Hardwired... at the Speed of Light

After a good couple months of waiting for it to actually happen, I can now say that I have lived two epic days of my life seeing two bands on Saturday that I've seen already. On Sunday it was my first time ever catching this one band, thus I have now completed on seeing all of the Big Four at last!

I was seeing both Iron Maiden with Ghost, and Metallica.

I waited 15 years to actually see Metallica which means I was 8 years old at the time. I was too young to go to concerts and the last time they were here was back in 2008 / 2009. Being that they don't really tour anymore, they are more likely to play at Heavy MTL in Montreal, Quebec. I ended up buying the ticket as part of the fanclub pre-sale days before they went on sale to the public.

Before I get into that, I will tell you all about my experience with Iron Maiden w/ Ghost.

Iron Maiden w/ Ghost - July 15, 2017 (Fourth Ritual for Ghost)

This would be my third time seeing Iron Maiden as I see it being tradition for seeing them every time they come to Toronto. Ghost joining them for this tour shown that it would be my fourth ritual seeing them, and it was my friend Emily's third ritual. This show would be at the Budweiser Stage which previously had been the Molson Canadian Amphitheatre.

We took the train to the Exhibition and walked around as there was the Derby racing going on. Once at the venue, we got our tickets scanned and entered the venue. I bought a pizza to munch on before the show, as Ghost would come on at 7:30pm.

The music of the choir wasn't present, but they did have the intro music with the dark choir from that one Stanley Kubrick movie. That was the sign when I knew I was going to see the Popestar once again as he and the other ghouls take the stage.

The band opened up with their current hit single Square Hammer, and as usual they rocked the house even if the setlist itself was short featuring only seven of their songs. Papa Emeritus III sounds phenomenal as always, and the sound of the guitars and drums blew me away.

From the rumors I heard at the sound booth being now true, James Hetfield of Metallica was at this show rocking out to Ghost. I think even Papa pointed him out but I can't remember.

Thank you Ghost for the fourth ritual.

Ghost Setlist

1. Square Hammer
2. From the Pinnacle to the Pit
3. Ritual
4. Cirice
5. Year Zero
6. Absolution
7. Mummy Dust
8. Monstrance Clock

After Ghost had wrapped up their set, next up were the heavy metal legends from the United Kingdom itself...

Bruce Dickinson sounded amazing like always when his voice opens up the show for their first song If Eternity Should Fail. It was the same setlist as it was when I was seeing the band at the Air Canada Centre last year - so not really much difference. He happened to have been flying over Hamilton from reports before heading to the show to perform, as he is also a pilot as well. In fact, he actually flies the tour plane everywhere when on tour with Iron Maiden.

They had the pyro as usual on their special songs and even brought out the British flag to wave around during The Trooper. Bruce dressed up as a Britain soldier for that song. Guitars sounded crisp to the bone but I didn't catch any attention on the microphones for the vocals cutting out during the set.

For the encore, they played the same set, but didn't have Hallowed By Thy Name like they did at the 2016 show. Thank you Iron Maiden for coming back to Toronto, and here's to hoping that I will see all of you again in the future again.

Iron Maiden Setlist

1. If Eternity Should Fail
2. Speed of Light
3. Wrathchild
4. Children of the Damned
5. Death or Glory
6. The Red and the Black
7. The Trooper
8. Powerslave
9. The Great Unknown
10. The Book of Souls
11. Fear of the Dark
12. Iron Maiden
13. The Number of the Beast
14. Blood Brothers
15. Wasted Years

I did get to purchase an Iron Maiden shirt finally from this show, and I also ended up buying a Ghost shirt and an Iron Maiden patch, so here's a picture of the merch with the ticket:

Metallica w/ Avenged Sevenfold & Volbeat - July 16, 2017

The next morning, I was already prepared to see the American legends for the first time. I had my Will Call papers ready, and I took the train in the afternoon to head to Union Station in Toronto. Once I arrived, I went to the venue and purchased some merchandise which was two shirts and a poster in a tube. The shirts were $45 and the poster was $50. Please give me a discount Lars for the love of Celestia.

I waited until 4pm for the doors to open up, and I managed to enter in with my ticket scanned and I got onto the floor while there was a DJ scratching tunes for the audience while the first band was waiting to come up on stage.

Making sure to keep myself from getting overheated by the large amount of people on the floor with me, I went and bought some water. There I was then, watching as the opening act took to the stage.

Volbeat

The band itself sounded rather interested and it almost reminded me a lot of the modern metal bands that I have seen like Slipknot and Disturbed. I felt like they did a really good job entertaining the audience and there was a load of girls that were just screaming. Hey, the members were even wearing Blue Jays jerseys so they have earned my respect big time.

Volbeat Setlist

1. The Devil's Bleeding Crown
2. Seal the Deal
3. Lola Montez
4. Heaven nor Hell / A Warrior's Call
5. Sad Man's Tongue
6. 16 Dollars
7. Black Rose
8. Dead but Rising
9. Still Counting

Avenged Sevenfold

Loads of my friends on the internet or off the internet are huge fans of A7X, so when I found that I was going to see them in concert - I am pretty sure that they are going to be jealous. Another friend of mine was at this show but was sitting in a different spot so I didn't see him.

The band sounded just as I thought they would when I heard them a few times. They did play two songs from the album Nightmare which was known for featuring the famous past member of Dream Theater Mike Portnoy. Synyster Gates did a great job playing the lead guitar for this show, and maybe one day if I listen to A7X a little more - maybe I'll go to another one of their concerts in the future.

Avenged Sevenfold Setlist

1. The Stage
2. Afterlife
3. Hail to the King
4. Almost Easy
5. Buried Alive
6. Bat Country
7. Nightmare
8. God Damn
9. Unholy Confessions

After a bit of a wait and of the DJ mixing up some tunes, eventually the room went dark and they played a clip from one of those famous Western cowboy films. Then there are flashes on the screen of all four of the members along with the new kick-ass riff as they hit the lights at last.

Metallica

James, Lars, Kirk and Robert opened up the night with Hardwired, the first song on their latest and newly released album Hardwired... To Self-Destruct. The guitars sounded just like it was on the album hearing it for the first time. They also played a load of their classics from their previous eras, including For Whom the Bell Tolls.

One problem was the fucking few people I ran into getting absolutely drunk and shouting random-ass shit that isn't necessary at all. None of them threatened anyone, but they would just shout stuff like "Turn off the music!" while waiting for the bands. Other than that, I didn't really have another problem.

For their set, they had everything from pyro to fireworks at their show, and it went both in and out with a bang. They even played songs I knew like One, Sad but True, Master of Puppets and Wherever I May Roam. Rob managed to also play the infamous bass solo Anesthesia (Pulling Teeth) which was famous for being played by the late Cliff Burton.

Seek & Destroy was also performed before the encore began, and they brought a middle school aged boy up onto the stage to play on the drums for that song. Once the final three songs began, they finished the night with Blackened, Nothing Else Matters and the 90s hit Enter Sandman. I was really lucky that I had ear plugs in my ears, otherwise I would have ended up going deaf by the loud banging of the fireworks.

Thank You Metallica for a great night, and I hope to see you again soon! Toronto Loves You!

Metallica Setlist

1. Hardwired
2. Atlas, Rise!
3. For Whom the Bell Tolls
4. Fuel
5. The Unforgiven
6. Now That We're Dead
7. Moth into Flame
8. Wherever I May Roam
9. Halo on Fire
10. Hit the Lights
11. Sad but True
12. One
13. Master of Puppets
14. Fade to Black
15. Seek & Destroy
16. Blackened
17. Nothing Else Matters
18. Enter Sandman

For the merch that I bought, here they are:

When the show ended, I managed to get Kirk Hammett's guitar pick for this show that was customized for that day. A picture of it:

Well, that's pretty much it for now. I have now wrapped up on all of the July concerts, and my next concert month will be in September as I will be seeing Deep Purple w/ Alice Cooper. With my friend Emily, we together will be seeing Epica w/ Lacuna Coil, Insomnium & Elantris and Scorpions w/ Megadeth.

Until then, I'll be continuing the Xandria album reviews.

\m/ Brayden \m/