Metallica fans - so few of them of the casual variety - have a healthy skepticism for flashes in the pan. Somehow he has made himself one of pop's biggest stars of the moment - not that you'd know it judging by Friday's performance. "I'm sick of pop music!" he bellowed, somewhat disingenuously.
For the record: The guy's an entertainer, not a virtuoso. "Awful!" hollered one guy repeatedly as Kid Rock played his self-absorbed ballad "Only God Knows Why." For that number, the Kid accompanied himself on guitar a few songs earlier, he scurried through some real Renaissance Man shtick, taking turns on guitar, drums, keyboards and the turntables. The Kid's head-scratching hybrid act, a sloppy combination of hip-hop bravado and classic rock allegiance (ZZ Top, AC/DC, Lynyrd Skynyrd), felt out of place at a show that otherwise showcased metallic precision. Rock's current unexplained phenomenon, Kid Rock, welcomed the bulk of the crowd a little before 6 p.m., after opening-act doormats System of a Down and Powerman 5000 played their short sets in broad daylight. From the highest reaches of the bowl, however, where hundreds of less adventurous fans sprawled across the seats, the sound was appalling, a shapeless blob of rumblings and metallic thwacks that was totally out of sync with the images on the twin video screens. The sound in the pit was expertly balanced for an outdoor concert this size. Wearing his trademark black kilt with a matching sleeveless T-shirt, Davis glared at the audience, demanding its participation. Korn's improbably catchy sound is based on guitars that screech like mechanical malfunctions and Davis' creaky, on-the-verge vocals.
With at least half the huge audience mobbed onto the plastic floorboards covering the playing field, the band played an hourlong set in the waning sunlight, setting off cyclones of mosh-pit activity. Drawing more than 50,000 fans at $65 a pop, it was reported to be the single largest-grossing Bill Graham Presents concert to date.īakersfield's Korn, the neurotic metal band led by the dark-minded Jonathan Davis, got a strong reception from a crowd that was clearly partial to the headliners. The event was one of only a handful of rock shows ever held at Candlestick. Though four younger hard-rock acts, including Korn and Kid Rock, shared the bill on this Summer Sanitarium tour date, the members of Metallica made it clear they were a juggernaut among Tonka toys. God must have had other plans Friday because the huge orange bowl at Candlestick Point was recast as a makeshift temple for the hometown band. "When God is in the room," the young Christian replied evenly, "Metallica is nonexistent."
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