Metallica
Wasp
Armored Saint
Hartford Agora
Hartford, Connecticut
January, 1985
After being blown away by the sheer power that Metallica had presented back in July of 1983 when they opened for Raven, we braved the brisk, frigid air and waited in line for several hours to see Metallica on their first headlining tour of the US in support of “Ride the Lightning.” The band was no longer a little known support act, but rather a band quickly gaining its legs. The improvement and maturity from “Kill’em All” to “Ride the Lightning” was staggering. The Bay area thrashers brought fellow Californians, Wasp and Armored Saint along for the ride.
Armored Saint’s debut, “March of the Saint”, had been out for about a year was met with favorable reviews. They played the title track, “Can U Deliver”, “Mad House”, “Mutiny on the World”, “Seducer”, and “Glory Hunter.” Their costumes were a bit comical – Roman Centurion outfits equipped with swords! Wasp, on the other hand, was great, but the overwhelming desire to see Metallica had the crowd yelling ‘Blackie Ball-less’, ‘Wasp suck’, etc. And with Lars standing at the side of the stage in full view of the crowd, Wasp didn’t stand a chance. They do have several unquestionable gems such as “LOVE machine”, “I wanna be Somebody”, “Wild Child”, etc, but no matter how hard Blackie and company tried, we couldn’t wait for them to depart and make way for the mighty Metallica.
As a dark blue light and dry ice flooded the stage, the acoustic intro to “Fight Fire with Fire” rang out through the PA. Cue ecstatic response from the sold out crowd. James, Kirk and Cliff strolled onto the stage while Lars positioned himself behind his kit and hit their stride immediately as the crushing, faster than the speed of light riff that is “Fight Fire with Fire” crushed. There was a smattering of “Kill’em All” stuff and, of course, a wealth of new material to showcase including the title track, “For Whom the Bell Tolls”, “Call of Ktulu” with James sitting on the drum riser finger-picking the opening piece, “Creping Death”, and the immense “Trapped Under Ice,” Metallica had come of age in a very short period of time and there was now stopping them now!