I went to my local cinema here in the UK to watch the Big Four Live, being broadcasted from Sofia, Bulgaria where all four of the big thrash metal bands; Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax were headlining Sonisphere and appearing together on stage for the first time collectively.. ever.
When I first heard about this show I don't think the idea of itquite sunk into me because I figured, Mustaine wouldn't share a stage with X, Y and Z and Slayer's style will clash with Metallica etc. so I kind of just figured they'd play their sets and be done with it and not really make a big deal about it. But the build up to this in the last week is when it really sunk in to me. Fuck man Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer and Anthrax are going to be playing all in one night, holy fuck!!!
I've seen Megadeth twice before, I've seen Slayer and I've also seen Metallica all of the shows were immense. The whole idea is fucking crazy and I love it!!
Anyway I went to the cinema with my Slayer shirt on and there was a pre-show which had interviews with the band members. Scott Ian, Dave Mustaine and Lars Ulrich were all interviewed together and hearing them talk about the past, present and the show was awesome. They were discussing their influences, how eachother's music had inspired them and how much they were looking forward to the show. Kerry King was interviewed separately, this was a bit of an indication of Slayer's feeling towards this I think.
Anyway Anthrax kicked off the show with Joey Belladonna fronting them again it was pretty awesome to see them performing and they played a killer set with Caught In A Mosh, Madhouse, Indians, Anti-Social, Metal Thrashing Mad, I Am the Law and a section of Heaven and Hell by Sabbath being played in honour of the late legendary Ronnie James Dio. Joey ran across the stage of one of those chief indian headgear things and Scott was enjoying himself to bit with some big jumps and stomps while headbanging hard with his guitar.
Megadeth went straight in next with Holy Wars and then they went on to play Hangar 18 which was killer. Hook in Mouth was then played, My Darkest Hour, Headcrusher, Symphony of Destruction and then Peace Sells to end things. Or so we thought because at the end they went into the last solo section of Holy Wars again which was fucking insane man!! Brilliant way to end their set. Mustaine and co. looked like they thoroughly enjoyed playing their set.
Slayer were up next and played World Painted Blood to start off with, heading into War Ensemble which was wicked. I'll be honest not sure about two of the songs they played, I think one was Hate Worldwide off the new album and the other i did not recognise it had a bit of clean guitar in it, it was good. They finished off with Angel of Death, South of Heaven and Raining Blood of course. Tom didn't say much to the crowd and was fairly idle I'm guessing cause of his back surgery he can't headbang and mosh at the moment.
Then lastly Metallica came on starting off with the Ecstasy of Gold leading into Creeping Death absolutely beautiful!! Followed quickly by For Whom the Bell Tolls which was again awesome. Then they played Fade to Black but with James on an acoustic guitar at the start - this was a lovely touch and I have never heard or seen them do this before it sounded great. Cyanide was played next, i didn't enjoy that lol. They then played one of my favourite tracks Harvester of Sorrow bloody brilliant that was. After this they played One, Master of Puppets and Nothing Else Matters. They looked to end their set with Enter Sandman but came out for something very special.
It was at this moment all four bands shared the stage. James Hetfield, Scott Ian, Rob Trujillo, Frank Bello, Kirk Hammett, Dave Mustaine, Lars Ulrich, Charlie Benante, Chris Broderick, David Ellefson, Joey Belladonna, Shawn Drover, Dave Lombardo and Rob Caggiano. All came out, hugging eachother and smiling in excitement.
They played one fucking heavy track, Am I Evil by Diamond Head. This was seriously awesome! They pulled it off well, in fact flawlessly with different people on vox for parts of the song; James, Dave and Joey all having a go. It was noticeable though that 3 members of Slayer were not present on stage for this though - this was a bit disappointing. Although Tom Araya and Jeff Hannemann did come out after the song was done to share the stage with the other members but Kerry King was nowhere to be seen, atleast I couldn't see him. Perhaps Slayer didn't want to bow to this idea? i don't know what all the politics behind it was/is but I think they should have joined in and perhaps played a Mercyful Fate song like Curse of the Pharaohs or Satan's Fall to suit all the bands styles but hey it didn't happen. Atleast Dave Lombardo was there.
It was really awesome to see them all play together though i have to say, Hetfield, Mustaine, Kirk, Scott Ian man that was badass.
Metallica finished off the night with Hit the Lights and Seek and Destroy at the end. A good way to end it off. Lars said at the end that there would be a DVD of the show released so look out for it!
I gotta say watching it in the cinema was really good. The sound was amazing, a big screen and it was very clear - no interuptions or lost signal or any of that crap. The cameras were switched and stuff, I think there was some slight editing so I don't really know how the satellite thing worked but whatever it was great.
Sat Jun 30, 2018 8:17 am by metalfutte
Subject: The Big Four live 
I'll try and get the DVD when it comes out. 
