While we expected the mohawks, skull-crushed cans and the random yelling to cease and disappear on Day Two, Metallica’s ORION MUSIC + MORE continued to erupt like a bat straight out of the fiery depths of hell. It’s just this Sunday spilled more riffage than your average Deafheaven fan could handle. We didn’t get the opportunity to catch every act that took the stage at Detroit’s Belle Isle but the ones we did see wrote love letters to our skulls.
The sun was enough to spotlight shred-heavy alternative outfits FIDLAR and JAPANDROIDS, and when they weren’t too busy wailing about surfing and the nights forgotten, DEFTONES, GOGOL BORDELLO and longtime mathcore heroes THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN flexed their metal-scarred muscles with songs that provoked pit dwellers to crowd surf on anything. The second half of Orion Fest was a lot heavier and it all made sense when METALLICA stepped out. Love ’em or hate ’em, the four-piece loosened the leash on a collection of hits that was deafening, as every last lick, kit snap and bass thud screamed “metal”. With a cold beer in hand, who could complain.
ALL SHALL PERISH at BUDWEISER ORION STAGE
DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN at FUEL STAGE
FIDLAR at VANS DAMAGE INC STAGE
JAPANDROIDS at FUEL STAGE
FU MANCHU at VANS DAMAGE INC STAGE
DEFTONES at BUDWEISER ORION STAGE
DESTROID at SANITARIUM STAGE
GOGOL BORDELLO at FUEL STAGE
METALLICA at BUDWEISER ORION STAGE
