Where were you on the 20th December 2003? (Metallica - Live in general)

Member Name: Boonoiy

Product:	Metallica - Live in general
Date:	05/01/04 (133 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: I SAW METALLICA!!

Disadvantages: Some of their new stuff is rubbish

3 simple words will be my honest answer - Living My Dream! YES! I saw the band who have been with me for the past 13 years or so.

Venue: Earls Court, London
Time: About 8pm (ish)
The night itself and other miscellaneous:

Here goes.

Now, As I mentioned above, I have lloved Metallica since I was a nipper (well - 14 or so) and seeing them was a genuine must-do-before-I-die thing for me. I loved their early stuff, have put up with their newer stuff and was hugely impressed with their S&M album with the San Francisco Symphony but until recently I had been unable to get tickets to any of their concerts. Things change, oh! How they change!

Brief outline of ticket acquisition: Blioke called Joe that I used to work with, used to produce bands, now on the dole - got tickets throguh someone he knew on the day they sold out!

We met up in the pub (yes, the one we both worked in at the time), had a couple of quick pints and then headed off through the crowded Camden streets towards the undetrgro9und station. A quick changhe at Leicester Square to the Piccadilly line and delivered, via the magic that is the London Tube System, to Earls Court - a couple more pints to avoid seeing the support act (never been much for those and I've heard that Godsmack were dreadful so wanted to miss them) and then into the venue.

Hand over ticket.
Pay £3.50 for a tepid can of Grolsh (God I hate that beer).
Find seat.
After 5 minutes sat sown Metallica come on.
Stand for the next 2 and a half hours with the occasional CRAZED THRASH OF THE HEAD.

Before we went into the arena I only wanted 2 songs to be played for the night to be perfecty - Creeping Death (from the Ride The Lightning album) and Seek and Destroy (from Kill 'em All). If you're a fan of Metallica yourself you will know why! Just take a look at the set list below for the full run-down of the night's entertainment:





Battery
The Four Horsemen
Ride The Lightning
Welcome Home (Sanitarium)
For Whom The Bell Tolls
Frantic
Sad But True
Dirty Window
Harvester Of Sorrow
Master Of Puppets
Fight Fire With Fire
-----
Seek And Destroy
Nothing Else Matters
Creeping Death
----
One
Enter Sandman
----
Blitzkrieg
Motorbreath

Do not for one minute think I remembered all this myself! I have to give credit to metallica.com for this as I was simply too awe-struck to go remembering things like the ordfer of songs played. Thanks metallica.com.

So there you have it - all the simple stuff for a concert review - when, where, with who(m?) etc. What have I missed? Let's see.....

The cost of the ticket - £28.50 (becomes £32 with booking fee)
Where I sat - Block 27, row F something, seat..... Ahem, many.

How did it feel to realise my dream like this? ABSOLUTELY INCEREDIBLE!

I spent the first 4 songs in a state of dreamlike bliss, you know the kind of feeling when your first child is born or when you score the winning goal in the 94th minute of a World Cup0 final? I reckon I felt a bit like that. Trust me, Metallica fans are not usually known for their emotion (except when chanting "DIE, DIE, DIE" as the middle section of Creeping Death kicks in) but I really did begin to well up when they came on.

Here they are, the band themselves:

Lars Ulrich (Drums)
Kirk Hammett (Lead guitar)
James Hetfield (Rhythm guitar and Vocals)
Robert Trujillo (Bass)

Three of these guys have been constants in the band since I came across them in my early teens, heroes of mine if you will, and here I was in the SAME ROOM AS THEM! OK, the room was massive and they probably didn't recognise me but I was RIGHT THERE with them. How could you not get emotional in such a situation? The new boy on Bass was also great but he just di
dn
9;t f
it in
with my image of the band - I'm used to Jason Newstead by now and missed out on Cliff Burton (tragic bus death - it was the way he would have liked to go) but he certainly knows what he's doing and didn't take anything away from the night whatsoever.

So, the night wore on, I got more and more involved with the songs and even attempted a bit of headbanging at the songs from their new (and not very good) album St. Anger, we came to the end, I regretfully did not have the required £42,000 for a t-shirt (OK, it was only £30 but still!) so didn't buy one and we made our merry way home to wives, families and the norm once again.

I have got to let you all know that to live your dream like this is incredible, to wave a lighter along with 25,000 other people to "Nothing Else Matters" and to chant "DIE, DIE, DIE" along with the same for "Creeping Death" straight after it is something that everyone should experience at least once in their lifetime.

Long live Metallica!

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