Piet Levy

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

"Don't be scared," Metallica frontman James Hetfield warned the crowd at the Milwaukee Bucks' new Fiserv Forum arena Tuesday.

"I see old people."

The 55-year-old Hetfield included himself in that group, and the mosh pits were noticeably smaller and less intense Tuesday than longtime fans might have remembered.

But Fiserv Forum was packed — about 18,000 people, occupying practically every inch surrounding the boxing-ring-style stage in the center of the arena floor — a sold-out crowd that included plenty of "the youth," as Hetfield called them.

At its first Milwaukee concert in eight years — the kickoff for an impressive week of rock shows at the arena with Foo Fighters, Eagles and Twenty One Pilots — Metallica spent the bulk of its two-hour-and-18-minute set drowning out the mighty roars of the masses with their monstrous songs.

And the band, to its credit, tried some new tricks, admittedly with mixed results.

For "Moth Into Flame," a highlight of Metallica's solid 2016 album "Hardwired … To Self-Destruct," a few dozen illuminated, palm-size drones fluttered and circled above the thrashing foursome, a dazzling display that never overshadowed the metal magic happening below.

Less impressive, though, was the outro for "Hardwired" song "Now That We're Dead," during which the four bandmates drummed together from individual sets embedded in video cubes — except the four men together couldn't come close to resembling the kick-drum-rumbling intensity Lars Ulrich routinely unleashed on his own.

There also was a nice gesture — albeit roughly executed — in which guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo played a medley that kicked off with a rendition of "Gone Daddy Gone" by Milwaukee band Violent Femmes.

But when it came to the hits, Metallica was a beast — to the point where a performance of "Fuel" was so incendiary that the 20-foot-flames that accompanied it felt redundant.

Trujillo and Hammett, crouched with instruments in hand, stalked each other across the stage during a tense "For Whom The Bell Tolls," while Hammett transformed his brooding guitar riffs for "The Unforgiven" into soaring displays of note-scaling mastery with split-second precision.

Hetfield dedicated "Sad But True" to a 12-year-old fan in the front row, dropping to his knees in front of her at the end, banging the head of his guitar on the stage to create an agonizing, alien and electrifying sound.

And after locking in with Hammett's tender guitar balladry at the start of "Nothing Else Matters," Hetfield exhaled deeply, supplying the signature snarl, and arguably a bit more depth, than he was able to muster as a younger man.

At show's end, when one by one Metallica's members took to the mic to offer their thanks, Ulrich reminisced about the band's first Milwaukee show back in 1983 at a place called Mickey's, then listed off a list of venues the band has played in the 35 years since, from the Marcus Amphitheater to the Bradley Center to "the new place."

"Metallica is just getting started," he insisted.

It's hard to imagine any mosh pits at all at a Metallica show decades from now.

But for the night at least, Metallica, and their Milwaukee fans, sure seemed invincible.

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THE TAKEAWAYS

Tuesday's Metallica show was also the start of a five-day free festival at the adjacent entertainment plaza dubbed "MilROCKee Fest." And it's not just free for ticketholders to the Fiserv Forum shows; it's free for anybody. Tuesday had hard rock band Vyces from Los Angeles, while on Wednesday national rock duo Local H will play an hourlong set at 5 p.m., and the Brewers game will be shown in the plaza beginning at 4:05 p.m. More info about the other events is at milrockeefest.com.

In lieu of a hard rock or metal band for an opener, Metallica offered a curveball for an alternative: Jim Breuer. Yeah, that Jim Breuer, the guy from “Half Baked” and “Goat Boy” on “Saturday Night Live” in the ‘90s. Breuer read the room well, leading a round of metal karaoke, sporting a Brewers shirt (Josh Hader) and hyping up a band that needed no hype at all.

Strangely, there were no Brewers shoutouts from the Metallica guys themselves, but the show had some nice local touches. "Seek and Destroy" included a close-up picture of a Metallica ticket from a 1991 Bradley Center show on the video monitors above the stage, and the Metallica logo was superimposed on images of the Wisconsin flag during "Spit Out The Bone." Hetfield also showed off a Metallica guitar pic with Milwaukee and the date of the show written on it. After the set, each of the four band members tossed out hundreds of the Milwaukee pics to fans in the pit.

THE SET LIST

1. "Hardwired"

2. "Atlas, Rise!"

3. "Seek & Destroy"

4. "Harvester of Sorrow"

5. "The Unforgiven"

6. "Now That We're Dead"

7. "Creeping Death"

8. "For Whom The Bell Tolls"

9. "Fade to Black"

10. "Motorbreath"

11. "Fuel"

12. "Moth Into Flame"

13. "Sad But True"

14. "One"

15. "Master of Puppets"

Encore

16. "Spit Out The Bone"

17. "Nothing Else Matters"

18. "Enter Sandman"

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Piet Levy talks about concerts, local music and more on "TAP'd In" with Jordan Lee, 8 a.m. Thursdays on WYMS-FM (88.9). Follow him on Twitter @pietlevy and on Facebook at facebook.com/PietLevyMJS.