TOUR ARCHIVE

Date: 1998-08-28
Location: Irvine, CA - United States [8 shows here]
Venue: Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre [8 shows here]
Fan reviews: 2 - Add yours!
Author: JROCK1221@aol.com
Setlist: Yes

Goddamn what a night. Me and a couple of friends got to the venue about half an hour before scheduled showtime, we didn't actually get in our seats until Days Of The New was finishing up their first song ("Freak"). I have to say that I was very suprised at how good DOtN is live. Not only were they energetic and loud, Travis Meeks has got to be one of the best live performers I have ever seen as far as improvisation and stage presence. I have no complaints at all about their performance, but what pissed me off was that no one in the crowd seemed very interested at all. But I loved their show and it's too bad Travis is getting rid of the other three guys, they could've really been something.

The craziest thing that happened last night happened between the DOtN and Jerry Cantrell sets. Me and my friend got up to go get some earplugs, we got to the exit area when all of a sudden we heard loud shreiking and some punching going on. We turned around and saw two security guys strangling a middle aged guy who was either mentally disturbed or was on an extremely violent angel dust trip. In the end they ended up using four security guys to carry him out, each guy holding one of his arms or legs. Anyway, we became so wrapped up with watching that we didn't even notice Jerry had taken the stage.

We got back to our seats during the middle of his first song, I can't remember what it was called. He went on to do four Alice In Chains songs, I think 5 songs from Boggy Depot, and he closed with a Pink Floyd song which made the crowd go wild. Overall he was tight and did really well but he doesn't seem to be anything special without the rest of AIC behind him. Not to mention the Alice tunes sounded kind of empty without Layne singing with him. One thing I have to say about his band-the keyboard player is INSANE! He was bouncing all over the stage and carrying his entire keyboard stand with him for the whole hour. Pretty awesome stuff!

After about 45 minutes between sets, the lights went out and the "Ecstacy of Gold" intro was playing over the P.A. (the crowd went nuts over this by the way). James immediately started pounding out the riff to "Breadfan". The went on to do the full version of "Master Of Puppets", when James started playing the clean intro to the middle section, it was like a hairdryer from all the people screaming. They ended up playing the usual setlist for this tour, and I think other reviews have basically said it all - Pyro during "Fuel", "One", "Fight Fire With Fire" and "Enter Sandman", the crowd chant during "Memory Remains", and the mixed feeling from the crowd over the acoustic set. (The new version of Four Horseman scared the shit out of me, but I thought the rest was good).

This was honestly the best concert I've ever been to (that means better than Ozzfest '97, Aerosmith, Van Halen, Pantera, Dream Theater and a hell of a lot of others). And if there's anyone that's still pissed about the Load albums or has any doubt over Metallica's credibility as a genuine hard rock band-you haven't seen shit until you've seen this tour.