Metallica toasts latest chapter in 'long standing love affair with Detroit' at Ford Field

At the very end of Metallica's two-hour performance at Ford Field on Friday night, which unfolded in front of a crowd that appeared to rival Garth Brooks' record-setting 70,000-plus at the venue in Feb. 2020 — final crowd figures weren't immediately made available — drummer Lars Ulrich took the microphone and talked about the first time Metallica played Metro Detroit.

It was in 1985 — "38 f---ing years ago" is how Lars put it — at the Royal Oak Music Theatre on the band's "Ride the Lightning" Tour. He took a brief survey, asking how many fans in attendance were at that show, and didn't get many cheers. The band members themselves may have been the only ones present on both nights.

He went on to list off all the other times the band has played the area: concerts at Joe Louis Arena, Cobo Arena, the Palace of Auburn Hills, Pine Knob, the Silverdome, Comerica Park, and even Belle Isle, which hosted the band's two-day Orion Festival in 2013. A lot of concerts, a lot of heavy riffs, some different haircuts, but a lot of memories.

"We have a long standing love affair with Detroit," Ulrich said, "and we f---ing love you, Detroit."

And Detroit loves the band back, which is why all these decades later, Metallica is still packing 'em in. And they'll pack 'em in again on Sunday, the second night of the band's Detroit double dip, and the band's final concert on its current leg of its M72 World Tour.

More:Metallica in Detroit: Everything you need to know ahead of the band's two Ford Field shows

They keep coming back because no one does it quite like Metallica. No band has been heavier for longer. No band has exposed itself to more ridicule, a lot of it from its own fans. (Nobody is harder on Metallica than Metallica fans.) No band has spent more time at the top of the metal mountain and stayed up there, weathering storms, battling demons, overcoming addictions, admitting mistakes, being human, being fallible, being wrong, being right, coming out stronger because of it all and living to tell the tale. It's Metallica, it's only Metallica, it was only ever Metallica. And judging by the scene Friday night, it doesn't seem so lonely at the top.

That's because its fans are the "Metallica family," as frontman James Hetfield called the crowd on Friday, and yes, families fight. That's allowed. But they love each other, families, as well as Metallica and their fans. When you get down to it, it's just one big ol' love fest, covered in tattoos, black T-shirts and patch-covered jean jackets and vests.

Friday's love fest was a 16-song, two-hour affair, unfolding in-the-round at the Lions' home, on a giant stage positioned at the center of the stadium, which was essentially a circle walkway with fans surrounding all sides as well as packed into its center. Eight massive towers, each housing huge video screens up top, surrounded the set-up, as stacks of speakers hung above the stage and NFL-worthy cameras zipped along on wires above the band's heads, capturing the action and beaming it onto the video screens. It was a dazzling production, effective but not overbearing.

The setlist pulled from every decade of the band's now-five decade career and from nine different albums, the heaviest samplings — three songs apiece — coming from "Master of Puppets," "The Black Album" and this year's "72 Seasons." (The only two studio albums not touched were 1996's "Load" and 2003's "St. Anger.") It was a healthy sampling of the band's output, unified by its heavy sound, and proof that Metallica, all these years later, has never eased off the gas.

The band's promise on this tour is no repeats between concerts in any given city, and some biggies ("Enter Sandman," "Whiskey in the Jar," "One") were left off the table on Friday. There's no guarantee they'll show up on Sunday, but they're safe bets, if you're the gambling type. (Sunday's openers are Five Finger Death Punch and Ice Nine Kills; Friday's was Wolfgang Van Halen's Mammoth and Texas hard rockers Pantera, who turned in a straightforward and brutally effective performance.)

"Ride the Lightning's" "Creeping Death" opened Friday's festivities, as fans pumped their fists in unison both on the floor and in the stands. "Harvester of Sorrow," "Through the Never" and "Leper Messiah" followed, hard hitters as Hetfield and his bandmates — Ulrich, guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo, who has now been with the band for 20 years — kept in close proximity, never wandering too far from each others' orbit.

Hetfield's banter was loose but nimble, and he entered positive affirmation mode when discussing "Fade to Black," which centers on suicide. He encouraged fans who harbor suicidal thoughts to not keep them to themselves, but to share them with anyone who will listen. "We need you here," he said. "You are not alone!"

Again, family. And Hetfield, 60 — the band members are ages 59 and 60 — was soon lightening back up, shouting out a kid in the crowd with a sign that said he was attending his first concert, as well as the dad who brought him there. "I wish my dad took me to a Metallica concert," Hetfield said.

Hetfield also referenced Cliff Burton, Metallica's original bassist who died in 1986, at the close of "Orion," from "Master of Puppets." ("We miss you Cliff," he said.)

Earlier in the night, a picture of the frontman standing outside the office of Detroit Lions coach and well known Metallica superfan Dan Campbell was posted to social media, with the caption, "wish you were here, Coach!" (The Lions play Sunday in Los Angeles.)

The evening was grouped in several small suites, with the band positioning itself in different spots, as Ulrich's drum set changed positions on the stage. At one point, Trujillo and Hammett presented a new jam they titled "Primo," an instrumental which Trujillo said they came up with while eating pasta the night prior. Later in the show, during "Fuel," flames shot out from the stage and fireworks burst above the stage, both firsts in the show in what was otherwise an understated production.

"Nothing Else Matters" and "Sad But True," rock radio staples to this day, were the biggest pure hits of the night, and they came back-to-back in the final half of the show. The deified "Seek & Destroy" and "Master of Puppets" closed the night, their power still commanding, as though they were carved from stone. There was no proper encore, it wasn't needed.

The theme of the evening was family, but also resilience, proven by the fact that Metallica is still working at a high enough level to stage two Detroit stadium concerts 40 years after the release of its debut album. Maybe they're indestructible because they've never pretended to be indestructible, and their destructibility has just made them more human, and relatable. Yes, Metallica are metal gods. But mostly they're survivors.

agraham@detroitnews.com

Metallica at Ford Field set list, Nov. 10

1. "Creeping Death"
2. "Harvester of Sorrow"
3. "Through the Never"
4. "Leper Messiah"
5. "Lux Æterna"
6. "Too Far Gone"
7. "Fade to Black"
8. "Shadows Follow"
9. "Orion"
10. "Nothing Else Matters"
11. "Sad But True"
12. "The Day That Never Comes"
13. "Hardwired"
14. "Fuel"
15. "Seek & Destroy"
16. "Master of Puppets"