METALLICA Kicks Off Australian Tour In Melbourne: Photos, Review Available

METALLICA kicked off its Australian tour earlier tonight (Wednesday, September 15) at a sold-out Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne.

In his review of the concert, Ronny Lerner of Australia's long-running rock station Triple M writes, "James Hetfield's voice still does more than an adequate job and he combined with Kirk Hammett to put on a guitar master class as they ripped through some of their most legendary riffs and solos.

"How Lars Ulrich can still pull off lightning-quick thrashy drum beats at the age of 46 is truly astonishing and Robert Trujillo is simply a monster on the bass. His presence on the stage was unmistakable as he prowled around like a lion stealthily stalking its prey."

METALLICA's setlist for tonight's concert was a follows:

01. That Was Just Your Life
02. The End Of The Line
03. For Whom The Bell Tolls
04. Fuel
05. Fade To Black
06. Broken, Beat & Scarred
07. No Remorse
08. Sad But True
09. Welcome Home (Sanitarium)
10. All Nightmare Long
11. One
12. Master Of Puppets
13. Blackened
14. Nothing Else Matters
15. Enter Sandman
- - - - - - - -
16. Am I Evil?
17. Whiplash
18. Seek and Destroy

Check out photos from Triple M, The Sydney Morning Herald.

Rough fan-filmed video footage of the "One" performance from tonight's concert can be viewed below.

METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich has told England's Classic Rock magazine that more "Big Four" shows, featuring METALLICA along with SLAYER, ANTHRAX and MEGADETH, could happen in 2011 or 2012. Ulrich said, "The vibe on this thing is so big, we'd be stupid to ignore it. You know on your iPhone, you can move the weather maps up and down? Well, the 'Big Four' is quickly moving up to the top in terms of potential occurrences for the next couple of years."

The "Big Four" package played festivals across Europe throughout the early part of summer, with the four veteran speed metal bands sharing the stage together for the first time ever. Although there were no U.S. dates, one of the shows in Bulgaria was beamed via satellite to U.S. movie theatres.

The possible recurrence of the "Big Four" tour may put plans on hold for METALLICA to stage a massive live show next year that co-manager Peter Mensch said last March would rival PINK FLOYD's "The Wall" and would play just 10 dates.

Ulrich admitted that such a project has been on the band's minds, saying, "We have been kicking some ideas around about doing some stuff that — how shall I say it — is pretty theatrical . . . We might incorporate a lot of different ideas, instead of it being one particular thing. It would be a multitude of theatrical elements, maybe as an idea for a one-off tour or something."

Although Ulrich says that he's looking forward to taking "at least six months off" once the band completes its current tour this fall, he added, "I would champion trying to do (the 'Big Four' tour) in 2011 or 2012, obviously in England and the United States. It's just a matter of logistics."