“This is history tonight and you’re part of it,” roared Metallica frontman James Hetfield as four bands played together for the first time ever in the US at the weekend. “Anthrax, Megadeth, Slayer and Metallica as one – with you!” Epic is one of the most overused words in the musical world. But when it comes to Big 4 shows it’s probably the best adjective out there. This weekend, on the other side of the Atlantic, the thrash metal titans gave festival-goers set to attend Sonisphere UK and Sonisphere France a taste of things to come. These events are three decades in the making and, as at the inaugural Big 4 appearances at Sonisphere festivals across Europe last summer, there was plenty of talk of history. Hetfield, Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine and Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian all used the word in enthusiastic crowd shout-outs at Indio, California where the Coachella festival took place the previous week.
There were notable differences between the two gigs held on the hallowed Indian land. Coachella may have had 15,000 more attendees per day but it also had more than 110 other bands. Four was enough to encourage 60,000 metal devotees to make the pilgrimage to the desert. Adorned with more black than neon, they were more hardcore than hipster and made more noise than a Southern Californian earthquake.There was a lot for them to get excited about at an event Christwire.org described as “another concert to promote satanic fornication and vampire orgies.” There was thrash hit after thrash hit in derange-inducing desert heat; Mustaine wielding a double flying V with a shark mouth and a giant squid underbelly; a Slayer guitarist recovering from a spider-inflicted, flesh-eating virus get up on stage; and the culmination of all four bands colliding in a colossal Big Four jam.
Aptly – considering what went on during the next six hours – Anthrax kicked off proceedings with ‘Caught in a Mosh‘. Amid the mayhem there was time for reflection. Acknowledging the broader ‘metal family’, singer Joey Belladonna gave dedications to the “people that we miss”, such as the late Ronnie James Dio and Pantera guitarist ‘Dimebag’ Darrell Abbott. In a theme picked up by Metallica later during the show, Hetfield dedicated ‘Orion’ to the band’s late bassist, Cliff Burton. It was a special moment. As drummer Lars Ulrich said: “I don’t think we’ve played that song very much in America over the years. We certainly haven’t in the last 10 years.”
The band some thought least likely to ever play with Metallica, Megadeth, followed Anthrax and didn’t disappoint. Then, as the blazing desert sun descended into darkness, Slayer took to the stage. If the desert heat hadn’t burnt your skin and melted your face by then Slayer seemed intent on doing so via virtuoso musicianship and furnace-reminiscent riffs, screaming through ‘Dead Skin Mask‘ and ‘Raining Blood‘ before closing with ‘South of Heaven’ and ‘Angel of Death’. Un-introduced, guitarist Jeff Hanneman, joined the fray for the latter two tracks. He’s currently recovering from an encounter with flesh-eating bacteria called necrotizing fasciitis, which has seen Gary Holt from Exodus fill in on recent tours. Team Sonisphere are very happy to see Jeff on the road to recovery from an ailment Max Clifford couldn’t dream up, wish him all the best and hope to see him at the European Sonisphere shows in the summer.
Seeing Metallica take to the stage after Slayer is something special. To paraphrase James Hetfield: “It’s every metal fan’s dream.” To see all four bands encore at once is perhaps beyond this. As at Sonisphere Bulgaria last summer, all four bands gathered together on stage during Metallica’s encore and delivered probably the heaviest rendition of the Diamond Head classic ‘Am I Evil?‘ America has ever born witness to.
Team Sonisphere has a sneaking suspicion the cover may also make an appearance at Knebworth where Diamond Head are also performing. But there are hints the bands may collaborate in a different way. Slayer’s Tom Araya says he would be part of proceedings if they all played Metallica’s ‘The Four Horsemen’ instead of ‘Am I Evil’ and Lars tells the LA Weekly that, “if we keep being persistent, we may get everybody up there at some point,” saying that he “would like to be a little more adventurous and not rely on the same song if there are continued jams.” He seems up for anything: “I’m not afraid to go anywhere. Maybe we’ll play a Slayer song instead.”
After the Diamond Head cover Metallica signed off with signature set closers, ‘Hit the Lights’ and ‘Search and Destroy’. As one seasoned backstage crew member, who’s weathered more metal gigs than he cares to remember put it: “Fucking epic. The most sand-covered, insane metal mash-up I’ve ever seen.” To be part of something similar, click here.
Anthrax setlist
01. Caught In A Mosh
02. Got the Time
03. Madhouse
04. Among the Living
05. Antisocial
06. Indians
07. Fight ‘Em Till You Can’t
08. A.I.R.
09. I Am The Law
Megadeth setlist
01. Trust
02. In My Darkest Hour
03. Hangar 18
04. Wake Up Dead
05. Poison Was the Cure
06. She-Wolf
07. Sweating Bullets
08. Head Crusher
09. A Tout Le Monde
10. Symphony of Destruction
11. Peace Sells
12. Holy Wars… The Punishment Due/Mechanix
Metallica setlist
01. Creeping Death
02. For Whom the Bell Tolls
03. Fuel
04. Ride the Lightning
05. Fade to Black
06. Cyanide
07. All Nightmare Long
08. Sad But True
09. Welcome Home (Sanitarium)
10. Orion
11. One
12. Master of Puppets
13. Blackened
14. Nothing Else Matters
15. Enter Sandman
Encore:
16. Am I Evil? (Diamond Head cover) (with Megadeth, Anthrax and Slayer)
17. Hit The Lights
18. Seek And Destroy
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