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The Summer Sanitarium 2003 festival, featuring Mudvayne, the Deftones, Linkin Park, Limp Bizkit and Metallica, was an amazing event. Metallica puts on one of the best shows known to man. By GRAHAM FISHER

By GRAHAM FISHER

Date published: 7/31/2003

YOUTH CORRESPONDENT

The energy at FedEx Field was "enough to start World War III," as put by Limp Bizkit front man Fred Durst. But that was only about half true.

The lineup for Summer Sanitarium 2003 looked mediocre, but as it turned out, all was good in the world.

I missed Mudvayne, but came in just in time to see the Deftones. They were just plain terrible. Every song sounded like a car crash. The only fun I had during their set was joining other metal fans in screaming for them to get off the stage.

Linkin Park was awesome. They are one of the only new bands with an original sound and style. The crowd loved them. Their set was good enough for a nonfan like me to enjoy.

Next up was Limp Bizkit. They are another band who knows how to please their fans. I am not a fan--in fact I used to hate them--but after seeing them live, I could see why they have a following.

They did have their moments. If you like rap-metal, you would have been overjoyed. One such moment was a cover of The Who's "Behind Blue Eyes."

Another was a cover of the Metallica classic "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)," Limp Bizkit style. Finally, their new guitarist played the opening part of, "Master of Puppets," just to warm everyone up.

What I made the trip to Landover, Md., for was only a few more hours away. After what seemed to be an eternity of sound checks, the sun set. Metallica was probably waiting for it to get dark because of all the pyrotechnics in their show.

Metallica's custom entrance music, "The Ecstasy of Gold," started and the video played a scene from "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly."

The lighters went up and the apocalypse could have happened.

There is almost nothing that tops a Metallica concert. It is beautiful to look down at a crowd holding up lighters, while the music plays.

Immediately they went into the song "Battery," and then I nearly lost my mind when they followed it with "Master of Puppets" and "Harvester of Sorrow."

Bassist Robert Trujillo himself is an amazing experience. He has crazy stage antics--any mortal would break his neck after days of acting like Trujillo.

The set list included many old classics. I hardly even noticed that they didn't play "Fade to Black" or "Motorbreath." They played two new songs, both of which were superb.

During the intro to "For Whom the Bell Tolls," the band had old footage of their fallen bassist, Cliff Burton, playing. Metallica got everyone singing along, pumping their fists and jumping around.

All four of the band members were on top of their game. Kirk Hammet still shreds as fast as lightning, so does James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich rules the drums, and Robert Trujillo is superhuman on bass. That night they truly were the Four Horsemen.

If you skipped the concert because you had doubts about Metallica still owning the metal world, you missed out on one of the best spectacles ever to hit the D.C. Metro area.

GRAHAM FISHER is a graduate of St. Anselm's Academy.

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Date published: 7/31/2003