I know the overwhelming majority of people who attended Saturday’s scorched Weenie Roast y Fiesta were there primarily to see Metallica – you could deduce that much every time those monsters of rock were mentioned. And for their first large-scale performance in nearly four years (following Wednesday’s benefit appearance at the Wiltern) the team of James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett, Lars Ulrich and Robert Trujillo certainly served up what the die-hards wanted: a solid 90 minutes of the old (”The Unforgiven,” “Harvester of Sorrow”) and the older (”Creeping Death,” a crushing “Battery”), the expected (”Fuel,” “One,” “Master of Puppets”) and the unanticipated (”Wherever I May Roam”).

Yet, though this time the annual marathon at Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Irvine had been shaping up to be some kind of ultimate punk-and-metal stew, the punks clearly ruled the day. Take away energetic but generic turns from Atreyu (all growl, not bite) and Seether (such a fifth-rate Nirvana knockoff they make Silverchair seem like originals), an engaging introduction to the very hirsute Scars on Broadway and a striking but somewhat unloved turn from the Raconteurs, and everything else about the main stage fare was fiercely delivered ’90s-style punk … albeit with one hint of screaming (from Rise Against) and one touch of the blarney (for those Guinness guzzlers of Flogging Molly).

The best chunk of the day, in fact, was a sunset run from Pennywise (who have rarely sounded stronger) to Bad Religion (pictured, black-clad and no-nonsense as usual) to the slow-to-burn re-emergence of long-running O.C. outfit the Offspring (who, like Metallica, have been away from local stages since November ‘04, and who hadn’t played a Weenie Roast since the giant one of 2000 at Angel Stadium).

Each band brought it’s A-game, deftly mixing together must-play favorites (”Bro Hymn,” “Infected,” “Bad Habit”), a few surprises (BR, for instance, dug out “I Want to Conquer the World” and “You”) and new stuff that didn’t bore (the Offspring’s lengthy piece “Hammerhead” was an outspoken mouthful to chew on). All three consistently compelling sets were the sort only veteran acts still functioning at the peak of their raw powers could pull off — the sort that a progressing yet merely promising group like Rise Against can only hope to toss out so effortlessly a decade from now, and to a crowd that still cares.

I’ve got more to say … read the full review here. But on the whole, and including a mildly diverting second-stage afternoon of MGMT, the Bravery, Flobots and Ludo, consider this one of the better Weenie Roasts in recent memory.

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 18th, 2008 at 1:12 am and is filed under Concert Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.