It was without a doubt one of the biggest and best shows ever held in Israel, and no, we're not just referring to the Metal genre.
Those who were at the show, know this very well, those who were not, heard mythological stories about the "earthquake" that happened there, literally!!!
The newspaper headlines the next day said it all: "Metallica tore up the park", "There has never been a show like this in Israel", "World Champions" and more...
On June 30, 1993, "Metallica" took the stage of HaYarkon Park in Tel Aviv as part of the never-ending tour "Nowhere Else to Roam" that accompanied the band's "Black Album", and gave the audience an energetic and perfect performance that lasted two hours and 45 dense, electrifying and powerful minutes!
This is the first metal show of this magnitude that was held in Israel (and no, we did not forget "Guns" who visited the same stage about a month earlier, but with all due respect and love, "Guns" is not really metal). It was the first time when such a large audience of metalheads were in one place, jumping, raging, and roaring their souls in the most energetic show we've seen up to that point. How energetic??? Ask the 150 "Motherfuckers" who needed medical treatment during and after the show, and maybe you'll begin to understand what happened on that historic night that united all metal lovers in Israel (and more...) under one flag!
It may sound clichéd, but the world of metal concerts in Israel can be divided into before and after this historic performance, which on the one hand brought a lot of new audiences into metal and on the other hand managed to heal the rifts with the old fans who felt a little "betrayed" when the band released the "Black Album".
Those who read our reviews and listen to our shows, already know the personal story of one of "Faceoff" team, about how he discovered "Metallica" and Thrash Metal, somewhere in the early 80s. The boy developed with the band, experienced with them in real-time the loss of its phenomenal bassist Cliff Burton and breathed a sigh of relief when the needle touched the first groove, on the first of two vinyls, of the album "...And Justice For All". But precisely then, he lost them with the release of "The Black Album" because he (falsely) thought that they had "sold their soul", when they abandoned this mighty genre that they were among its founders. Then, on June 30, 1993, it all changed!! "Metallica" gave the "performance of a lifetime" which by a cosmic coincidence happened precisely on the birthday of that boy who has since grown up, and he receives the greatest gift he could receive. He gets the band he grew up with back. "Metallica" appeared on stage as that boy remembered it, when he first discovered them 10 years earlier. Powerful, frantic, aggressive, and kicking. "Metallica" gave that evening the best performance he had ever seen in Israel and those tens of thousands who were there would probably agree with him. Since then, the boy fell in love again and devoted himself totally to the band and to the "Black Album", and we believe that so do many Israeli metalheads who experienced the band in real time and felt a sense of "betrayal" when the "Black Album" came out.
The big "comeback" of the band on stage, in front of the old fans could be seen already in the first minutes of the show, which opened with the classic "Creeping Death". The energetic band members ran around the stage like a frenzy and gave their all, as if it was their last show on earth!
Two hours and 45 minutes of madness with a shattering and devastating setlist that included two encores, a bass solo, a guitar solo, great sound and lighting, pyrotechnics and flames that drove the audience crazy, showing their love to "Metallica", ranging from shouts of joy to enormous pogo circles that had not been seen before in Israel (And of course the public singing of "Axl the gay..."). And the band, it also returned a lot of blood, sweat, and fire!! They spoke a lot to the audience, complimented them and it was obvious that they too were overwhelmed by the warm reception of the Israeli audience and their love for them.
Another proof that this was one of the biggest concerts in Israel, can be found in the fact that even the band itself chose the concert held in Yarkon Park as one of only 10 concerts! From the "Black Album" tour, of which was broadcast on the band's channel as part of the "Black Album's" thirtieth-anniversary celebrations.
In November 2021, the band launched an exciting, huge, and ongoing archive project called "The Metallica Black Box", in which it shared with fans a wide variety of memorabilia, articles, photos, clothes, records, and rare audio and video content throughout a 40-year career. As part of the aforementioned project, on February 19, 2022, the phenomenal, tremendous, and unforgettable performance of "Metallica" that took place on June 30, 1993, in Yarakon Park, Tel Aviv, was broadcast live!!! The historic performance that was held in Israel out of hundreds of performances that took place in the years 1991-1993 was included it in the "black box" and made sure to broadcast the performance live!!!
And just to drive you crazy a little more before the end and to congratulate the super fan of the band "Markman", here are some examples of the memorabilia he has from that show...
Setlist:
The Ecstasy of Gold
Creeping Death
Harvester of Sorrow
Welcome Home (Sanitarium)
Of Wolf and Man
Wherever I May Roam
The Thing That Should Not Be
The Unforgiven
Disposable Heroes
Bass Solo
Orion / To Live Is to Die / The Call of Ktulu
Guitar Solo
The Four Horsemen
For Whom the Bell Tolls
Fade to Black
Master of Puppets
Seek & Destroy
Battery
Nothing Else Matters
Sad but True
Last Caress
One
Enter Sandman