Hardwired era = best in 20+ years?

Agreed, but don't jinx it, Lars was hanging with Elton John the other day, and you know how Lars thinks...

Metallica caught up to technology, and vice versa in a few ways. Other than that I don't think they are any better overall than last cycle. And they played much better live 20 years ago. They haven't gotten any better live.

Interesting. Care to elaborate?

Welllll I was giving hin the benefit of the doubt before arriving at this conclusion....

I agree with Kimbo. DM was the bands true comeback album, the tour kicked off and was basically non stop for two years. There were tour DVDs, singles and videos being released throughout the run. The set lists were varied and kept you guessing. They were playing arenas. Festivals. There was the RRHOF. All the MetOnTour stuff coming out within days of the show. It was an exciting couple of years.

This time around, there’s been no real excitement or momentum outside of the region they are touring at the time. It’s all so drawn out because of their current touring schedule. For the first two years they had stale sets with greatest hits from the first 5 albums plus some HW tracks. This latest run they did in Europe combined with S&M2 has been the most interesting and exciting part of the tour, it’s like it’s finally kicking off and there’s some energy surrounding the band again. It actually looks like they enjoyed themselves too. The first couple of years they looked worn out and were only playing out of obligation. I would say Het’s vocals are better now and Live Met audio quality is 100 times better but stage lighting and facial hair does not make an era.

I’d also confidently say the nostalgia, specifically the Deluxe Box Sets have been the most exciting thing the band have done in years, including the new album.

I’m more excited for the release of the Black Album box set than I was for the release of Hardwired or even seeing them live in a few weeks.

But now get doodles and thank-you videos.

I agree, the DM run was fun, but then it hit the brick wall called Lulu, and they had to regain the momentum again.

You're talking primarily about how it feels as a fan who follows their every move online though. Those things you said in the first paragraph don't even require someone to have heard them play... just reading a news clipping. What I said was how it feels when you're there or watch a video of them perform.

Maybe it's just me then but I feel like Metallica 2019 is picking up where Metallica 1999 left off - and not just because of S&M2 or a hair cut. Everything. 

Bollocks. They are just old and boring now.

The only redeeming factor these days are the sound quality of metontour. Which is amazing. I love HW as an album, but their liveshows are beyond boring to watch, still cool when you are there of course. Yes they are old, and respect to them still banging it out hard, but I can't even be bothered to watch those videos anymore.
They are playing alright I guess, but my god they look bored to death, hardly moving around at all, playing the same godawful setlists.
There are no babbles, no cool and fun interviews or weird shit from the tour or studio, absolute horrific setlists all the time.
11 years ago I spend 5 hours walking around a city in Turkey to try and find a netcafe where I could watch a shitty YouTube video of the debut of Cyanide. And then I watched it 50 times in a row, now I wouldn't even know if they played a new song, I just don't care anymore, it's all so damn boring.
I miss the fun nutty stuff, and epic performances. That's what kept me in all those years. The Dm years had it all, the energy, the setlists, the crazy funny stuff, taking the piss out of the crowd, themselves, everyone really.

That said I had a blast when HW was released, amazing times that was. For a couple of months and then the tour started... The momentum was completely gone after 2-3 months.

It’s true. Another great part of the rarer songs in the DM setlists was you could see how much fun the band had playing them. There’s was so much more energy in the shows because the band were playing different stuff each night and were genuinely into the songs they were playing.

Now every second song has a 2 min recorded intro, they stand basically stationary and bust out Hardwired/Fade/Unforgiven/Puppets/Sad/One/Bells/Moth/Creep/Seek/Nothing/Sandman. Yeah it’s exciting if you’re seeing them or about to see them (which I will in a few weeks, at least 5 times), but there is no real engagement or energy for the majority of their fan base these last few years. It’s funny, they’ll bust out a rare song for one or two shows then retire it. E.G. Unforgiven 3, Cyanide a year or so ago. On this Euro tour they played Disposable and The Thing That Should Not Be a couple of times, and did ultimately keep the God That Failed (which is one of their worst live songs, if not the worst) and No Leaf Clover which is good.

On the website we get 3 x 2 min clips of a So What interview videos about 11 months after it was recorded. We’ll get 6 x tuning room videos of them playing the song Hardwired 12 weeks after a tour leg ends. But yes the live MetonTour videos have been unreal on this Euro tour, the sound and video quality is incredible, it’s just a shame the videos are of the same songs over and over again for the last 3 years.

I'll admit, as much as I really started heavily getting into Metallica around when Death Magnetic came out, Hardwired took that shit up a notch. I agree though, when they had their initial late-2016 into the 2017 North American tour after it came out was a bit of a let down. It just seemed like they weren't into it, but as time went on it got better and better. I remember the LiveMet soundboard being a bit wonky when the tour started, but they evened it out and got it down by Mexico City 2017, so that's a definitely plus. But other than that, I miss Death Magnetic's tour setlists, and especially their MetOnTour video format, which I get they cut down, but the LiveMet sound was horrible and they all had their ups and downs performance wise. All in all I think Hardwired is slightly better than Death Magnetic's run, but not by much.

Also, I vote for them to do another By Request tour, but not in Europe and not having people pick Enter Sandman or some shit as one of the voting slots. Ugh.

Well fuck, when we were debating eras Hetfield was spiralling. Fucking sad.

Same, but Its hard to follow metontour videos nowadays since that format doesn't exist anymore :(

Also, in my case its 'the grass was always greener' syndrome - back in 09-10 I was a little glumbler about that period and I had been looking back at 03-04 tour with huge nostalgia. Nowadays I may complain about current era and idealize DM tour. To quote the office "I wish there was a way to know you're in the good old days before you've actually left them".