Dee Snider Explains His Problem With Metallica’s ‘Self-Serving’ Live Show Concept: ‘People Are There for the Hits’
“The percentage of people who know the deeper cuts and are willing to accept not hearing ‘Enter Sandman’ one night, that’s a very small bunch of people.”
Dee Snider argued that Metallica’s new live show format is “self-serving”, suggesting that the concept of “No Repeat Weekend” may not be as interesting to casual fans.
Most bands struggle to balance out the hits, the deep cuts, and the new stuff while crafting their setlists, but Metallica decided to take a completely different approach.
Namely, the thrash giants introduced the concept of “No Repeat Weekend” for their ongoing M72 tour, where two shows are played at each stop over the course of one weekend, with zero overlap between the two setlists.
Although this kind of approach, no doubt allowed by Metallica’s unique position within the heavy metal sphere, is definitely a laudable effort to make each live show as unique as humanly possible, it also means that some casual fans who bought just one ticket may not get to hear a particular song they might have been wishing to hear performed live.
During a recent appearance on the KISS podcast “Shout It Out Loudcast”, Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider commented on Metallica’s approach, saying (transcription via Blabbermouth):
“Well, I wasn’t aware they were doing that, and credit to them, but I think it’s kind of self-serving. And it really only appeals to a small percentage of the crowd.
“The majority of the people going to these shows — and not just [people who are going to see] Metallica; [this also applies to bands like] KISS and Twisted — they’re there for the hits. The percentage of people who know the deeper cuts and are willing to accept not hearing ‘Enter Sandman’ one night, that’s a very small bunch of people.”
He added:
“When Twisted first reunited, it was for that New York Steel show [in 2001] Eddie Trunk put on, and the [other] guys made the setlist and they wanted to put some deep cuts; they put some stuff from the bar days in there. And it was the first show back together and I didn’t wanna make any waves.
“And I remember we played those songs and it was just dead and just about eight hands [raised in the air], like you could count the hands. ‘They’re playing ‘Come Back’,’ which was never on an album; it was one of our big club songs. ‘Yeah.’ And after that, the guys said, ‘All right. No more putting that stuff in the show,’ because it’s really self-serving; it caters to a very small part of the audience.
“Unless you’re buying both — and that’s maybe the idea… You know, shake ’em down, get ’em to buy both tickets so they’re hearing every song ’cause they’re diehards. But Metallica’s audience has grown so far beyond just hardcore fans. They have hits.
“And then I harken back to when Iron Maiden toured. Remember they played the entire new album; they refused to play any of their hits. Audience was furious. Bruce [Dickinson] was yelling at the crowd because they weren’t getting into it. It was self-serving to do that. And the next year they came back, and it was the biggest hits only, ’cause they had to make up for that.”
