NEVER BEFORE SEEN PHOTOS: Metallica Played Col Ballroom 38 Years Ago Today
1986. The launch of The Oprah Winfrey Show, Hands Across America, gas at 89 cents, and the release of Master of Puppets, Metallica's first taste of commercial success.
Released in March of 1986, the band's name was becoming known across the nation, and they'd find themselves in Davenport, Iowa at the now-closed Col Ballroom, joining the list of all-star alum of the venue - the likes of Duke Ellington, BB King, The Beach Boys, Chuck Berry, Johnny Cash, Jimi Hendrix, Danzig, Stevie Ray Vaughn, and so many more.
You're about to see never-before-seen concert photos, and the audio from the whole show - and after the show.
Metallica came to town May 30th, just two months into The Damage, Inc. tour, the last tour to feature bassist Cliff Burton, who would die later that year in the infamous bus crash.
The show was headlined by Metallica and featured opener Armored Saint.
The show went about as awesome as you'd imagine. The band had a killer setlist, especially for only having three of their albums out at this point, and if you watch the video below, the entirety of the show is available for listening.
Well, all but the first part of the opener (Battery) and last chunk of their closer (Motorbreath) because according to the sharer of the video, the band had to use the same tape recorder to play their intro and outro as they did to record their show.
Check out the setlist:
- Battery
- Master of Puppets
- For Whom the Bell Tolls
- Welcome Home (Sanitarium)
- (Anesthesia) Pulling Teeth
- Damage, Inc.
- Seek & Destroy
- Creeping Death
- Guitar Solo
- Am I Evil?
- Whiplash
Encore:
- The Four Horsemen
- Motorbreath
You can hear it in the recording right around the 51:00 mark, during Seek & Destroy, the recording cuts off suddenly, then resumes to what sounds like a sound check of some kind, with someone playing Hendrix's Voodoo Child to make sure things were working.
The band runs around all their instruments to make sure they have sound, and James Hetfield addresses the still cheering crowd.
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"Hi! Oh wow, I think, uh, everyone's a bit too loud and f***ed the f***ing thing up. Where do you want to start, Lars? We're gonna start the whole set over," he says as the band continues to noodle around on their instruments behind him - and then they rip straight back into Seek & Destroy.
As the show went on, they said goodbye, but came back for an encore. Then, Hetfield finds out they have time for a second encore, saying they've never had that opportunity before along this tour, so they played a TRUE encore of Four Horsemen and Motorbreath.
For the band, the night in Davenport didn't just end with them hitting the last few notes.
We talked with Mark Detl, who was at this show and got a once-in-a-lifetime experience with the band.
First off, after getting a chance to meet most of the band, Detl was able to snap a few photos that haven't been seen since they were developed, and he's been kind enough to let us share them.
One of the coolest, perhaps, is this photo of Lars Ulrich getting a kiss on the cheek from Armored Saint's Dave Pritchard - who would pass away from leukemia in 1990 at the age of 26.
After getting buddy-buddy with Cliff Burton, Detl told him he'd met everyone in the band - except Kirk Hammett.
Cliff told Detl that Hammett was already back at their room at the Blackhawk - so come on back and get introduced.
So, Detl walked with Cliff and James Hetfield back to the Hotel Blackhawk, but Hetfield had to make a quick stop at the Post Office along the way to mail something.
Listen: Mark Detl and Mike Mudd Talk Metallica Show
At the hotel room, Detl not only got to hang with the band, but he finally got that picture with Kirk Hammett and a cute photo of two buddies making their way into pop culture.
It's awesome to see the early beginnings of a band that can sell out any stadium in the world multiple nights in a row.