If Britney Spears has done one good thing for the music industry - and I know this is a stretch in a Metallica review - it has been to step up the level of technology and showmanship in a concert.
Metallica has never been reserved about the staging of its shows, and singer James Hetfield still has the decade-old burn scars to prove it.
Imagine, though, if you took the best technology possible in 2004 and fused it with Metallica's seething hard metal? Metallica ran with that notion and made Wednesday night's concert an eye- and ear-popping event.
The stage was in the center of the floor, making every seat in the house a good one. The sound system was impeccable even at supersonic volume. The pyrotechnics and lighting were top-notch, but the real key was a rotating stage and 10 vocal microphones positioned all over, most equipped with cams linked to the big screens. It was a technological marvel before a note was played.
The music was searing, brutal and pummeling. It's a safe bet that no concert on this planet rocked harder than Metallica at the Pepsi Center on Wednesday night. What more could you ask for?
"Everybody's going to leave here with ringing ears and sore throats," Hetfield promised early in the show. Mission accomplished.
What separates Metallica from the wannabes is an incredibly high level of musicianship, especially for the metal genre. The guitar interplay between Hetfield and Kirk Hammett is so powerful that even old warhorses like Fade to Black crackled with energy and emotion.
New bassist Robert Trujillo is the perfect addition to the band, fitting in as if he'd been there from day one. Drummer Lars Ulrich was animated as always, spending as much time out of his drum kit as Patrick Roy used to spend away from the net in this same building.
It's always a mistake to generalize about fans, but Metallica's have a sense of community, identification and unswerving loyalty with the band that rivals that of Springsteen fans or Deadheads of old.
And the band pays it back. The buzz is supposed to be that fans aren't as pleased with the new St. Anger album. If that's so, why was everyone singing along to every word of Dirty Window and Frantic?
Spectacular show, spectacular band.
Godsmack was the perfect opening act - smarter than your average metal, with frontman Sully Erna ecstatic to be sharing the bill with Metallica. Metallica returned the favor; Godsmack was allowed to use the full stage, full lighting, full pyro and big screens. That's something many headliners have too much ego to do.
