Seeing a big band like Metallica or Kiss comes with the expectation that you're going to see them play their hits at some point. Sure, there's always a small percentage of the crowd that would love to see some super deep cuts unearthed, but a good chunk really wanna see "Enter Sandman" and "Nothing Else Matters".
In an interview with Shout It Out Loudcast, Twisted Sister vocalist Dee Snider explained why he thinks something like Metallica's No Repeat Weekend isn't the best idea. Which might be a bad example considering how well the tour is selling, but you get the idea – deep cuts are deep cuts for a reason. Though I'd wager that metal fans are more thorough with band's discographies than other genres, and deep cuts are at least slightly more welcome.
"Well, I wasn't aware they were doing that, and credit to them, but I think it's kind of self-serving. And it really only appeals to a small percentage of the crowd. The majority of the people going to these shows — and not just Metallica; [this goes for] Kiss and Twisted — they're there for the hits. The percentage of people who know the deeper cuts and are willing to accept not hearing 'Enter Sandman' one night, that's a very small bunch of people.
"When Twisted first reunited, it was for that New York Steel show [in 2001] Eddie Trunk put on, and the [other] guys made the setlist and they wanted to put some deep cuts; they put some stuff from the bar days in there. And it was the first show back together and I didn't wanna make any waves. And I remember we played those songs and it was just dead and just about eight hands [raised in the air], like you could count the hands. 'They're playing 'Come Back',' which was never on an album; it was one of our big club songs.' 'Yeah.'
"And after that, the guys said, 'All right. No more putting that stuff in the show,' because it's really self-serving; it caters to a very small part of the audience. Unless you're buying both — and that's maybe the idea… You know, shake 'em down, get 'em to buy both tickets so they're hearing every song 'cause they're diehards. But Metallica's audience has grown so far beyond just hardcore fans. They have hits. And then I harken back to when Iron Maiden toured. Remember they played the entire new album; they refused to play any of their hits. The audience was furious. Bruce was yelling at the crowd because they weren't getting into it. It was self-serving to do that. And the next year they came back, and it was the biggest hits only, 'cause they had to make up for that."
