Random day-off Metallica musings...

One of my coworkers, who's a bigger Metallica fan than I am, was telling me yesterday about the (not-a-)-surprise show the guys played at this year's South by Southwest music festival in Austin, for about 2,000 people at the legendary Stubb's Barbecue. Some lucky farkers, the folks who made it to that show. Anyway, he rattled off the set list...

Creeping Death
For Whom the Bell Tolls
Harvester of Sorrows
One
Broken, Beat and Scarred
Cyanide
Sad But True
Welcome Home (Sanitarium)
Master of Puppets
Blackened
(encore)
Breadfan
Whiplash
(second encore)
Seek and Destroy

I laughed and asked him, "You notice any particular time period that was left out there?"
"Yeah, about 13 years or so!" (the Load-Reload-new Garage record-St. Anger era)
I told him it seemed to me that the band was trying to win back the older fans they ran off during that time, and he agreed. Looking at some of the setlists from the North American tour on livemetallica.com gives one that impression as well, as the bulk of the sets were from the first five albums (Kill, Ride, Master, Justice and Black) and Death Magnetic. I'd be surprised if anyone really missed much from that era, although it did have its high points.
I also found out that ex-bassist Jason Newsted was going to be playing with them when they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. That one REALLY surprised the hell out of me, as I'd heard they did not part on a good note and that there had been bad blood between them ever since. I guess they must have made up since then...