Well, this is another of those DVD releases that are simply stripped off all the nice things a regular live recorded DVD contains. And this means no bonus material, no backstage footage and not even a cool looking menu. This time we get METALLICA's live show in Lisbon of Portugal on the 5th of June, 2008.
As it always happens in METALLICA's concerts there's a great deal of on-stage energy that flows from the stage to the crowd and back again. I strongly believe that METALLICA and SAXON are probably the best live bands every metalhead should watch at least once during their lives. METALLICA have been delivering excellent concerts even during their low moments when their albums did not face the most positive response (even though they sold big time). Well, this summer concert features the stage set that METALLICA used in this year's summer festival dates. And that is plain as it can be with plenty of space for the band to move around and a huge video wall in the back. The band comes with such these simply looks and makes the audience become focused in the music and the firework climaxes and that's totally fair with me. The place that hosted the concert looks packed with die hard METALLICA fans who participate in the concert by singing their lungs out and by sweating their arses off with headbanging and mosh pitting. The film direction helps the viewer to get a close look to this energetic crowd with many cameras scattered around. The only downside here is that the director seems that he/she was not 100% aware of METALLICA's show and thus loses some high points like the 'explosive' intro in One. During this the choice of having the footage from the camera in the back made the fireworks sound and look like child's play.  If you have been in METALLICA gig then you know what I am talking about. Apart from this complaint the filming is quite dynamic and gives many different aspects of the stage and crowd adequately capturing the aforementioned energy. The picture quality is a little better than average and I bet that if you watch this DVD in a bigger than 40 inches television set the 'pixel looks' will make an annoying appearance. On the other hand the sound is quite good and gives space to the audience that sounds totally cool during the classic singing parts with the highest moments of Nothing Else Matters, Enter Sandman and -of course- Seek And Destroy. My personal complaint has to do with the setlist that could have a St Anger song in it... (yes, I like this album).
If you have attended this show in Lisbon then you probably should buy this one since it is cool to have in DVD a concert you have been a part of. After all this release comes with a relative low price so if you are a Portuguese fan you know what to do. The rest of us we can move towards the more 'official' releases that come with additional material.
PS: During So What MACHINE HEAD joins METALLICA on stage and that looks totally cool!