603. Metallica / 2011-12-10: The Fillmore, San Francisco, CA, USA. 2011. 4.5/5

This is the fourth and final of four nights that Metallica played as their 30th Anniversary celebrations, bringing together old band mates and musician friends to have a rocking old time.
All four nights had a similar theme and arrangement, though with different songs and guests.

Each night started with an instrumental, and the fourth night was the turn of the brilliant "Orion" to be played in all its glory. What a magnificent song it is.
For the 'back catalogue collection' on this evening, there was more great songs. "Through the Never", "Ride the Lightning", "The God That Failed" and "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)".

Then came the "new song" of the night, one of the four songs that had come from the Death Magnetic sessions but not made the cut for the album. All four were later released on the Beyond Magnetic EP. Tonight's addition was "Rebel of Babylon", which to my ears would have been the closest to making the Death Magnetic album.

From here we move into the 'special guests' stage of the evening. First was Dennis and Annette Diaz, who had scored a YouTube hit with the performance of "Master of Puppets" at their wedding. Tonight they were on stage for "Blackened".
Bob Rock, who produced four Metallica albums, and replaced Jason Newsted when recording the St Anger album, came out to play two songs off that album, "Dirty Window" and "Frantic".

One of the highlights came next, with legendary bassist Geezer Butler joined the band on stage to play their medley of the Black Sabbath classics "Sabbra Cadabra" and "A National Acrobat". To top that off, Ozzy Osbourne himself then made his way on the stage to perform the stock standard "Iron Man" and "Paranoid". Just brilliant.

For the fourth and final time, Jason Newsted returned for another two song stint with his former band mates. One wonders how he felt at the end of playing "King Nothing" and "Whiplash", knowing it would probably be the final time he did so.

The end of the night, and the four nights, was left to the originals.
Hugh Tanner, who came on to play "Motorbreath" was in band's with Hetfield at school. 30-odd years later, to play with them on stage, must have been a moment.
This was followed by the moment that probably every Metallica fan around the world had been waiting for, the return of Dave Mustaine. After 30 years of ill words between the parties, they were all back on stage together. They belted out original Metallica classics "Phantom Lord", "Jump in the Fire" and "Metal Militia" to great applause.
To top this off, original Metallica bassist Ron McGoveny and another former guitarist in Lloyd Grant, who played on the original recording of "Hit the Lights", joined the mass on stage to play this song. It was a real trip down memory lane for everyone.

The evening finished with an all-star jam, everyone from the night coming together to play the party encore, "Seek & Destroy".

There was plenty of interesting pieces on this recording, and in most ways it was the perfect way to conclude the first 30 years of Metallica.