At Racino Ebreichsdorf, Metallica fluctuated with geographic weaknesses

The first major concert highlight of this summer was the highlight with the biggest question mark. 16 years after an organizationally largely unsuccessful attempt to organize a concert at the Racino Ebreichsdorf (Bon Jovi), a comeback was attempted again with a completely new concept. The “Racino Rocks” brought thrash metal heroes Metallica back to the country after a five-year hiatus and many feared the event would happen due to past experiences. Thanks to the good distribution of public transport and trains or shuttle buses, there is largely no travel chaos. We were also lucky with the weather gods. After two days of rain, the clouds opened and the sun shone over the site. There was no rubber boot alarm as the soil was semi-dry and bark mulch provided a stable surface in precarious places.

No room for fine blades
The two supporting bands Ice Nine Kills and Five Finger Death Punch already have an official number of concertgoers. The former go on stage in beautiful clothes and celebrate their metalcore with a lot of motivation, but without any major highlights. The Five Finger Death Punch, controversial for various reasons, is already a live veteran on Austrian soil after countless festival performances and hall concerts. Ivan Moody and Co. summon the collective forces of the ‘metal family’ in the evening sun and under threatening storm clouds, take mobile phones from spectators to film themselves and shoot through the sonic botany without compromise and bluntly. You will not find the fine blade at the collective from Las Vegas. When you let off the accelerator, the frontman’s thin voice says annoyingly over the terrain. The sound is often shifted by the wind and seems thin and loud in some places – but we know: open air is not an indoor concert.

There is always something to criticize about the sound of the headliners Metallica, but the overall sound is much more powerful and balanced. James Hetfield and Co. arrived on stage 20 minutes late, with AC/DC’s “It’s A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock’n’Roll)” and Ennio Morricone’s cult piece “Ecstasy Of Gold” as intros. There are several LED video walls in the center of the stage and on the sides; Euphoric hardcore fans have a special place in the “Snakepit”. While the Californians usually play twice per city in football stadiums on a round stage, in Ebreichsdorf they deal with a normal setting. Not all Ebreichsdorf is the same – at least not for Metallica. The band always advertised the performance with “Vienna” in advance on all posters and posts on social media and that is where Hetfield also feels located during the concert. During his interaction with the audience, he repeatedly sings the capital, causing some locals to shout “Oida, we are san in Ebreichsdorf”.

Heaven remains forgiving
As the sun sets and under a threatening carpet of clouds, Metallica starts the evening beautifully with an old-school set. “Whiplash”, “Creeping Death” and “For Whom The Bell Tolls” suddenly raise the atmosphere, the first bursts of fire shoot into the air and the seven euro beers (without deposit) fly through the Golden Circle areas. Fireworks cause cheers during the classic “Enter Sandman” before the band increasingly focuses on new song material from the current album “72 Seasons”. Bassist Rob Trujillo and boss James Hetfield enjoy jamming together at the front of the stage, while drummer Lars Ulrich does his best, but doesn’t always hit the drums. With “Whiplash” he is grossly wrong from the start, but as the evening progresses the timing improves and the doomsayers can relax. While the hitmaker continues to build on their more than forty-year-old oeuvre, the weather remains forgiving and the ever-threatening rain passes.

The thunder comes only from the bass and guitar strings, which radiate the local Austrian color just before the half-time of the concert. Hammett and Trujillo start their traditional jam session, this time playing the Falco hit “The Commissioner”. It is a beloved tradition of the band to include a local hit in the set list. During the last performance in Vienna in 2019, Trujillo sang Wolfgang Ambros’ ‘Schifoan’ in a sympathetically wry manner – this time they left it with a humorous instrumental. Then you dig deep into the hit drawer again. The rare instrumental ‘Orion’ makes hardcore fans of the first hour panic, while ‘Sad But True’ and the inevitable ‘Nothing Else Matters’ convince the masses. With ‘Seek And Destroy’, the brilliant ‘One’ and a solid ‘Master Of Puppets’, Metallica hits on all cylinders at the end, but unfortunately there is no encore in the almost two-hour show.

The ground for the future is ready
In addition to all the successful points, the organizers’ concept for “Racino Rocks” was still flawed in some respects. The toilet situation on site was not suitable for the public and waiting times at the beer stalls were up to an hour, which did not necessarily make the thirsty metalheads jump for joy. As many expected, the departure was more chaotic. Despite the offer of a party tent, around 60,000 fans wanted to leave the site at the same time and were first stuck at the exit and then sat in their cars. The coordination system worked reasonably well for a long trip, but with simultaneous departures with overcrowded shuttle buses and a narrow country road system for cars, the original concept quickly reached its limits. But the ground is ready for a concert future. Whether Ebreichsdorf or Vienna – the most important thing is Heavy Metal!