Metallica Tribute Show @ TheBasement, Canberra (13/5/11)

Sun 15th May, 2011 in Gig Reviews

Given the overwhelming success of the Nirvana Tribute only a month or so prior, it seems only natural that The Basement would try to keep a good thing running with a tribute to the equally influential and defiantly relevant thrash icons Metallica. Unfortunately a plethora of issues plaguing the event made it difficult to tolerate, making the whole thing feel like torture.

Perhaps it was the inhospitable cold that has swallowed Canberra which kept people away on the night. Perhaps it was simply because most people already got their fix when Hetfield and co. visited our shores last year. It’s even possible that the more cynical – a trait all too synonymous with metal heads – didn’t really find the prospect of hearing Metallica butchered and hacked apart with wanton abandon hammered into their skulls through a lousy mix an inviting one. Whatever the reason not to show, it was a valid excuse. A better tribute could’ve been found in any suburban living room with three drunken teenagers who broke into their parents liquor cabinet playing Guitar Hero: Metallica till 3am.

Call me old fashioned, but when the words ‘Metallica’ and ‘tribute’ are thrown next to each other, one thing springs instantly to mind; covers. Double Team shamelessly took the stage without a single Metallica song in the set-list. “We’re all really big Metallica fans, we just don’t know how to play any of their songs,” conceded the guitarist, before plunging into another generic trend-core number. Not taking the time to learn even one Metallica song (which, lets be honest, isn’t that big a challenge) made the music hard to swallow and gave the whole thing a surreal state of disillusion. A few ventured forth for a better look, while the bar experienced a sudden increase in activity as some sought to drown their disappointment. It seems that Double Team forgot that you can’t have a Metallica tribute without Metallica.

After a lengthy intermission (in which Megadeth inexplicably played over the PA) Reign of Terror thankfully got the ball rolling with For Whom the Bell Tolls to strong approval; leaving some thinking that perhaps the night wasn’t all lost, only to bring reality crashing down once more when the song was abandoned mid way through. A sloppy rendition of Seek and Destroy lurched and spluttered about without any semblance of cohesive rhythm that made Lars Ulrich look like a wizard behind the skins. An incoherent mix that became painfully unlistenable troubled the entire set, flaring up to the point where refuge had to be taken outside. The prospect of two more bands ham fisting their way through any more Metallica standards become too much, your intrepid reporter opting to bail and watch the Big 4 DVD instead and pay proper tribute to a band who rightfully deserves it.

Anyone with the patience to hunt down a dictionary will happily recite the definition of ‘tribute’ as ‘a thing said or done given as a mark of respect or affection’. What happened on Friday night at The Basement was the polar opposite; a joke that quickly snowballed into a venomous insult.