Metallica Breaks Out “Ride The Lightning” At Orion’s Opening Night [VIDEO]

The scene: Saturday night at Bader Field in Atlantic City.  Eight hours into the first night of  1st Annual Orion Music Festival, the crowd was treated to AC/DC's "It's A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock and Roll) running into Ennio Morricone's "The Ecstasy Of Gold".  Then it was time for the festival's founders - and headliners of both nights - Metallica,  to hit the stage.   And from note one, it was "Metal Up Your Ass!", as they kicked off their two plus hour set with "Hit The Lights," the first song on their first album 1983's Kill 'Em All.

What followed was an ear-crushing run through the band's career, from "Master Of Puppets" to "Hell and Back," along with the complete Ride The Lightning album, played in it's entirety.  With a twist.

The band played Ride The Lightning in reverse order -  opening with the instrumental, "The Call Of Ktulu" and closing with the speed-metal "Fight Fire with Fire."  (On tour in Europe this year, they've been playing 1991's Metallica, which they'll close out Orion with tonight, backwards as well.) For Metallica fans not attending both nights, however, the band threw in a taste of 'the Black Album' too, including "Sad But True," "Nothing Else Matters" and  a set closing "Enter Sandman".

Check out Metallica's entire night one set here: