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Metallica prove they’re masters of doing whatever they want

BC Place concert confuses, confounds but ultimately satisfies diehard fan
metallica
Last night’s Metallica concert at BC Place was a smorgasbord for the senses with as much head scratching as there was head banging. Photo Lisa King

There was a delicious amount of cognitive dissonance in the air Monday night at BC Place.

Taiko drums. A DJ set. A 6 p.m. start time.

How any of those disparate elements add up to “heavy metal show” I’m still not sure, but Metallica made the heavy metal boat float just the same and everyone from the five-year-old to the 65-year-old ate it up in spades.

Taking to the stage shortly after 8:35, a couple of new tracks start off the night: “Hardwired” and “Atlas, Rise!” Not bad for a bunch of old coots.

“For Whom the Bell Tolls” is third on the docket and it’s at that point that the diehards start to take notice.

Pro tip: it’s usually a good idea to start your set with the classics, kids. Unless, of course, you are Metallica. Then you can do whatever you want, a point made painfully apparent when a Taiko drum circle broke out in “Now That We’re Dead.”

A head scratcher to be sure, although the pain soon subsides as the Bay Area veterans dive into the back catalogue, specifically their first four albums: “Whiplash,” “One,” “Seek and Destroy,” “Fade to Black” and “Fight Fire With Fire” send the air guitar to 11.

“Master of Puppets” is the absolute highlight of the set.

A smattering of Black album tunes are thrown into the mix, presumably to ensure that the mediocre-at-best offering continues to sell an ungodly amount of copies 26 years after its release. “Nothing Else Matters” and “Enter Sandman” close out the night, to the surprise of no one.

Proving they aren’t completely tone deaf, Metallica does the crowd a major solid by almost entirely avoiding the steaming pile of turds that spanned most of the ’90s and 2000s. Mercifully, only one song — “The Memory Remains” — is played from an era marked by whining over Napster, terrible snare drum tones and hiring a life coach to navigate the many nuances of being uber rich and famous.

Those who showed up to complain about Lars Ulrich’s drumming acumen would have done well to see the night’s openers, French progressive metallers Gojira. Mario Duplantier’s drumming is as textured as it is barbaric, and it’s the backbone (see what we did there?) of a phenomenal set.

Avenged Sevenfold’s spot on the bill is no less confusing than the decision to have Mix Master Mike — formerly of Beastie Boys fame — open up the proceedings.

Why is someone spinning wax before blastbeats are about to be played? And more importantly, why is he butchering thrash metal classics from Slayer by giving them a “in da club” feel?

High treason on that scale was simply unforgiveable, but therein lies Metallica’s secret to longevity: they can pretty much do what they want, for as long as they want, and they’ll always get away with it.