Brian McCollum, the Free Press' veteran music writer, concludes the Orion + More festival on Belle Isle this weekend ended up firing on all cylinders.
With sublime weather along the Detroit River, the city’s newest festival accelerated to a close Sunday evening, having drawn tens of thousands of rock fans for two days of music and good times.
If Saturday had cruised along in third gear, today was when it all kicked into overdrive. The festival grounds were crowded and teeming by late afternoon, as anticipation grew for Metallica’s closing set.
The festival's organizers, heavy-metal giants Metallica, put on a two-hour shot of "unadulterated metal" that included such staples as “For Whom the Bell Tolls” and “Master of Puppets” alongside lesser-played material like “The Day That Never Comes,” “Carpe Diem Baby” and the encore Bob Seger cover “Turn the Page.”
The long bus lines from Saturday had vanished by Sunday, McCollum writes, and the organizers apologized.
In The News, Adam Graham said Metallica members, despite their fame, acted like real people.
Metallica was the weekend’s headliners, but they were also its hosts, and they made themselves accessible to fans all weekend long. And the bands on the bill felt very Metallica, with a undercurrent of heaviness that ran through a large number of the weekend’s performers.
Metallica performs a surprise Saturday afternoon set. [Instagram photo by "ngalimidi"]
