Metallica keeps its edge in ‘Night Before’ Super Bowl show

[...] Metallica made a good argument that the local band deserved the bid, and not just because members built their fame in clubs a bike ride away from Super Bowl City.

Like punk and rap, heavy metal works best when the artists have an edge, and the Super Bowl snub, real or imagined, seemed to provide one.

Whether they’re performing, going through group therapy on film, or trying an ill-advised new direction, the band remains earnest.

The set list seemed made for the widest audience, leaning on crowd-pleasers and the more melodic corners of their catalog, starting with the Reagan-era face melter “Creeping Death” and ending with “Enter Sandman” at the encore.

“Seek and Destroy” was equally blistering and a victory lap of sorts; it was played during Metallica’s earliest shows at San Francisco venues including the Old Waldorf on Battery Street and the Stone on Broadway.

Billed as “CBS Radio’s the Night Before,” the concert was the debut for a stage production that will travel in a yet-to-be-solidified tour.

Animations, quick edits, extreme close-ups and effects including dripping blood and broken glass further served to distance Metallica members from the fans.

With views so horrible in a stadium show, the producers should default to a panoramic view, so the crowd in the cheap seats can actually see the band.