Tag: Metallica

Metallica returns to Historic Crew Stadium

Over the years, I have been fortunate enough to gift a lot of concert tickets to a lot of people thanks to this gig. Often, especially in the earlier days when I was writing for corporate entities, I would be given a “plus one” with my reviewer tickets. It’s always been important to me to share what I consider to be good music with people that I care about. It’s been awesome to be able to take friends and family members along for the ride over the past twenty years or so.

One of those people that I’ve been able to take to a handful of shows over the years has been my eldest niece. She accompanied me to a Cheap Trick show as an early teen. I was able to bring her to a big festival in Toledo a few years later that featured a who’s who of 80’s hair metal. It featured bands like Ratt and Dokken. We’ve seen Lynyrd Skynyrd and in 2019, for the inaugural Sonic Temple Festival (after they changed their name from Rock on the Range) we were able to see her favorite band at the time: Foo Fighters. I tend to think that, over the years, my writing has gotten better. Alas, comp tickets for big festivals like Sonic Temple have become much harder to get a hold of since I no longer do this for a corporation. I’ve been very fortunate to get free tickets to more concerts than most people probably go to in a lifetime, so I’ll never complain about not getting comped for something that I love to do and have been privileged enough to do countless times. It is frustrating, though, that those opportunities have dried up for some events due to the fact that I’m now just a name and no longer a name with a corporate logo attached to it. I digress.

With that being said, Sonic Temple was not going to be in the cards for me this year, even with as awesome of a lineup that they had organized. Metallica. Korn. Alice Cooper. Alice In Chains. Linkin Park. And on, and on. These are some legendary acts and in a sudden twist of fate, that same niece shot me a text that she had picked up tickets for Sunday as a surprise for her and her boyfriend….and that she had gotten one for me as well! The seeds, that I hope I planted in her brain years ago about live music, have become a passion of hers too. I was touched that they had grabbed a wristband for me as well. Typically, her and her boyfriend go to Ohio’s other major festival; Inkcarceration in Mansfield. They recently moved to Columbus, though, and live within walking distance of Historic Crew Stadium. I went down Sunday morning, to their home, and we walked to the stadium in time to catch one of the opening acts for the day: Fame On Fire.

They were a fun show and we stayed there at the “second” stage for most of the early afternoon. We caught sets by The Plot In You, From Ashes to New, and Badflower. From there we separated for awhile. I was ready to get into the stadium for Chevelle, while they were more interested in seeing Asking Alexandria who has long evaded them. Chevelle was great, as always, and performed for the second largest crowd of the day besides the headliner.

Initially, the band after Chevelle, was supposed to be the iconic Alice In Chains. Unfortunately, due to a medical emergency, they had to pull out two days before the gig. That didn’t leave the festival organizers much time to find a replacement…especially one with the kind of draw that Alice In Chains brings in. They did, however, especially on such short time do an admirable job by adding hometown heroes Beartooth to the lineup. I’ll be the first to admit, that I am not what you would call a huge Beartooth fan. I think they are fine. It has definitely been cool, though, to see them grow over the years. You used to be able to see this band in small venues and this past winter they headlined a show at Columbus’ Schottenstein Center. That’s big time. It was also quite clear that the moment was emotional for the band as well. Lead vocalist Caleb Shomo stopped multiple times to thank the crowd and even towards the end appeared to be shedding some tears. To open an enormous show in your hometown for the biggest band in the world has to be one of those bucket list moments for them.

Outside of maybe AC/DC, there are no current bands in the rock/metal stratosphere that are as big of a draw as the festival headliner: Metallica. They are far and away the largest act that this festival has booked and it’s doubtful, honestly, that that will change. Just as they did when they headlined Rock on the Range in 2017, they absolutely filled the stadium. I’m a huge Metallica fan, but they are not my favorite band. That does not change the fact that they are massive, and at least in the United States, there is nobody else that can do what they are doing. They are bigger now, in 2025, than they even were in their “prime”. The only other act, that I’m aware of, that is playing football stadiums for multiple nights per city is Taylor Swift. I mean no disrespect to her when I say this, but she isn’t playing two completely unique sets each night either where there are zero songs repeated. That is legendary.

And so it was. Metallica came and conquered Columbus yet again. Their Sunday set was a perfect blend of classics and a few tracks from their most recent album 72 Seasons. One of the highlights for me was hearing a stadium full of people echoing back the outro to “The Memory Remains”. Getting to see the biggest band in the world, again, with my niece and her boyfriend at our hometown festival was awesome. Gene Simmons famously stated that “Rock is dead.” Sometimes it feels that way, and the up and comers definitely have their work cut out for them if there is ever going to be a new band to be on that same level as a Metallica or a Led Zeppelin or an AC/DC. But rock isn’t dead. Events like this couldn’t happen if that were true. This festival has grown from a one day affair to a four day event with four stages and 100 performances since 2007. Younger generations of fans and newer bands will have to continue to keep it alive but hearing 50,000 people in a stadium singing along to “One” and “Enter Sandman” has me very optimistic that the legends of yesteryear and the legends of today have laid a more than solid foundation for the legends of tomorrow.

Metallica Set List Columbus, OH Sonic Temple Festival May 11, 2025

  • Whiplash
  • For Whom The Bell Tolls
  • Ride The Lightning
  • The Memory Remains
  • Lux AEterna
  • Screaming Suicide
  • Metal Militia and Hang on Sloopy (medley)
  • No Leaf Clover
  • Cyanide
  • The Call of Ktulu
  • The Unforgiven
  • Wherever I May Roam
  • Fight Fire With Fire
  • Moth Into Flame
  • One
  • Enter Sandman
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Ohio’s Live Rock Scene: May

As is the case every year in these parts, May is the big dog as far as major rock & roll happenings in Ohio. Columbus is home to the Sonic Temple Festival (formerly Rock on the Range) and always brings in some of the biggest names in rock and metal music. This year is certainly no exception. We are going to start with that festival as they are bringing in the biggest metal band in the world and we will end in Cleveland with the biggest hard rock band in the world.

Next week, May 8-11, will mark the return of the massive Sonic Temple Music and Art Festival to Columbus at Historic Crew Stadium. In recent years it was expanded to four days and now even offers four stages of music. There will be over 100 performances over the course of the four days. The event is 97% sold out and it is definitely not cheap. If you haven’t already secured tickets, they can be purchased here. They do offer a “pay later” option if that is up your alley. If the event does not sell out, you will likely be able to score good deals on the days of the shows. I’ve bought from the long-time scalpers that stand on 17th Avenue before and they are usually pretty negotiable. Highlighting the four days will of course be Metallica. They will headline on Friday and Sunday and will play two entirely different set lists. No songs will be repeated. They will be supported on Friday by the legendary Alice Cooper and Rob Zombie. On Sunday, when they close out the festival, they’ll be supported by Alice In Chains. All of these bands put on phenomenal live shows.

Thursday May 8th will kick off the event and will be headlined by nu-metal titans Korn. Other great live bands that I’d recommend checking out are Three Days Grace, Poppy, Filter, and Killswitch Engage. . Joining Metallica on Friday will also be a thrash metal trio of Overkill, Testament, and Exodus as well as classic metal heroes Armored Saint from Canada. Saturday will welcome back Linkin Park to headline for the first time since 2014 when they headlined the former Rock on the Range. They will be supported throughout the day by bands such as Sick Puppies, Hoobastank, Trivium, Jimmy Eat World, Incubus, Bullet For My Valentine, and Crossfade. Lastly, joining Metallica and Alice in Chains on Sunday will be Chevelle, Swedish metal giants Arch Enemy, and the anticipated return of Power Trip.

Wednesday May 14th brings Nazareth to my favorite small venue; Columbus’ The King of Clubs. The 70’s rockers will be appearing there for the first time. Tickets are still available and range from $30 for general admission to $60 for floor seating. There are also tables available from $200-$300 depending on how many seats. I’ve never seen Nazareth, but think this should definitely be a show worth checking out.

May 19th brings two of the bigger hard rock acts of the 2000’s to Blossom Music Center up in Cuyahoga Falls. Six days later they will also visit Cincinnati’s Riverbend Music Center. The tour features Staind and Breaking Benjamin. I’ve seen both of these bands a number of times and they both sound great live. There are plenty of tickets available for both shows and those can be purchased right here.

On May 21st Billy Idol and Joan Jett & The Blackhearts will come to Cincinnati’s Riverbend Music Center. I haven’t seen Billy Idol live, but Joan Jett was great at the very first Sonic Temple back in 2019. There are plenty of tickets available in all sections of the large venue. They range in price from $22-$270 depending on location and can be purchased here.

May 23rd will bring another classic rock veteran to the Buckeye State. Pat Benatar will visit The Ohio State University’s Mershon Auditorium. Tickets are pricey and range from $65-$270. They can be bought here. I saw her open for Journey once and her show was fine. The tour will make stops in Sylvania (Toledo-ish) the next night and down on the river in Marietta on the 27th.

There is only one active band right now that could top the Metallica visit next week. Short of Pink Floyd or Led Zeppelin reuniting, that band is AC/DC. It’s been a long time since the boys from Down Under have played in Ohio and it very well could be the last time that they do. They will be playing in Cleveland for the final night of their tour on May 28th at Huntington Bank Field; home of the NFL’s Cleveland Browns. The show is nearly sold out and the few remaining seats range in price from $221-$360. If you can swing it, buy your tickets here, and go see one of the greatest rock acts of all time for possibly the final time. I’ve been fortunate enough to see AC/DC twice and can’t recommend it enough!

That’s all for May! June has some good stuff coming up too, but May is definitely the time to go see some live music!

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Metal music is alive and well in Louisville

It had been a very long time coming, for me to attend a real, full production concert. Actually, it had been 21 long months since my wife and I saw Korn and Breaking Benjamin in Columbus, before the world came to a screeching halt. As 2021 has progressed, I’ve been able to see some really good tribute bands and a couple weeks ago I was able to catch a small scale concert from 80’s rockers Great White. The lineup for yesterday’s final day of the Louder Than Life Festival in Louisville was too good to pass up and was just what I needed.

The Wife and I had planned to be down to Louisville in time to catch The Hu and Skillet but unfortunately, for us, Cincinnati happened. I’ve been driving for a lot of years. Never in my life has there been a casual drive through Cincinnati. I don’t know what it is about that town, but traffic delays there and between Florence and Kentucky Motor Speedway added considerable time to our voyage, unfortunately putting us there at the end of Skillet’s set.

Having been to many other Danny Wimmer Presents productions in the past, we explored the grounds for a little; making comparisons to Rock on the Range/Sonic Temple Music Festival. Concession prices were quite steep, but the atmosphere was great. More relaxed than some other festivals I’ve been too, we were able to make our way fairly close to one of my favorite bands, Sabaton. As they have each of the other three times I’ve seen them, they were phenomenal. While my wife couldn’t really see much, I’m hopeful that I was able to make a fan out of her. Joakim Broden and the boys from Sweden raced through a ten song set of most of their biggest hits as well as their new single. Virtually between every song, the band would pause long enough to let the deafening “Sabaton!” chants die down. As always, one of the best performances of the event.

Sabaton Set List per setlist.fm

  1. Ghost Division
  2. The Last Stand
  3. Swedish Pagans
  4. The Red Baron
  5. Carolus Rex
  6. Fields of Verdun
  7. The Attack of the Dead Men
  8. Primo Victoria
  9. Steel Commanders
  10. To Hell and Back

From there we went to the main stages area to see the rest of Breaking Benjamin, who had started before Sabaton had finished. As always, BB sounded great and it was fitting that we were able to see some of them in our first big concert, since they also played at the last show we had gone too 21 months ago.

After Breaking Benjamin finished up, it was on to the two main stage headliners for the evening. The festival could not have nailed it much better either. Judas Priest, one of the founding bands of heavy metal, are touring on their 50th anniversary. Sadly, they were only allotted a one hour time slot, which is just way too short for a band of Priest’s stature. Halford and the band were firing on all cylinders; albeit with some curious setlist choices, it did me good to see so many young people witnessing this band probably for the first time. The scream in “Victim of Changes” is still one of, if not the, best screams in heavy metal history.

Judas Priest Set List

  1. One Shot at Glory
  2. Lightning Strike
  3. You’ve Got Another Thing Coming
  4. Freewheel Burning
  5. The Green Manalishi (With the Two Prong Crown) *Fleetwood Mac cover w/ Kirk Hammett
  6. Turbo Lover
  7. Hell Patrol
  8. The Sentinel
  9. Victim of Changes
  10. Hell Bent for Leather
  11. Painkiller

After a short break, the main event of the festival took the stage for the second of their two headlining appearances of the weekend. Saying they had something special planned would be an understatement, as they played their self titled “black” album in its entirety. I’m not one of those people that says that Metallica sold out with that record. I’ve always thought that was a lazy take. Is it my favorite Metallica album? No. That would probably be And Justice For All. But, what the “black album” did for metal music cannot be ignored. It is the defining record that made metal acceptable in the mainstream & it has many songs that flat out jam. Is it thrash? No. Is it heavy metal? Yes.

As the band is celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of that record it was pretty cool to see the album played in its entirety in reverse chronological order. It’s my wife’s favorite record by the band also, so that was a cool moment being able to share that with her; at her first Metallica show. The band sounded fantastic as always. Some people might complain because it’s the edgy take, but DWP will never fail to sell out a festival when they’re able to secure the biggest metal band in history to headline his shows. Period.

Metallica Set List

  1. Hardwired
  2. The Four Horsemen
  3. Welcome Home (Sanitarium)
  4. The Struggle Within
  5. My Friend of Misery
  6. The God That Failed
  7. Of Wolf and Man
  8. Nothing Else Matters
  9. Through the Never
  10. Don’t Tread on Me
  11. Wherever I May Roam
  12. The Unforgiven
  13. Holier Than Thou
  14. Sad But True
  15. Enter Sandman
  16. Blackened *Encore*
  17. Creeping Death *Encore*
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First gig, post apocalypse

Still Life performing Iron Maiden’s Aces High

Prior to last Saturday night, the last show I’d been able to attend in person was KORN and Breaking Benjamin in January 2020. Those of you that know me, know that going over a year in between concerts is not really a thing. Alas, that is the world that we’ve been left with after the ongoing pandemic.

Much to my delight, some smaller venues are starting to host socially distanced events again, and I was quite pleased to be able to catch a band that’s been on my radar for a few years. Still Life, an Iron Maiden tribute band based out of Columbus, and their friends from Sanitarium (a local Metallica tribute) were booked to play a gig in Dublin. I had previously caught Sanitarium once before at the Al Rosa Villa as one of the opening acts for The Iron Maidens a few years back. On that same bill was a local Judas Priest cover band which is how I heard about Still Life. For whatever reason, I hadn’t been able to catch them until now.

And how fitting would it be, that my first live show since the pandemic, would be two tribute acts playing songs from two of my favorite bands; Metallica and Iron Maiden.

Sanitarium kicked off the night with a set that primarily focused on the 80’s thrash era of Metallica’s catalog. While their set was shorter than I’d have liked and I would have liked to hear some songs from each of the bands albums (minus St. Anger), time was limited and they kept it to the classics. The band sounded great, played the songs true to form, and had the packed crowd headbanging and singing along throughout the entirety of the set.

Sanitarium performing Metallica’s Ride The Lightning

Before moving on to the evening’s headlining act, I’d like to shout out the venue. It was the first time my wife and I had ventured to Last Call Music Bar and Grill and we were quite impressed. The women that made up the wait staff that night were fantastic to us. Our table was visited at least every fifteen minutes throughout the evening. Drinks and food were served with a smile and the hospitality was fantastic.

After briefly sound checking with 1982’s The Prisoner or Invaders (I don’t recall, just was surprised either way), the stage appeared to be set for the main event. Now, and this is being picky, the person controlling the house music has to know that it’s criminal to play anything other than U.F.O.’s Doctor Doctor as the last song before Maiden or its tribute brothers and sisters take the stage. But I digress.

As far as Maiden tribute bands go, I’ve seen three, this quintet might have been my favorite. From song choice and musicianship they were top notch. Post-gig we were able to mingle a little with lead singer, Rachl Raxx Quinn, who admitted to having to shake off some rust as the band hadn’t been able to play out in quite some time. Metalheads may also recognize her from her work in Graveshadow, a self described symphonic metal band from Sacramento that I’ve been listening to since speaking with her.

As stated, after brushing off some early rust, she and the rest of the band were on fire for the entirety of the night. Maiden is not an easy band to play or sing. The musicians sounded flawless and Quinn’s vocals hit the high notes of the Air Raid Siren himself. They raced through a set that almost entirely consisted of the 1982-1988 Bruce Dickinson era of Iron Maiden. This was a popular choice, as that era had a run of five albums that are essential to all Maiden fans. They completely ignored the Blaze Bayley era of the band in 90’s and only played one song since the “classic” lineup returned in 1999. If they do venture into any of the 90’s material, I think Quinn’s pipes could do a monster rendition of Lord of the Flies (the Bruce version from Death on the Road of course) as well as a great many of their post-reunion songs. Alas, this is the struggle of trying to contain a band with Maiden’s catalog into one concert set. You, quite literally, can’t please everyone.

Even so, the set had a great pace and the song choice was varied enough between staples and deep cuts that surely everyone left happy. I know that I was certainly stoked. I got to take in some live music. Iron Maiden music at that. It was a great night! Concerts are back! As a proper Maiden concert always ends: “Always look on the bright side of life….“

Still Life Set List 4/3/2021 Dublin, OH

  1. The Ides of March (1981)
  2. Wrathchild (1981)
  3. The Wicker Man (2000)
  4. 2 Minutes to Midnight (1984)
  5. The Trooper (1983)
  6. Revelations (1983)
  7. Flight of Icarus (1983)
  8. Still Life (1983)
  9. Aces High (1984)
  10. Wasted Years (1986)
  11. Powerslave (1984)
  12. The Number of the Beast (1982)
  13. Run to the Hills (1982)
  14. 22 Acacia Avenue (1982)
  15. The Evil That Men Do (1988)
  16. Seventh Son of a Seventh Son (1988)
  17. Hallowed Be Thy Name (1982)
Still Life performing Iron Maiden’s Wasted Years

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