Metallica Live Shit Seattle -1989- -320 Kbps- Choscar Guide
To understand the audio, you must understand the era. 1989 was the ...And Justice for All tour. Jason Newsted had been in the band for three years, enduring hazing but solidifying the rhythm section. Cliff Burton was gone, but the technical complexity of the music had skyrocketed.
In Seattle, Metallica was hungry. They were headlining. The setlist was a chainsaw: Blackened, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Welcome Home (Sanitarium), The Four Horsemen, Harvester of Sorrow, Eye of the Beholder, and the epic To Live is to Die. This wasn't the stadium-rock Metallica of the 90s; this was the thrash Metallica—lean, mean, and playing at tempos that bordered on dangerous.
By 1989, Metallica had evolved. Cliff Burton’s tragic death in 1986 had ushered in bassist Jason Newsted, whose onstage energy and backing vocals became a crucial counterweight to James Hetfield’s growing command as a frontman. The Justice tour was infamous for its dry, click-heavy bass-less mix on the studio album — but live, the songs breathed fire.
Setlist highlights from Seattle ’89 include:
What makes this recording essential is not just the setlist but the intensity. Hetfield’s voice was still in its prime — snarling, melodic, and powerful. Kirk Hammett’s solos were fluid and reckless. Lars Ulrich, often criticized for live tempo fluctuations, actually drives the band with an almost punk urgency. And Newsted… his headbanging, his harmony vocals, his sheer physicality — he proved he wasn’t just filling shoes; he was forging his own legacy. Metallica Live Shit Seattle -1989- -320 Kbps- Choscar
If you only ever hear one Metallica bootleg, make it the Choscar. If you only ever hear one live metal album from the 80s, make it this one.
It captures a band at the absolute peak of their aggression: still hungry, still angry, and still playing like their lives depended on it. The 320kbps transfer finally does that performance justice—no pun intended.
So turn off the remastered, re-equalized, sanitized Spotify versions. Find the Choscar. Crank the volume. And get ready to binge, purge, and bleed.
Rest in Peace, Cliff. Run to the hills, Jason. And thank you, Choscar, wherever you are. To understand the audio, you must understand the era
Have you heard the Choscar Seattle ’89 bootleg? Do you prefer the San Diego ’92 show? Drop your tape trading stories in the comments below.
Tags: Metallica, Live Shit, Bootleg, Choscar, Seattle 1989, Thrash Metal, 320kbps, Justice For All, Jason Newsted, Kirk Hammett, James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich
Given the age and proliferation of fakes, here’s how to spot the genuine article:
Today, streaming services offer the remastered Live Shit at 256 Kbps AAC or lossless via Tidal/Apple Music. So why seek out a 15-year-old 320 Kbps MP3 rip? What makes this recording essential is not just
Nostalgia – For many fans, the Choscar rip was their first exposure to the full, unedited Seattle show — downloaded track by track from IRC or BitTorrent, burned to a CD-R, and traded at shows. The “Vibe” – The official remasters often sound “corrected.” The Choscar rip has a certain grittiness — not distortion, but an honesty that aligns with the band’s thrash roots. Metadata & Artwork – Choscar included a meticulously scanned booklet from the Live Shit box, complete with tour dates, gear notes, and photos. This turned a simple MP3 folder into a digital artifact.
Let’s set the stage. August 1989. The ...And Justice for All tour. Jason Newsted is still the “new guy,” playing so hard his fingers bleed to prove he belongs. The songs are impossibly fast, impossibly complex, and the stage setup—the Lady Justice statues, the smoke, the hanging coffins—is pure, dark theater.
The official Live Shit DVD/CD captured this night, but the mix was… polished. The bass was turned down (classic), and the crowd noise was ducked to make it a “product.”
The Choscar bootleg is the anti-product.