"Surprise," Metallica [ tickets ] frontman James Hetfield said jokingly to an overflowing crowd that had waited hours to see the biggest metal band in the world play the backyard stage of a barbecue joint in Austin.

"Everyone's surprised, right?" he asked the audience, whose massive numbers made it quite clear that there wasn't a soul in the state of Texas who didn't know the metal icons were due to take the stage as part of videogame-maker Activision's launch party for "Guitar Hero: Metallica" (in stores next Tuesday (3/24)).

"The best-kept secret in rock and roll," Hetfield quipped before he, drummer Lars Ulrich, guitarist Kirk Hammet and bassist Robert Trujillo dove back into a thrash-heavy setlist primarily comprised of material from the band's pre-1990 catalog.

After strolling onto the darkened stage at around 10 p.m. accompanied by a recording of the classical composition "The Ecstasy of Gold"--a longstanding Metallica tradition--the group grabbed the crowd by the collar and didn't let go for the next 90 minutes.

An opening salvo of thrashers "Creeping Death," "For Whom the Bell Tolls" and "Harvester of Sorrow" whipped the capacity crowd of SXSW badgeholders and "Guitar Hero" guest-listers into a full-on frenzy before the group caught its breath during the slow build-up of "One" (the speed-metal portion of which exposed Ulrich's tendency to sometimes rush well ahead of tempo).

Five songs deep, the group rolled out "Broken, Beat & Scarred" and "Cyanide," a pair of new cuts featured on last year's "Death Magnetic." The ferocious combination sounded right at home amidst an otherwise old-school setlist, and underscored just how much of a return to form the Rick Rubin-produced 2008 album is for the veteran rockers.

If, in fact, there was a song that sounded relatively out of place, it was "Sad But True," a surefire crowd-pleaser from the group's self-titled 1991 commercial breakthrough that, nonetheless, seemed relatively toothless when sandwiched between a machine-gun barrage of full-on metal.

The back end of the set was a balls-out metal hurricane, with the group shredding through "Master of Puppets," "Blackened," "Breadfan," "Whiplash" ("This is a song about how you'll feel tomorrow," Hetfield told the headbanging crowd while introducing the latter cut) and "Seek and Destroy," a call-and-response favorite from the group's 1983 debut, "Kill 'em All."

Despite the venue's odd shape (the awning-covered stage faces a narrow, uneven lawn flanked on one side by a restaurant, and on the other by a fence and metal-covered shack that serves as the backstage hospitality suite/dressing room), the sound was spectacular. Each instrument was clearly audible, and the low end effectively rattled teeth without becoming distorted or muddying up the mix.

And the substantial volume was, no doubt, greatly appreciated by the thousands of fans who couldn't get in, and instead lined the street outside the venue or took to the rooftops of nearby buildings and parking garages.

It was, without a doubt, one of the band's most epic performances, both because of the unique venue and exclusive nature of the show (a band that has performed in front of European festival crowds numbering as high as a half-million giving a show for about 2,100 people behind a BBQ restaurant?), and because of how clearly jacked-up and enthusiastic all four band members were throughout the set.

Hetfield in particular was visibly jubilant, the eight-years-sober frontman looking healthier than ever, his sleeveless black shirt showing off his sizeable, tattoo-covered guns, and his face sporting a Cheshire-cat grin through most of the show.

"Seen any good bands here?" he asked while acknowledging SXSW's role in showcasing up-and-coming talent. "Yeah? Well, I hope we're one of 'em."

They most definitely were.

Setlist:

Creeping Death
For Whom the Bell Tolls
Harvester of Sorrow
One
Broken, Beat & Scarred
Cyanide
Sad But True
Sanitarium
Master of Puppets
Blackened
Breadfan
Whiplash
Seek and Destroy