As if being an obsessed Metallica fan isn’t enough – buying all their merch, concert tickets, multiple versions of the one album……the three part CD singles (remember them!?) are one thing… but you have to be across the bootlegs as well.
Like Led Zeppelin and The Grateful Dead before them, the Metallica bootleg catalogue is enormous. Having allowed their fans to record certain shows. ‘The Black Album’ tour of 1991-1993 had a special ‘tapers section’ allowing fans to bring in their video cameras, tape recorders etc….the bootleg market was flooded with shows from that tour – slightly diluting the experience I think.
Anyway…
Well before YouTube (and the internet in general) completely killed the bootleg industry, and took the fun out of the chase, we fans had to trawl from record fair to record fair, trading post to trading post….dropping into collectable music stores along the way – always hoping/dreaming of that elusive live recording from the tour that was the best ever…. the now distant hazy memory that lives in your heart forever….you know the one….
For this nutty Metallica fan the tour in question was the band’s very first visit to Australia……waaay back in 1989 on the ‘Damaged Justice’ tour.
I’ve always said that this era was Metallica’s finest – their creative peak, their Sgt Pepper, their Led Zeppelin 4……everything changed after AJFA.
More on that another day.
Initially the band weren’t scheduled to play a show in sunny Adelaide, bypassing the city of churches on their way to Perth. Word got out that this was the case and before you can say “don’t underestimate the metal heads in Adelaide”, there was a 3000 signature petition delivered to the band via the concert promoter.
Hence the title ‘Justice For Adelaide’.
Back in the 80’s, metal tours by international bands were few and far between and who knew if this band from San Francisco would ever come back? (thank fuck they did, seen em’ another 24 times) The people had spoken – end result? A Metallica concert for the head bangers in Adelaide.
Which makes this bootleg all the more special. Local back story, with a band who has always had a great connection with their fan base, listening and acting.
Out of the 100’s of bootlegs I have, there are very few from this tour in Australia. Some tracks have appeared on the 2010 Death Magnetic tour EPs but for whatever reason, most of the tracks are from overseas tours. I love the effort that the fans would go to - not only to record the shows but the design/lay out and packaging was also truly unique. Some of the bootlegs in my collection look way better than some official releases – why? Because the passion is there. So too is the opportunity to create something of your own.
Bootlegs still exist of course, but nowhere near the numbers as they once were. As mentioned, the internet and YouTube killed it in an instant. It’s a double edged sword of course because we can now access 1000’s more live recordings that ever before….but at the cost of not having to decide if I want the 3LP gatefold with the misspelt song title on the back, or do I want the very cool Italian bootleg with the rarely performed version of ‘Shortest Straw’.
I’ll take the latter any day.
-Simon M
