The Big 4 : Live from Sofia, Bulgaria

I finally got the chance to check out this great show on Blu-ray and for any fan of metal this is a must have! The sound in 5.1 the picture quality and the documentary all make this worth the price, it is a 2 disc set with one disc dedicated to the "opening acts" and the 2nd dedicated to Metallica and the extras. I have seen all 4 of these bands at one time or another over the years, a couple of them multiple times, so seeing them again years later in front of such a big crowd was interesting also.

The show starts with Anthrax. Personally I thought they should have played later, but it wasn't up to me (maybe I should have shuffled the playlist, lol). The band put on an excellent show for being about 4pm. The set was kind of short in my opinion missing well known songs like "I'm the man" plus I am a fan of the Bush led era of the band, which the do cover with one song ("Only") but I'd like to hear more. Overall a great set by the most unappreciated band of the 4. They open with "Caught in a mosh" and keep up the energy all the way through to the closer "I am the law", they even included a tribute to Dio by playing "Heaven and hell" in the end of "Indians". Great set.

Next was Megadeth. How they were not 3rd on the bill amazes me, they are the 2nd most recognizable of the genre and still sell very well. Another great set though as the band has been doing this a long time and put out a good energy. Also much like Anthrax's set, it just flew by. Dave Mustaine sounded great and the playing was solid as usual. They opened with "Holy wars' and ripped through a 12 song set that included all their hits. The crowd explosion for }Symphony of destruction was amazing. The set closes with "Peace sells" as always and as always it was great.

Next is Slayer. I have never seen the appeal of this band, they have a rabid following but they don't do much that stands out, there is zero groove to their music it is all just bashing speed metal without the heart of the other 3 bands. They also looked like they were a little bored and stand offish, but that seems to be their M.O. even during the documentary on the disc. Another 12 song set that opens with "World painted blood" and ended with "Raining blood". Lots of blood and death in their lyrics, not imaginative at all. Should have been the opener in my opinion.

Then we get the headliners Metallica. And make no mistake, this is their show at the end of the day. Metallica gets a lot of crap for the napster thing and being kind of douchey in general, but when they hit the stage they are still one of the best live bands going. They open with "Creeping death" and their 18 song set had all the typical explosions, both musically and in fireworks that Metallica shows always have the only soft spot was playing 2 straight songs from "Death magnetic" which probably should have been broken up, but they were still on tour for that record, so I guess they figured they had to promote it some more. The hi-light of the set was when all the bands (Minus Slayer, which I'll explain later) get together to play "Am I evil", which looked like a blast! After that we get a 2 song encore that ends with "Seek and destroy"

After this I watched the documentary of what led up to the show and what was going on backstage while the show was going on. We get arrivals, tent city where the bands go over last minute changes and clothing malfunctions (Nice sewing kit Frank Bello, lol) we see some practice before going on stage, and a Metallica meet and greet, really cool stuff. As I said earlier, there was no sign of Slayer during the big band get together... Well that is kind of explained later as the other 3 bands practiced the song during Slayers set. Of course I think they still should have made an appearance on stage if for no reason then because of this:

The bands turned away from the crowd to face the cameras so the image cold be easily put up on the big screen with the fans in the background. Cool pic that Slayer is not part of, seems kind of jerk like.

Overall this is am awesome disc, one of the best I've seen and heard. I really felt I was there. Now if we can only talk them into doing more then 1 show in the states.....