LaunchDaily
5/9/2012
Video footage has surfaced online of Metallica's first-ever performance in its entirety of its self-titled 1991 fifth album, also known as the "black album." The band played all 12 tracks from the album in reverse order on Monday night (May 7th) at the opening night of the group's European tour in Prague, the Czech Republic. Two of the tracks, "Don't Tread On Me" and the record's closing number, "The Struggle Within," had never been played live before Monday night's show.
Monday night's set also contained a number of non-"black album" favorites such as "Hit The Lights," "Blackened," "One" and "Seek And Destroy."
It was Metallica that arguably kicked off the current trend of bands playing key albums from their catalogs from start to finish when they played 1986's Master Of Puppets from front to back on a 2006 summer European trek.
Frontman James Hetfield told us a while back that demand from the fans led the group to perform that record in its entirety: "It was more of the fans asking for that than us wanting to do it. We got so many people saying, 'Hey, don't you know it's the 20-year anniversary of Master Of Puppets and blah blah blah blah blah' and I don't really pay attention to dates too much. So it felt like it was asked for, and it made more sense."
This time around, European promoters asked if the band would consider playing the "black album" from end to end, drummer Lars Ulrich told Kerrang! magazine.
Metallica will play both the complete "black album" and, for the first time, its entire 1984 effort Ride The Lightning at its own Orion Music & More festival, scheduled for June 23rd and 24th in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
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