metallica out in the cold

...that's out in the really really cold. In Antarctica to be precise.
Rather spectacular it was too , maybe not so much the sound if you weren't there as the whole show was done under headphones. The audience and the band get headphones and away they go. No giant stacks making the wildlife quake in their fur and feathers here.
No doubt when you've been on the ice for a few months the amassed science teams were up for this one in a big way. For the rest of us hearing the captured sound from the mixer line out it's a slightly disembodied experience, and for the first few minutes it sounds like the band were experiencing something similar. A disjointed and shaky start has Lars Ulrich sounding like he's kicking the kit down a flight of stairs with the guitars less shredding more mistiming.
But they get it right after a couple of numbers and it does make for compelling viewing watching them and the audience delight at being in their plastic geodesic dome at the Earth's southernmost continent.
Part of the audience chanting that familiar European serenade "Ole..Ole.. Ole" rather shows most have them had no idea what was going on, but they were still having fun away from their computers. It all worked well environmentally speaking as the paddling seagulls were unruffled throughout the set.
Less cheerful fans back in warmer surrounds have branded the set list as shitty. Terrible sound. Guitar playing sounds weak and sloppy. But they all miss the point. Metallica took their music to the ends of the Southern Hemisphere and no one else can say that.
You'll need to turn the sound up as it's not the usual live metal saturation from beneath the headset and the video begins a few minutes in when they begin their set.
Lets leave the last words to them..
"The energy in the little dome was amazing! Words cannot describe how happy everyone was."