Words & Photos by Rod Snyder
93.3 WMMR’s 50th Birthday Finale show
Philadelphia’s own radio station 93.3 WMMR, has been celebrating it’s 50th anniversary all year long, by hosting concerts for it’s legions of fans. Tonights Metallica show, was the cherry on top of the golden cake. WMMR has been a Philadelphia staple on the FM dial since 1968 & is credited with helping launch the careers of Billy Joel & Bruce Springsteen. You may have seen one of it’s mainstay DJ’s Pierre Robert, who’s been with WMMR since 1981, at some of your favorite shows in and around the Philly area. You can find him chatting, taking pictures with fans and sometimes interviewing them as well. You know it’s a good show if you see him in attendance, which I did.
Metallica came out a few minutes before 9:00 PM, after comedian Jim Breuer warmed the crowd up with some laughs, playing music and having the crowd sing along to some metal staples like Ozzy, Iron Maiden, AC/DC, Judas Priest and a few others moments before the band took to the stage. The band has been playing in the round for this tour and is a unique experience for everyone, including the band. There were microphones all around the stage, so everyone can move around, but still be near a mic when it was time to sing or talk. Lars was on a raised platform, but it only seemed to move once during the show. The rest of the crowd had an equal helping of the band for the remainder of the night. The show began with a few tunes from their 2016 release “Hardwired…To Self Destruct”. They moved into some older, classic stuff from “Kill ‘em All”, “…And Justice For All” and “Ride The Lightning” for the middle section of the show. The song “Now That We’re Dead”, featured a middle section where all 4 members playing drums on 4 square platforms on the stage. Another short jam featured Rob Trujillo and Kirk Hammett playing snippets of the O’Jays “For The Love Of Money” and Fleetwood Mac’s “The Green Manalishi”, before leading right into “Phantom Lord”. One of the cool things to see at the concert, was the use of micro drones. During “Moth Into Flames” 4 doors on the stage floor opened up, 2 at a time, and the drones flew out and hovered above the stage and danced in unison. Throughout the song they’d fly back into the doors, and come out the other side. Nice to see the band incorporate new technology into their shows. Around this time, James took a few minutes to thank the crowd and talk to the 3 generations of fans, including one 13 year old, who’s father brought him to the show. Good parenting! The show picked right up and went into the last 3 songs of the main set, “Sad But True”, the war epic “One” and “Master of Puppets”. The band took a short break and came back out to kick a little more ass. They played 2 more songs, before finally ending with “Enter Sandman” from the bands self titled “Metallica” album. The building literally shook at times and wasn’t sure it would survive, but in the end everyone was able to walk out and appreciate what they had just witnessed. Metallica is an American classic mainstay, that can still sell out stadiums all over the world and by the looks of things, they have no plans of slowing down!
After it was all over, WMMR’s Golden Anniversary, was a rousing success. Hear’s wishing you another 50 years!!
Setlist:
Hardwired
Atlas, Rise!
Seek & Destroy
Harvester Of Sorrow
The Day That Never Comes
Now That We’re Dead
Creeping Death
For Whom The Bell Tolls
Welcome Home (Sanitarium)
Phantom Lord
Fuel
Moth Into Flame
Sad But True
One
Master of Puppets
Encore:
Spit Out The Bone
Nothing Else Matters
Enter Sandman
TheWaster.com | Brotherly Love
10.27.18
