After raising hell in California earlier this spring, the heavy- metal summit called the Big Four, featuring headliner Metallica along with Megadeth, Slayer and Anthrax, landed in Yankee Stadium last night for the ultimate headbangers ball.
The wall of Marshall amps was cranked to 11, and kids in the ballpark pumped fists and whipped their hair to the monstrous beat of the thrash-metal music.
There were scores of cops, security guys, EMS workers and even the New York City chapter of the Hells Angels.
Right from the start, when Anthrax hit the stage for its very early 4 p.m. slot, the collective goal of artists and audience alike seemed to be to peel the paint off the walls with violent volume and loosen the bolts that held the joint together, with the bounce of dance moves.
Of the opening three acts before Metallica took the stage at 9 p.m., Anthrax was the outfit that owned The Bronx.
Over the course of an hour, the quintet wowed the fans with cornerstones of their songbook such as “Indians,” “Thrashing Mad” and “I Am The Law.”
Megadeth was the second band to play and was the least successful act on the bill. Lead singer Dave Mustaine told the house he had just had neck surgery earlier in the week, adding “I shouldn’t even be here.” He was right.
Slayer was the heaviest band on the bill. Their set was pure brute force. The shred guitar solos were impossibly fast, and the drumming made thunder sound tame.
As the headliner, Metallica got a full two-hour set, which was twice as long as everyone else’s, but there were no complaints, since they were the act with universal rock appeal. While the other bands were less production oriented, Metallica pulled all the stops with excellent video work, fireworks, flamethrowers and exotic stage effects.