert music curfew. Maybe "Master" should have been featured earlier in the set.

More:Billy Joel delivers an amazing performance

Hey, I've got to quibble about something.

Chief opening act Greta Van Fleet handled its role effectively.

The crowd dug the Michigan band's throwback sound, full of vocal wails and screaming guitar from brothers Josh and Jake Kiszka, with another brother Sam providing bass guitar and a bit of piano. Josh sings like one of those arena rock titans of yore, hitting and holding high notes and screams of impressive stature.

As he did at Greta Van Fleet's Pittsburgh area debut in 2017 at The Funhouse at Mr. Smalls, Jake played a lengthy chunk of one guitar solo holding his guitar behind his head. That happened amid a jam-drenched, rockabilly-fueled cover of the Elvis Presley hit "That's Alright."

Jake's hands swooshed all over his guitar's neck, with his left pinky and right thumb practically touching each other in an unorthodox manner during "The Weight of Dreams."

I wanted to be the first reviewer to write about Greta Van Fleet without noting the band's Led Zeppelin influences.

Oops.

Scott Tady is entertainment editor at The Beaver County Times and easy to reach at stady@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Metallica & its Pittsburgh 'family' members shared head-banging vibes