In July 1988, in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum an eighteen year old kid who enlisted in the military right out of high school, attended a nearby event called The Monsters of Rock. As a result, my life was absolutely changed during a short little one hour performance. That kid saw, for the first time, what a live performance could be like. He knew for the first time what it felt like to be a part of something bigger than himself. He went the event to see the Scorpions but when it was over, he loved somebody else and more than anything he knew what he wanted.
I wanted nothing more than to experience it again: to experience Metallica.
I had seen other bands live before the Monsters of Rock event, hell as a part of the Monster's of Rock, I saw Van Hagar, Scorpions and Dokken. Since that event I have seen many other bands live, but the experience was never the same. None of the bands connected with the audience. They didn't connected the audience with each other quite like Metallica did.
There is just something about Metallica that makes you feel like you are with family; family you love and more importantly, family that loves you. And I wanted so bad to feel the love I felt back in 1988 again. It was a true bucket list dream for me. And it wasn't one of those hipster-type bucket list items, like eating a gallon of ice cream in one sitting or doing the thirty-pub-crawl-challenge and remain standing at the end of the night. No, this was true life goal for me, one that took 29 years to see come true. To see Metallica live, one more time, before I die; this was truly a dream, a dream I had spent nearly three decades hoping would come true; decades.
And on August 9th, 2017, 29 years later, it happened.
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| Where our original tickets would have seated us... way up there |
My wife found a way. She found a way for us to get there 438 miles round trip. She found a way for us to stay overnight in an area that had been booked for months. She was determined that this life goal was going to be achieved and when my wife sets her mind to something, she can move mountains to make it happen.
We didn't have the best seats, hell, we didn't even have good seats, but we were going to be there and that's all that mattered to us.
Our seats were Row BB of section 317 of CenturyLink Stadium. If you don't know the stadium, Row BB is four rows from the top, at the end of the end zone... meaning even the people in the nose bleed section are looking up and saying, "That's a bad seat." (See the photo on the left for an idea of where we would have been seated)
But we were going to be there and that was all that mattered because the alternative was not an option.
We started our journey by train, took a cab to our hotel, checked in, freshened up, took a cab back to CenturyLink Field and began our journey to find our seats. Wife had to check her purse (apparent no bags are allowed in the Stadium unless they are clear plastic bags), we lost our drinks at the first of two security check points (because they were opened). We get into the stadium and pick up our concert tees, pick up a couple bottles of water and begin our trek to the top of Mt. Everest (yes it felt that high up).
It was so high up that I had to look directly at the ground as vertigo was overwhelming me if I looked anywhere around me. We emerge into the stadium from a doorway leading out to Section 318, and a kind, older gentleman asked us if we wanted help finding out seats. We obviously had "LOST" written all over our faces.
We said "Yes, please".
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| Our view from our free graded seats... |
He quickly said, "Would you be interested in upgrading your seats?"
I quickly responded with "We would definitely be interested, but how much are we talking?"
"Free," he said as he dug through a small stack of tickets.
He dug for a little bit and produced two tickets; Section 207, Row S, seats 3 and 4. We were just moved from the seats that were four rows away from be the furthest point away from the stage a person could get to about 5 degrees from Stage Right and within shouting distance of the security people.
We may as well have won the lottery.
It changed our entire concert going experience. We were now sitting with people that paid upwards to $400 for their seats, so yes, it was a lot like winning the lottery.
We listened to Mike D of Beastie Boys fame doing some DJ work on the stage for about an hour and then the first of two opening acts started, Gojira. They played an energetic 45 minute long set to a stadium that was only half full, if that. The crowd loved them and even though I had never heard anything from them before, both my wife and I enjoyed them.
There was a fifteen minute break as gear was swapped out and then Avenged Sevenfold took the stage. They put on an energetic show that engaged the crowd and had people out of their seats dancing and signing. In the hour and half that Avenged Sevenfold was on the stage, the stadium filled up fast.
Once Avenged Sevenfold finished their set, Mike D came back out on stage and entertained the crowd while gear was swapped out again in preparation for Metallica taking the stage. Mike D was entertaining and engaging. He played a lot of good tunes from bands like the Beatles and AC/DC and even played some Beastie's; Sabotage and Intergalactic.
Then came the big event:
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| This is what a Metallica show looks like from the free-upgraded-cheap-seats, but this photo does not capture what it feels like |
- Hardwired
- Atlas, Rise!
James then welcomes the crowd to the Metallica family.
"It’s different out there in the world, we don’t care who you voted for, what color you are or what sex you choose to call yourself. You are all Metallica family, you are all welcome here."
The crowd roared to life with even more energy... and we got...
- For Whom the Bell Tolls
- The Memory Remains
- The Unforgiven
- Now That We're Dead
At this point James took time to make a joke regarding the Grammy Awards Show microphone fiasco, and getting a laugh from the crowd when he said, "Lady Gaga isn’t here, but we will do a song related to her." And we got...
- Moth Into Flame
- Wherever I May Roam
- Halo on Fire
At this point the crowd was on fire and Kirk and Rob did this awesome duet which led to Rob's spectacular rendition of...
- Anesthesia (Pulling Teeth)
This amazing bass solo by Rob fed into the frenzied crowd and led right to an aggressive rendition of...
- Whiplash
Then Metallica slowed thing down a bit...
- Sad but True
- One
Before ramping the energy back up with blister-inducing live performances of
- Master of Puppets
- Fade to Black
- Seek & Destroy
They thanked the crowd for their love and support over the years and left the stage.... only to return to the stage for an encore a few minutes later to bring the show to a close in the best possible way...
- Battery
- Nothing Else Matters
- Enter Sandman
In conclusion, I have to say, to feel that level of connection with 60,000 plus people, all strangers yet all family, during that collection of singular moments; everyone singing, every single word, everyone moving, everyone answering, everyone acknowledging our oneness; it gave me a little faith that humanity may be a able to make it after all.
I know that you might be judging these words as sentimental bullshit, or overstating the experience. And I don't blame you for thinking that. As a matter of fact I don't care that you might think that, because I know that much like a paranormal experience or a religious experience; until you experience it for yourself, you will never know just how powerful and moving a Metallica concert is. My wife didn't, but now she understands. I hope someday you can experience, because it is a experience like no other I have ever had.
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