Power Trip 2023: Metallica closes out festival with electrifying set

I last saw Metallica over two decades ago on New Year's Day in 2000 at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland. I also saw them on July 4, 1998 in Columbus, Ohio. Obviously, both shows were special occasions because they were holiday shows.

But closing out a once-in-a-lifetime festival such as Power Trip is on the same level, and Metallica didn't disappoint on Sunday night, exposing the stage's structure from the inside out and creating a multi-video screen production.

As the stage went dark and the band's longtime intro, Ennio Morricone's "Ecstasy of Gold," reverberated throughout the Empire Polo Club, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up and a familiar feeling of anticipation I had as a teenager came over me.

Metallica electrified the festival and began with the banger "Whiplash" from the 1983 album "Kill 'Em All" and then two from its sophomore album, "Ride the Lightning," starting with "Creeping Death" and followed by "For Whom The Bell Tolls."

More: Power Trip 2023: Metallica setlist

A chorus of the word "Die" started during the middle of "Creeping Death" and Hetfield said "I can't hear you," as most of it was coming from the back in the general admission section. During "For Whom The Bell Tolls," the opening guitar-sounding bass lines pumped up the crowd with excitement as drummer Lars Ulrich and Hetfield demanded a display of clapping hands in the air and chants of "Hey, Hey, Hey."

The band performed one of its biggest hits, "Enter Sandman," early in the set, setting off some fireworks to raise the energy level. Hetfield said "Oh, are we going to have some fun tonight?" before another blast went up into the sky at the end of the tune.

Bassist Robert Trujillo and guitarist Kirk Hammett also performed a jam that Trujillo said the pair wrote specifically for Power Trip called "Funk in the Desert."

While playing the ballad "Fade to Black," Hetfield stopped the song in the middle and explained the meaning of the song is about suicide, mentioning fans and friends who tragically died.

"I don't know how dark their lives got, but I do know they're missed and I wish it didn't happen," Hetfield said. "If you're feeling the darkness, talk to your friends, please. We need you and love you, Metallica family."

The mood picked up again during "Fuel," when flames continuously shot out across the stage each time Hetflied sang the lines, "So gimme fuel, gimme fire, gimme that which I desire." The band continued with the jam "Orion" from the 1986 album "Master of Puppets," which was another highlight of the set as the catchy basslines and symphonic thrash guitars during both parts of the instrumental were a crowd pleaser.

Hetfield was spotted in the pit area in front of the stage on Saturday interacting with fans while watching and singing along to Judas Priest and AC/DC and said "I got to see my heroes this weekend, I was down there in the front head banging with that guy right there," pointing out a fan in front.

"You are now a part of the Metallica family and you can never get kicked out, it's pretty hard," Hetfield told the crowd.

The band then closed in on the end, performing songs such as "Sad But True," "The Day That Never Comes" and "Hardwired." But Hetfield opened it up to requests, asking what everyone wanted to hear and reminded the crowd, "One at a time, I'm a 60-year-old deaf musician," before performing the classic "Seek and Destroy."

Metallica closed the book on Power Trip with "One" and "Master of Puppets."

"What a beautiful weekend, thank you for coming here to celebrate life and live music," Hetfield said before leading the crowd to chant "Hey, Hey, Hey" one last time. As the band left the stage, a grand finale of fireworks lit up the sky.

The band psyched the audience out for a moment, thinking there would be an encore, but instead, each member thanked the audience. Drummer Lars Ulrich thanked all the other bands by name.

"I think you may have spotted it this weekend, but heavy music is alive and doing better than before," Ulrich said before screaming "F--k yeah!"

Brian Blueskye is the arts and entertainment reporter for The Desert Sun, where he covers all the music festivals in the Coachella Valley. Email him at brian.blueskye@desertsun.com.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Power Trip 2023: Metallica closes out festival with electrifying set