metallica blows
my proverbial skirt up. And it’s a good thing that I wasn’t wearing a skirt that night because the people in the front row would have gotten a bonus sideshow, and especially cuz I like going commando! One night me and my friend Damon were just hanging out at the swamp and the phone rings with a call from a friend of his. The guy worked a security firm in the Atlanta area and called to see if he wanted to work security at a Metallica concert coming up and did he have any friends that could help. I, being the quick witted swamp rat that I am raised my hand quickly and that was the beginning of an awesome adventure. Ya never know when good things will just fall right into your lap!
We show up the night of the concert and are handed bright colored T-shirts to put on, an ID on a rope to wear around our necks and, get this, earplugs! This gig didn’t pay any money, you just got to seee the show for free in exchange for looking like a mean mofo for the crowds displeasure. So earplugs? Hellooooo, why the HELL would I go to a concert and wear earplugs. If I am going to see one of my favorite metal bands of all time dammit, I WANT my eardrums ravaged, I want to be going huh? for the next 3 days, I mean thats what its all about right? And I want my moneys worth. I mean seriously, if I am going to eat Ice Cream I don’t want none of that fat free, low sugar crap. If I am going to eat Ice Cream I WANT the bad stuff too. Sheesh.
Anyways, we get handed our assignments and omg the lucky stars was shinin’ bright that night as we both got assigned to DIRECTLY IN FRONT of the stage, and right next to each other. haha Now this meant of course if the crowd should stampede the stage me and Damon were first to die! Another mad bonus was I was positioned near stage right, right next to the guitar wrangler. He is the guy that has this big black walk-in closet on wheels and he takes care of all the instruments used during the concert. That means if they break a string they hand it down to him and he changes that and then tunes it with a meter device so he don’t have to hear it. Then he cleans it up and slaps it in the closet for when they want it back on stage. Pretty cool to watch him in action.
The concert starts and at the first blast of music the entire crowd surges forward against the portable guard rails that line the front, me and Damon and several others are in between that and the stage in a sort of no-mans-land. Ok, this just scares the hell outta me but the fence holds and we settle back for some killer music and jeez was it good and unholy hell it was hot! It was inside an arena with the audience surrounding the stage on 3 sides and they had lots of a/c blowing but it wasn’t enough because the place was sold out, 2 nights in a row! Now one cool thing going on was they were throwing handfulls of guitar picks into the audience, each one having the Metallica logo printed into each one. And of course the crowd was frantic over catching these things and dammit I wanted one but they were all going out into the crowd! After a while the bassist comes down off the stage while they are in mid song and is walking up and down in no-mans-land playing like a madman, sweat just pouring off him like it was raining and omg right out of the blue he stops playing for a split second and puts THE pick he was using right in to my hand! Not one of the hundred brand new ones they tossed out but an actual honest to god used pick. I remember there was a girl that kept flashing me and begging for that pick, and I almost gave it away but I got flashed anyway so I kept it! I have a picture of it here in my photo blog and looking closely you can tell it has been used! Metallica has faded into the background a bit since then but I will always remember that concert as one of the best ones I have ever been to, and I will likely see them again in the future. If you get a chance to see them and you like rock, go for it because they do put on a great show!
Tell me about your fave concert! rock and roll or otherwise!
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Dude, if they rock how can they blow? Is this a Cajun saying? Cuz in WV, if you blow, you suck… oh wait, that didn’t come out right.. D’OH! I just used blow, suck and come in one sentence or one run-on sentence… anywho. So, they rock?
I love Metallica…. I’d be in some form of shock if I had that opportunity, but I’d do it in a fuckin’ heartbeat!
Had a super fantabulous time at the Montgomery Gentry concert……..hmmmmmmm that T-Roy Gentry is a hottie.
Now I may be a country music loser but I know if I got handed a pick from Metallica I’d go craazy! I saw the pick in your photo blog but it’s nice to have that story to go with it.
Lucky Bastard!
I rarely go to concerts, something about 1000 people all around me with body odor makes it not worth while.
But damn I would have gone to see Metallica! I’m so jealous!
Hey! I saw Metallica twice (in New Orleans), the second time I went I did get a pick ;o) This was before kids and when I was in highschool. So I have my green Metallica pick in my Highschool memories book, next to all of my concert stubs, lol Now my all time favorite band in Rush, have seen them 5 times in concert and hope to see them some more!!
YAY you! Great story! But way to avoid the real story. (See Shut Up below) I’m just sayin’.
Concerts are my favorite thing about my job. There’s nothing like front row, backstage passes and interviews. I don’t have one favorite story to share but I’ve been to lots of concerts and have enjoyed every one. I love the way the sound of drums pound through my whole body…ahhhh
Lois Lane
Nanner= they rock and so do you silly!!
Angel=!! and a couple more !!!
Kristin= that sounds like a hoot!!
Lauren= lol its hard to tell the country by the appearance anymore LOL
Anon= ? yep i agree lol
Leslie= ya they are pretty good in concert!
Lois= lol i’m just sayin’ !!
weee
I love the line: “just hanging out at the swamp…” HA!
Oh, and did you get any pics of the chicks who flashed you?
I’ve only been to once concert. It was Brooks n Dunn… country, you know.
They put on a good live show, but I didn’t get any ass afterwards, so it could have been better.
Toodles!
I saw Zamfir and his magical pan flute. Talk about a great concert. LOL
Actually the best concert I ever went to was The Rolling Stones at Madison Square Garden.
Sacramento 2004 Metallica…fab. You scored with THE pick. Stones concert was my ab fab fav. Ozzie was here last year and we just didn’t pulse with it, geriatric-ish. Here’s hoping it was the show, not us.
Kate=! hehe ya we had lots of reasons to call the place the swamp! I had 3 roomates at the time in a big house and there was all kindsa stuff going on like 24 hrs a day sometimes…nope no cameras with us =(
Reama= i ain’t much of a country fan but i luvs me some B & D and i’ll bet they would do a great show, so i’m jealous!
Trash= hahaha Zamfir!! i saw him on TV once very funny! and the STONES!!!!hell ya! STONES! STONES!
Veronica= thanks and I am glad you got to see them, you are one hip artist. I wanna decorate my house after i move with your work, hehe if i could afford it!
update on me and the nouveau chaude dame in my life, we are getting along amazingly well, she is a net junky and we chat daily, unfortunately she is too far away to see on a daily basis…
i’m
happy!
I’ve only been to one concert, Alabama, the opening act was better then them! Neil McCoy, and I’m not a Neil McCoy fan. lol.
I have been in the pits at Charlotte Motor Speedway before the CokeaCola 600. Thrill of my life right there.
the Husband had a little something up his sleeve, last spring. he wouldnt tell me where we were going… but all my friends knew. i accidently found out where it was and for that life of me i couldn’t figure out what was happening in a po-dunk town that i would love so much. this was also the weekend that lyle lovett came to town AND tracy chapman was performing close by as well. so… as we hit the highway, (going the WRONG direction for tracy OR lyle) i made the comment about going the wrong direction for lyle lovett. he then asks me, “who would you rather see: lyle lovett, chris isaak, or harry connick jr?” and i said “CHRIS ISAAK, duh!” and we had tried to go see HCjr several times before and were never able to, but i would love that, too.
so we pull up to an arena and i have noticed the the marquee says “Lisa Marie Presley” and i knew that i read somewhere that she was opening up for someone i wanted to go see… but i couldnt remember. mind you we are in a slightly podunk town. who on earth would play here?
as we got out of the car, Husband says, “do you want to know?” as he hands me tickets to CHRIS ISAAK!!!!! SHUT UP!!!!! i start jumping up and down with glee. as we go in, we bought a picture of Chris and then found our seats. we are like 12 rows back. LMP opens and it’s ok. then Chris comes on and says, “y’all are too far back, get up here” so Husband drags me up the front so i am about 4 feet away from Chris Isaak. (and regardless of what anyone will tell you, he sang ONLY TO ME)
after the show, since we bought a picture, Chris was signing merchandise, so we got to meet him too! and i touched him…. and i had to refrain from licking him.
yay me!
that was the Best Concert Ever!
Sorry Seven, the Anon was me.
Becka
the best one was Bush believe it or not. The crowd was way younger than me but they were SO into it. I danced in the aisle the whole show facing the crowd, so only my right ear rang for 2 days, very wierd, very tribal really
Angi= wow Alabama is pretty smooth, i would like to see them and Nascar!! cool, i been to Talladega and to Atlanta raceway, awesome!
Christel= hehe Chris Isaak rocks, killer voice hey!! sounds like a sweet surprise!!
Becka= hey! no prob and thanks!
Mike= i would like to see Bush i really enjoy there music a lot, great group!
The guy I was with at the time bought Counting Crows tix for my birthday present one year. The Wallflowers were the opening act.
That happened to be the year Adam Duritz was told by his docs he could sing.. but if he wanted to risk permanent loss of his singing voice.
So, we had an option: Stay and see The Wallflowers or get the tix refunded. We decided to stay. Enough people opted to get refunds that they let everyone move as close to the stage as possible. We wound up about two rows back, not quite center stage. Not too bad, but I never got to see CC back then, while I was really into them.
or the River Raves that BCN put on in the late 90’s. Those were awesome….
p.s. sorry i wrote a book… i get excited about that day.
I’m with Innana, in CA gen X lingo, if something ‘blows’ that means it sucks big time! Is there a lingo in which it means a good thing?
Yeah, I’ve been to a few cool concerts, but the one I will remember best was NIN. The freakshow at the beginning had that guy that was in the X-files. The guy with the tattoos of a puzzle all over his body?
And Trent Reznor… ah jesus…
And this chick who was with an ex of mine got stomped on, (no, i didn’t hate her) and her jaw broke in two places. That wasn’t good, but it was weird, cause she wasn’t even in the mosh pit.
I have also seen bush, free ticket. But it was a good concert, to my surprise.
Tori Amos was great.
But Lollapalooza in ‘93 was AWESOME! Primus, Alice in Chains, Rage Against the Machine!
Ok, man am I going back in time…
I don’t see the picture. Where’s the picture of the girl flashing?
Metallica rocks!!… I had to swing by and check out your blog… I love what I see.. you’ve got a great sence of humor!…Thanks for having me.. I’ll visit again i’m sure!
and thanks for swinging by mine
Angel Seven,
First, I am so glad to read you are happy:) I am happy you are happy;)
Second, I saw Whitesnake in San Antonio when I lived in Texas - they were awesome - I have never seen Metallica though.
In England I saw a guy called Paul Weller (I doubt Americans have any clue who he is, he does a lot of acoustic stuff) it was at the Royal Albert Hall and it was absolutely amazing - I love his voice and his music.
You have a great rest of day - I just found your piccies for the first time - they’re great!
See you soon,
The girl in the skirt;)
Angel= that sounds like it was fun, good thing ya decided to stick around hey!
Christel= np silly, i loved reading about it!
Crazy= ! only if you use it in the phrase: “first she sucks and then she blows”
Jamie=!!! NIN!!! wow i am jealous! and Lolapalooza sheesh i always stupidly missed those somehow grrrr
Jethro= LOL nope, we wouldn’t have been allowed cameras even if we wanted i’m sure
Tammy= welcome! and thank you and thanks for “stealing” a flag!! i’ll be back to visit you again!
Flirt= !!! i got to see the Royal Albert when I was in London but i didn’t go inside sadly, and i know it was the scene of many legendary rock concerts over the years. I stayed in a hotel in St. Johns Wood and walked Abbey road and saw the famous Beatles crossing there, toured SOHO among many other awesome touristy things. I will go back one day!!
no he isn’t saying that metallica blows. he said metallica blows…. his proverbial skirt up.
he split the sentence between the title and the first sentence.
Christel, oops duh, maybe it would help if I actually READ the thing using my eyeballs and everything! I suspect 7 was just working out a way to mention that he goes commando, hehe.
i worked concert security for three years (1994-1997). i saw tons of cool bands, singers, artists… and i got paid for it and no ear plugs. my favorite concert to attend as a paying customer: B-52’s. i got my hair in a bee-hive and wore funky clothes and danced front row. amazing memories.
saaaweeet! You lucky dog. Sounds like it was tons of fun.
I loooove me some Metallica - saw them in concert once but wasn’t nearly that close. I can relate to the intensity of that front wall though - cracked two ribs on the front wall at a Billy Idol concert once. Woot! The wonderful security dudes hauled me over the wall and saved my butt. Hey, was that you? LOL
I saw Metallica at the Allstate Arena (back then it was called the Rosemont Horizon) right after they released Load. Best damn concert I have ever seen.
Although, being a man of many tastes my 2nd runner up for best concert is Garth Brooks.