So last night was the first of five nights where Craig Ferguson has Metallica as the house band and wow... things could have gone better for them.



Here's to hoping that by Friday they get their sound together. The vocals are always too loud in the mix when bands play on night time talk shows, but this was especially unforgiving audio for James. And I'm not a drummer, but I couldn't even bang my head to the beat that Lars was keeping. It would be nice to hear Kirk shred too.

The good news is that it can only get better from here. I'll be tuning in to see the rest of the songs they play ( I'm assuming it will be one from each of their first five albums ). If they play Master Of Puppets and it sounds good all is forgiven for the slaughtering of Hit The Lights that went down last night.
Good to see that they are in LA this week because I have a chance of maybe seeing Robert Trujillo out in the waves when the swell picks up on Thursday. He's always out in th water when they are in town.

I thought that was really good, all around. Especially on the guitar end of things (James/Kirk), they really tore it up. The only thing that kind of kills it is James' post-Black Album vocal crooning. Somebody needs to tie that guy in a chair, play him samples of his vocals and convince him he was so much better in the "less is more" vein. He sounds like a nu-country rock star wannabe and it's completely embarrassing for one of the most metal guys who existed for over a decade on this planet.

Maybe someone should on a piss, make Lemmy re-record a Motorhead classic with him uttering "OOOOH-YEAAAHHH" after every chorus. that would probably solidify the message.

"THE ACE OF SPADES, OH YEAH"
"THE ACE OF SPADES, OH YEAH"
"THE ACE OF SPADES, OH YEAH"

Anyway, I don't look to late night talk shows for rock, but that was semi-inspiring to see dudes nearing 50 years mostly recreate music they made 33 years ago.

And you're right on the Hammett mix. I see so much live music and poorly mixed stuff that I just took his performance on it's merit (which was shredderific!), but that solo at the end really needs to pop-out at you like a Jack-in-the-Box like it does on the album!

I wonder what they'll do tonight? I guess it'll be "For Whom the Bells Toll"? I saw Robert outside of the LA Forum when Heaven and Hell played there in 2007 and gave him the thumbs up. I guess the rest of the band was there but caverned off in the bowels of that monstrocity when things were actually happening.

This is the only the second time I've ever watched Craig Ferguson, but the dude is the only late night host who seems like he's coming off some sort of bender. It kind of rules.

They played "Fuel" last night, which is deep in the 'crap song bin' for the band if you ask me.
But the mix was much better. Still hoping they play "Master of Puppets". "Trapped Under Ice" would be ace as well.

I went to bed immediately after I found out it was gonna be Fuel.

I guess Ferguson has been sober for over 20 years (watched the Jane Lynch interview), so so much for my theory about him.

lolz.

Is it just me or are the guitars out of tune with each other?

Pretty good stuff:

Good stuff. Still such a great song. Been listening to that since I strapped a Sony cassette walkman to my belt-loop while BMX'ing around town, getting chased by dirtbags in shitty cars (and the occasional cop).

He's been the best late night talk show host for years now. The episodes when he has fellow Scots on are always good times.

It is really painful watching Mehtallica play live now. I wish i could put my finger on exactly why. Well, that's prolly true of all of the bands i was into during H.S. Strike that. Watching King Diamond live is still really cool.

Yes, that is what I would say; pretty good. The band does a really good job. Seeing Robert crabwalk through the bass stuff at the beginning gives me a twinge of annoyance (fuck this guy!), but otherwise the band does a great job given the constraints of a TV soundstage. James even keeps the histrionics to minimum. Good job, but a song that really needs to be FUCKING CRANKED for maximum effectiveness.

Interview with Matthew McConaughey is pretty good right now. Bummer I'm just finding out about this guy before his run is about to end.

Its James' lame metrosexual haircut. C'mon Hetfield get with the program. You're a metalhead scumbag. Embrace it.

(and what kind of guitar is James playing? Anyone? Can't he get himself a vintage Voyager?)

Last night was a coliseum tune on a tiny stage.

The finale:

So nothing from Puppets. Odd.

I hope they play more black album tonight.