Metallica Rule Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival

Posted on Aug 13th 2012 1:10PM by Carlos Ramirez Comments

Tim Mosenfelder, Getty Images

With a lineup featuring Neil Young, Stevie Wonder, Foo Fighters, Jack White and Sigur Rós, this year's Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival proved to live up to all its hype. But it would be one of heavy metal's elder statesmen that would steal the 3-day festivities this weekend (Aug 10-12).

On Saturday night, Aug. 11, the thunderous sound of Italian composer Ennio Morricone's "The Ecstasy of Gold" cut through the festival grounds, signaling the entrance of Metallica. Once the band invaded the stage with a ripping version of "Hit the Lights," it was clear that they came to kick all kinds of ass. After all, this was the group's hometown.

Metallica then tore into "Master of Puppets," featuring a rapturous sing-along from the capacity crowd. The thrash godfathers also brought the pyro madness to the festival, shooting off towering flame missiles throughout their set, especially during their take no prisoners performance of "Fuel."

Tim Mosenfelder, Getty Images

The night's set featured a healthy blend of Metallica's various periods and their respective style shifts, with '80s gems like "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)" sounding perfect next to late '90s single, "The Memory Remains." Especially potent was the 1-2 punch of the haunting instrumental "Orion" into Metallica's 1988 anti-war epic, "One." The band even treated the crowd to a newer, unreleased song called "Hell and Back" about halfway through the night.

After flooring the audience with 14 songs from their storied catalog, Metallica closed the first set of their Outside Lands performance with 1991's "Enter Sandman." Just a few minutes after exiting the stage, the band came back out and finished the night out with "Creeping Death," "Battery" and "Seek and Destroy." When all was said and done, even the hipsters in the crowd couldn't deny that Metallica owned day two of the festival.

Metallica, Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival setlist:

1. "Hit the Lights"

2. "Master of Puppets"

3. "Fuel"

4. "Ride the Lightning"

5. "Fade to Black"

6. "The Memory Remains"

7. "Hell and Back"

8. "Sad But True"

9. "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)"

10. "Orion"

11. "One"

12. "For Whom the Bell Tolls"