Which is Dublin, Leeds and Reading apparently!! 
Time for a review of my awesome Metallica week! This is gonna be a LONG one so try not to fall asleep!!!
It started on the 19th of August when me, Jacqui and her son Daniel flew over to Dublin. I dropped them off at their hotel and met up with my friends Su and Neil. We headed back to theirs where we chilled for a little bit before heading out to Bruxelles to meet up with a few other MetClubbers. I’d been outside this pub a few times but never actually in it as every time I’ve been there it’s been before a Metallica gig and the place was packed. It was nice to see inside it for once!
We headed down the basement area where we met up with Damian. We stood and chatted for a bit until we saw a table was free, so we grabbed it asap cos this place was gonna be rammed later on. Aussie Mark and Melinda soon joined up and we had a great time catching up with each other. Plenty of metal was being blasted out and whenever a Metallica song came on, it was like being at a gig cos everyone was headbanging, throwing the horns and singing along at the top of their voices. Imperium had me and Damian in full headbanging mode and we nearly got a mosh pit during Angel Of Death!!
When it was chucking out time, we headed outside and got some photos with Phil Lynott (there’s a bronze statue of him outside the pub) before going to get some food in the 24 hour McDonalds. Got back quite late but it was a brilliant night all round.
Marlay Park, Dublin. 20th August 2008
We were a bit worried about getting to and from Marlay Park cos this place is miles away on the outskirts of Dublin. We got shuttle bus tickets for it and just hoped we’d be able to get to them in time after the show. We got a regular bus out there and then we (we being Pete) decided that we should find a pub. This area has to be the only one in the whole of Dublin which doesn’t have three or more pubs on every street. As we were walking along, we saw this building in the distance which looked like a pub with a maroon coloured sign with gold writing. Pete started getting very excited about this but his excitement soon turned to dismay when we got closer – it was a church!!! Hahahahaha!!
Eventually we found a pub and all piled in. Rattle soon joined us and then the banter really started. Him and Pete were talking about David Beckham doing some sort of anti-knife crime adverts or something and this soon descended into Pete doing an impression of what he thought 50 Cent’s version of that should be. He was doing a posh English accent and going on about “Even tho I sing about gang violence and raping one’s ho’s, you really shouldn’t!” Well, this had an absolutely devastating effect on me and Damian, we were crying with laughter for a good ten minutes. That was one of the funniest things I have ever witnessed in my life. I guess it was one of those “you had to be there” moments.
After a few drinks, a few of us decided to head to the park so I left Jacqui and Daniel in Pete and Rattle’s capable hands and we set off for the park. Got in no problems and bumped into Ade, Dave and Paul aka Hairy Muffin (long story!) in the queue coming in. As we walked into the park, I saw another clubber I knew called Mark so we all stood and talked for a bit and he was really cool. Half the fun for me at these gigs is just hanging out with everyone. We found a good spot by the right of the stage and we had a great time chatting with old and new faces. Sweet Savage was the first support band and the only thing I knew of them was that Metallica had covered their song called Killing Time. They were pretty good I must admit. I thought Metallica might do Killing Time as one of their covers that night but that theory was soon quashed as they started playing it near the end of their set. I was half paying attention to it, singing along when I heard a roar from the crowd. I look up to see that James had run onstage and was singing it with them!!! That was awesome!!!!!!!! Another thing I noticed is that shades and a leather jacket is a VERY good look for James!!! Hahaha!!
More and more people seemed to come and join our little group. Hawaii Mark (who now lives in San Diego but will forever be known as Hawaii Mark) came and joined us, looking like Poochie from The Simpsons. It was great to see him again! At one point there was an almost live sex show going on behind our little group, but they soon stopped when they realised about 30 people were standing around watching them and taking pictures!! Hahaha!
Soon it was time for the mighty Tenacious D!!!!!!!!!!!! The crowd went wild when they came on. Jack Black was dressed in a big cloak and Kyle Gass was dressed as a lizard. It was hilarious!!! It was half music/half theatre with them doing little bits of acting in between songs. They went down an absolute storm and most of the crowd knew the words to the songs. I only knew the words to Fuck Her Gently, Wonderboy and Tribute. During Tribute, we all stood in a big line, arm in arm singing at the top of our voices. It was so much fun!!!
After what always seems like an eternity, the magic moment arrives and AC/DC’s It’s A Long Way To The Top blasts out over the PA announcing Metallica imminent arrival. No matter where I hear that song, it always gets me so excited. The song always seems to last an extra ten minutes when it’s on before Metallica tho! Haha!! As the last bagpipe note fades, the haunting strains of Ennio Morricone’s The Ecstasy Of Gold starts. It’s a goosebump moment as always and hypes the already excited crowd up so well.
As it ends, the guys run out and blast into Creeping Death – and the crowd goes nuts!! We all stood and rocked out together, shouting every word, headbanging, throwing the horns and having a fucking blast!!! After Creep, Lars started doing the kick drum thing he does, so I knew it was going to be Bells next. It was immense!! Ride The Lightning followed which is great to hear and always a little bit of a surprise. Kirk played the solo brilliantly and when the double bass kicked in, we all just smiled and had a look on our faces that said “fuck YES!!” Both Lars and Kirk have improved so much in recent years. Memory was great to hear again but any live version of that I hear now is just piss poor compared to the Wembley 2007 version. That memory will remain with me forever! I was really hoping to hear Cyanide as I’d been listening to the Ozzfest recording of it a lot and loved it. My wish was granted and it was awesome!! That riff is so damn catchy!!! We all knew some of the words and so managed to help James out, especially on the chorus.
Horsemen had to be one of the best versions I have ever heard them play, they were on fire on that song!! As always, I hoped they played my favourite song – Fade To Black – and they did. We stood in a big circle, arms round each other singing it and headbanging together. I was surprised to hear Whiskey so early in the set but it always goes down a storm in Dublin. We had another circle for that one and I was bloody knackered from jumping and singing. Then came the run of the classics. When One started, Rattle said that this was one song he never tires of. I made the mistake of telling him that the song kinda bored me now as I’ve heard it far too many times. So throughout the song, all I got at random times was stuff like, “How can anyone be so wrong??? Look at that!!!! It’s a fucking giant screen of wrong is it? There's never been a more wrong person in the history of being wrong!!" It was actually really funny so it’s all good!! Lars made quite a few fuck up’s during that song for some reason. Not huge ones, but noticeable enough.
Every Metallica tour, there’s always one song that I’m dying to hear live that I’ve not heard before, or not heard very much. Last tour it was Whiplash, Justice and Horsemen and this tour it was Motorbreath, No Remorse and Harvester Of Sorrow. The last two I hadn’t heard since 2003 and Motorbreath I hadn’t heard at all. Me and Pete were dying to hear Motorbreath during the encores as they had been playing it there quite often. No such luck this show as they ripped into Last Caress and another song I hadn’t heard live before, So What which was a great opportunity to roar the C word without risking offence!!! Hahaha! As always, the closer was Seek & Destroy and we all gave it every last little bit of energy we had.
It was a fantastic show and a bit special for me as it was five years to the day since I had first seen the boys live – 20th August 2003 at the RDS which was also in Dublin. It didn’t rain until we were in the queue for the buses when a typhoon decided to drop down on us but at that point, I didn’t care as the show was finished and I was very happy. Got back into Dublin and piled into Annihilator’s Supermacs (another long story) for some much needed grub before heading back to Su and Neil’s where Kat threatened to shave off Pete’s eyebrows in his sleep. About 4am we all passed out in various rooms and poor Su and Neil had to start work about 3-4 hours later. Ouch!!!
Dublin Setlist
Creeping Death
For Whom The Bell Tolls
Ride The Lightning
The Memory Remains
Welcome Home (Sanitarium)
Cyanide
...And Justice For All
The Four Horsemen
Fade To Black
Master Of Puppets
Whiskey In The Jar
Nothing Else Matters
Sad But True
One
Enter Sandman
- - - - -
Last Caress
So What
Seek & Destroy
Leeds Festival – 22nd August 2008
We woke up quite early the day after Dublin as me, Kat and Ade were driving back up to Belfast so they could pick up some last minute things from their house before flying out to London. Flew into London with no problems and drove to Kat’s parent’s house. We’d heard that the new Metallica single, The Day That Never Comes, was going to be debuted on Radio One that night. So at 7pm we all sat down to listen to it. I loved the start of it straight away. It has very Fade/Sanitarium vibe to it, with a hint of James’ To Live Is To Die solo then descends into a complete riff-fest!! At first I thought the last bit sounded kinda random on the end and it didn’t really go with the first part of the song. I did like it tho and was hoping to hear it live at either Leeds or Reading. We went out for a nice meal and just chilled for the evening, going to bed quite early as we were tired from Dublin and it was a very early start for us the next day.
Got up at stupid o’clock to get ready for the four hour drive to Leeds. Picked up Dave from his house and went round to get Hairy Muffin as well. Dave had downloaded The Day That Never Comes from Mission Metallica so we could listen to it in the car on the way up. This cd was played about 10 times during that trip and the song just got better and better every time I heard it. Ade had an interview for a job so we made a pit stop a couple of hours in so he could go to this. We in the car park of this posh office area dressed in Metallica shirts with Dave and Hairy Muffin trying to pour Jack Daniel’s into a hip flask using a piece of paper as a funnel. What they must have thought of us, I don’t know!!!! Me and Dave stood and talked about wrestling for ages, which was great cos I loved it as a kid. It was great fun – love road trips but it was nice to get a little time to stretch the legs.
After Ade’s interview (he got the job – yay!), we set off again. Somehow we ended up playing I Spy which lasted a good hour! I think the best one was “upholstery”, guess which smart arse came up with that one?? Haha! We finally make it into Leeds and park the car. We couldn’t go into the entrance that was near our car cos Dave and Hairy Muffin didn’t have tickets yet and Kat needed to pick up her working pass from the MetClub. Aussie Mark was waiting for us by the other entrance as Kat had his ticket. We ask a steward how to get to the entrance and she seemed pretty much clueless (the running theme for the day it seems!) so we walk back down the forest track we’d driven down onto the main road. Kat had flagged down a taxi and asked him. The entrance we needed was miles away so we left Dave and Hairy Muffin in search of some touts and me, Kat and Ade piled into the taxi. The entrance we needed was at least a 15 minute DRIVE away from where we had parked the car. I kept getting worried phone calls and texts from Mark cos we were much later than we’d said we’d be.
Eventually we made it to the entrance and Mark got his ticket. We went into the arena and had a look round. It was smaller than I’d expected but then again the only festival I’d been to before was Donington which is huge!! It started to rain lightly when we got in but nothing too bad. We stopped for some shirts and then had a look around the festival. I went and bought some mad socks since the ones I was wearing were really annoying me. After that we went and watched Avenged Sevenfold. During Afterlife I was wondering why M Shadows was singing it a lot lower than he usually does. He made an announcement afterwards saying that he had the flu and his voice was wrecked. I have to say that I had so much respect for him coming on and doing the gig when you could see he was dying onstage.
Before A Little Piece Of Heaven, he asked the crowd to sing along to help him out. He then asked this girl in the front row if she’s like to come up and sing. I don’t think she thought he was serious!! He got security to drag her out and get her on stage. I have never seen anyone look so terrified in my life! You could see her saying “I can’t do it!” but he handed her his mic and she did try. Poor thing couldn’t sing but it could just have been fear. Zacky Vengeance put his arm around her and helped her sing and I just thought it was an awesome thing for them to do and something that will stay with her forever. Near the end of their set, I got a tap on the shoulder and this random guy pointed to the ninja star tattoo on my ankle and then showed me his ninja star on his wrist. I showed him my other Metallica tattoo and he was well impressed! Even more so when I told him that Leeds was my 15th Metallica show. Hehe!
After Avenged had finished, we went down to where the MetClub meet and greet winners were to be cos Kat was doing work for that. There I met Alan again, he had a meet and greet pass for this show and I stood and chatted to him and some other winners for a bit. Feeder was the next band on and they were pretty damn good live. Loved hearing Just A Day live – that song is awesome and the crowd went nuts for it!! Me, Mark and Melinda had decided to start going down the front during Tenacious D so we’d hopefully get a good spot in time for Metallica. I didn’t enjoy The D as much as I did in Dublin. I don’t know if it was because it was exactly the same banter they were doing between songs and I’d heard it all before but I found them a little boring then. Plus there were these two people next to us who were so pissed they could barely stand up. A circle formed around the guy cos we were totally convinced he was going to puke. At one point he turned to me, put his hand on my shoulder and slurred to some random guy next to him “Isn’t this just the best Metallica girl you’ve ever seen??” Ok then!! Haha!!
We got to the middle of the crowd right in the centre, which is really not where you want to be when a band kicks off cos it’s guaranteed to go mental there. I was right – Creeping Death kicked off and everyone was shoving front and back, left to right. I could feel myself standing on people’s feet and legs as everyone veered from side to side and I spent most of Creep just trying to keep myself upright. When it gets like that, I start to get really pissed off as I want to watch the band, sing, headbang and have a good time so during Fuel I thought sod it and went about 20 feet behind where I could stand up no problem and not have to worry about falling over cos if you fall over in the middle of one of those pits, then it’s game over! I really enjoyed Ride The Lightning once again – that song has one of my favourite solos in it. Up next was one of my “must hear” songs – Harvester Of Sorrow!! Hell yes!! We got Cyanide again and I noticed one guy next to me was singing along as well so after I tapped him on the shoulder and said to him that we must be one of the few people who knew the words to that song. To which he smiled and nodded, saying he loved that song.
When James started his yes/no call and repeat thing, I knew we were getting No Remorse!! I loved every second of it. I just love hearing Kill ‘Em All songs done by “now” James as his voice is so much better than back then. The stage lights faded and they start playing quiet fade in part. Me and the Cyanide guy look and each other in disbelief and say at exactly the same time, “The Day That Never Comes??” We were right!!!! When I realised what was happening, I burst into tears. I just couldn’t help it. The whole emotion of the song and the fact that I was witnessing the live debut it just hit me. It’s been a long time since a song has touched me in that way. I closed my eyes and just got totally lost in the music. It was like I was the only one there and the band were playing it just for me.
After Puppets, James said “Did I hear you say Kill ‘Em All?” to which the crowd roared their approval. Was I going to hear Motorbreath??? Then Lars started the drum intro and I went crazy!!! I was jumping about, headbanging, throwing the horns and screaming every word. I think the people around me must have thought I was a bit nuts!! I phoned Pete which I said I would do if they played it knowing full well he wouldn’t be able to hear jack shit but a promise is a promise!! Heheh!! I was very thankful Nothing Else Matters followed that one cos I was bloody knackered!! The rest of the set was pretty much the same as Dublin but I didn’t care. It was still awesome!!
Afterwards I met up with Ade at the meet and greet bit. My phone battery had died so I was glad when he showed up there as I hadn’t a clue where anyone was!! It was a fucking nightmare trying to get back to the car. None of the stewards had a clue where anything was and Kat and Ade were starting to get very pissed off and I don’t blame them. We eventually found someone who actually knew something and set off in search for the car. We had to go through the campsite which was unbelievably muddy. My shoes were almost getting sucked off my feet at points. I finally figured out that if I walked on tip toes that stopped them getting stuck in the mud but that was not a pleasant experience!! Hairy Muffin and Dave were back at the car when we got there and everyone had to take their shoes off cos we were completely covered in mud. We all piled in the car again and one by one passed out except for poor Ade who was driving. Got home about 3am or thereabouts and collapsed into bed, tired but happy.
Leeds Setlist
Creeping Death
Fuel
Ride The Lightning
Harvester Of Sorrow
Welcome Home (Sanitarium)
Cyanide
...And Justice For All
No Remorse
The Day That Never Comes
Master Of Puppets
Motorbreath
Nothing Else Matters
Sad But True
One
Enter Sandman
- - - - -
Last Caress
So What
Seek & Destroy
Time for a review of my awesome Metallica week! This is gonna be a LONG one so try not to fall asleep!!!
It started on the 19th of August when me, Jacqui and her son Daniel flew over to Dublin. I dropped them off at their hotel and met up with my friends Su and Neil. We headed back to theirs where we chilled for a little bit before heading out to Bruxelles to meet up with a few other MetClubbers. I’d been outside this pub a few times but never actually in it as every time I’ve been there it’s been before a Metallica gig and the place was packed. It was nice to see inside it for once!
We headed down the basement area where we met up with Damian. We stood and chatted for a bit until we saw a table was free, so we grabbed it asap cos this place was gonna be rammed later on. Aussie Mark and Melinda soon joined up and we had a great time catching up with each other. Plenty of metal was being blasted out and whenever a Metallica song came on, it was like being at a gig cos everyone was headbanging, throwing the horns and singing along at the top of their voices. Imperium had me and Damian in full headbanging mode and we nearly got a mosh pit during Angel Of Death!!
When it was chucking out time, we headed outside and got some photos with Phil Lynott (there’s a bronze statue of him outside the pub) before going to get some food in the 24 hour McDonalds. Got back quite late but it was a brilliant night all round.
Marlay Park, Dublin. 20th August 2008
We were a bit worried about getting to and from Marlay Park cos this place is miles away on the outskirts of Dublin. We got shuttle bus tickets for it and just hoped we’d be able to get to them in time after the show. We got a regular bus out there and then we (we being Pete) decided that we should find a pub. This area has to be the only one in the whole of Dublin which doesn’t have three or more pubs on every street. As we were walking along, we saw this building in the distance which looked like a pub with a maroon coloured sign with gold writing. Pete started getting very excited about this but his excitement soon turned to dismay when we got closer – it was a church!!! Hahahahaha!!
Eventually we found a pub and all piled in. Rattle soon joined us and then the banter really started. Him and Pete were talking about David Beckham doing some sort of anti-knife crime adverts or something and this soon descended into Pete doing an impression of what he thought 50 Cent’s version of that should be. He was doing a posh English accent and going on about “Even tho I sing about gang violence and raping one’s ho’s, you really shouldn’t!” Well, this had an absolutely devastating effect on me and Damian, we were crying with laughter for a good ten minutes. That was one of the funniest things I have ever witnessed in my life. I guess it was one of those “you had to be there” moments.
After a few drinks, a few of us decided to head to the park so I left Jacqui and Daniel in Pete and Rattle’s capable hands and we set off for the park. Got in no problems and bumped into Ade, Dave and Paul aka Hairy Muffin (long story!) in the queue coming in. As we walked into the park, I saw another clubber I knew called Mark so we all stood and talked for a bit and he was really cool. Half the fun for me at these gigs is just hanging out with everyone. We found a good spot by the right of the stage and we had a great time chatting with old and new faces. Sweet Savage was the first support band and the only thing I knew of them was that Metallica had covered their song called Killing Time. They were pretty good I must admit. I thought Metallica might do Killing Time as one of their covers that night but that theory was soon quashed as they started playing it near the end of their set. I was half paying attention to it, singing along when I heard a roar from the crowd. I look up to see that James had run onstage and was singing it with them!!! That was awesome!!!!!!!! Another thing I noticed is that shades and a leather jacket is a VERY good look for James!!! Hahaha!!
More and more people seemed to come and join our little group. Hawaii Mark (who now lives in San Diego but will forever be known as Hawaii Mark) came and joined us, looking like Poochie from The Simpsons. It was great to see him again! At one point there was an almost live sex show going on behind our little group, but they soon stopped when they realised about 30 people were standing around watching them and taking pictures!! Hahaha!
Soon it was time for the mighty Tenacious D!!!!!!!!!!!! The crowd went wild when they came on. Jack Black was dressed in a big cloak and Kyle Gass was dressed as a lizard. It was hilarious!!! It was half music/half theatre with them doing little bits of acting in between songs. They went down an absolute storm and most of the crowd knew the words to the songs. I only knew the words to Fuck Her Gently, Wonderboy and Tribute. During Tribute, we all stood in a big line, arm in arm singing at the top of our voices. It was so much fun!!!
After what always seems like an eternity, the magic moment arrives and AC/DC’s It’s A Long Way To The Top blasts out over the PA announcing Metallica imminent arrival. No matter where I hear that song, it always gets me so excited. The song always seems to last an extra ten minutes when it’s on before Metallica tho! Haha!! As the last bagpipe note fades, the haunting strains of Ennio Morricone’s The Ecstasy Of Gold starts. It’s a goosebump moment as always and hypes the already excited crowd up so well.
As it ends, the guys run out and blast into Creeping Death – and the crowd goes nuts!! We all stood and rocked out together, shouting every word, headbanging, throwing the horns and having a fucking blast!!! After Creep, Lars started doing the kick drum thing he does, so I knew it was going to be Bells next. It was immense!! Ride The Lightning followed which is great to hear and always a little bit of a surprise. Kirk played the solo brilliantly and when the double bass kicked in, we all just smiled and had a look on our faces that said “fuck YES!!” Both Lars and Kirk have improved so much in recent years. Memory was great to hear again but any live version of that I hear now is just piss poor compared to the Wembley 2007 version. That memory will remain with me forever! I was really hoping to hear Cyanide as I’d been listening to the Ozzfest recording of it a lot and loved it. My wish was granted and it was awesome!! That riff is so damn catchy!!! We all knew some of the words and so managed to help James out, especially on the chorus.
Horsemen had to be one of the best versions I have ever heard them play, they were on fire on that song!! As always, I hoped they played my favourite song – Fade To Black – and they did. We stood in a big circle, arms round each other singing it and headbanging together. I was surprised to hear Whiskey so early in the set but it always goes down a storm in Dublin. We had another circle for that one and I was bloody knackered from jumping and singing. Then came the run of the classics. When One started, Rattle said that this was one song he never tires of. I made the mistake of telling him that the song kinda bored me now as I’ve heard it far too many times. So throughout the song, all I got at random times was stuff like, “How can anyone be so wrong??? Look at that!!!! It’s a fucking giant screen of wrong is it? There's never been a more wrong person in the history of being wrong!!" It was actually really funny so it’s all good!! Lars made quite a few fuck up’s during that song for some reason. Not huge ones, but noticeable enough.
Every Metallica tour, there’s always one song that I’m dying to hear live that I’ve not heard before, or not heard very much. Last tour it was Whiplash, Justice and Horsemen and this tour it was Motorbreath, No Remorse and Harvester Of Sorrow. The last two I hadn’t heard since 2003 and Motorbreath I hadn’t heard at all. Me and Pete were dying to hear Motorbreath during the encores as they had been playing it there quite often. No such luck this show as they ripped into Last Caress and another song I hadn’t heard live before, So What which was a great opportunity to roar the C word without risking offence!!! Hahaha! As always, the closer was Seek & Destroy and we all gave it every last little bit of energy we had.
It was a fantastic show and a bit special for me as it was five years to the day since I had first seen the boys live – 20th August 2003 at the RDS which was also in Dublin. It didn’t rain until we were in the queue for the buses when a typhoon decided to drop down on us but at that point, I didn’t care as the show was finished and I was very happy. Got back into Dublin and piled into Annihilator’s Supermacs (another long story) for some much needed grub before heading back to Su and Neil’s where Kat threatened to shave off Pete’s eyebrows in his sleep. About 4am we all passed out in various rooms and poor Su and Neil had to start work about 3-4 hours later. Ouch!!!
Dublin Setlist
Creeping Death
For Whom The Bell Tolls
Ride The Lightning
The Memory Remains
Welcome Home (Sanitarium)
Cyanide
...And Justice For All
The Four Horsemen
Fade To Black
Master Of Puppets
Whiskey In The Jar
Nothing Else Matters
Sad But True
One
Enter Sandman
- - - - -
Last Caress
So What
Seek & Destroy
Leeds Festival – 22nd August 2008
We woke up quite early the day after Dublin as me, Kat and Ade were driving back up to Belfast so they could pick up some last minute things from their house before flying out to London. Flew into London with no problems and drove to Kat’s parent’s house. We’d heard that the new Metallica single, The Day That Never Comes, was going to be debuted on Radio One that night. So at 7pm we all sat down to listen to it. I loved the start of it straight away. It has very Fade/Sanitarium vibe to it, with a hint of James’ To Live Is To Die solo then descends into a complete riff-fest!! At first I thought the last bit sounded kinda random on the end and it didn’t really go with the first part of the song. I did like it tho and was hoping to hear it live at either Leeds or Reading. We went out for a nice meal and just chilled for the evening, going to bed quite early as we were tired from Dublin and it was a very early start for us the next day.
Got up at stupid o’clock to get ready for the four hour drive to Leeds. Picked up Dave from his house and went round to get Hairy Muffin as well. Dave had downloaded The Day That Never Comes from Mission Metallica so we could listen to it in the car on the way up. This cd was played about 10 times during that trip and the song just got better and better every time I heard it. Ade had an interview for a job so we made a pit stop a couple of hours in so he could go to this. We in the car park of this posh office area dressed in Metallica shirts with Dave and Hairy Muffin trying to pour Jack Daniel’s into a hip flask using a piece of paper as a funnel. What they must have thought of us, I don’t know!!!! Me and Dave stood and talked about wrestling for ages, which was great cos I loved it as a kid. It was great fun – love road trips but it was nice to get a little time to stretch the legs.
After Ade’s interview (he got the job – yay!), we set off again. Somehow we ended up playing I Spy which lasted a good hour! I think the best one was “upholstery”, guess which smart arse came up with that one?? Haha! We finally make it into Leeds and park the car. We couldn’t go into the entrance that was near our car cos Dave and Hairy Muffin didn’t have tickets yet and Kat needed to pick up her working pass from the MetClub. Aussie Mark was waiting for us by the other entrance as Kat had his ticket. We ask a steward how to get to the entrance and she seemed pretty much clueless (the running theme for the day it seems!) so we walk back down the forest track we’d driven down onto the main road. Kat had flagged down a taxi and asked him. The entrance we needed was miles away so we left Dave and Hairy Muffin in search of some touts and me, Kat and Ade piled into the taxi. The entrance we needed was at least a 15 minute DRIVE away from where we had parked the car. I kept getting worried phone calls and texts from Mark cos we were much later than we’d said we’d be.
Eventually we made it to the entrance and Mark got his ticket. We went into the arena and had a look round. It was smaller than I’d expected but then again the only festival I’d been to before was Donington which is huge!! It started to rain lightly when we got in but nothing too bad. We stopped for some shirts and then had a look around the festival. I went and bought some mad socks since the ones I was wearing were really annoying me. After that we went and watched Avenged Sevenfold. During Afterlife I was wondering why M Shadows was singing it a lot lower than he usually does. He made an announcement afterwards saying that he had the flu and his voice was wrecked. I have to say that I had so much respect for him coming on and doing the gig when you could see he was dying onstage.
Before A Little Piece Of Heaven, he asked the crowd to sing along to help him out. He then asked this girl in the front row if she’s like to come up and sing. I don’t think she thought he was serious!! He got security to drag her out and get her on stage. I have never seen anyone look so terrified in my life! You could see her saying “I can’t do it!” but he handed her his mic and she did try. Poor thing couldn’t sing but it could just have been fear. Zacky Vengeance put his arm around her and helped her sing and I just thought it was an awesome thing for them to do and something that will stay with her forever. Near the end of their set, I got a tap on the shoulder and this random guy pointed to the ninja star tattoo on my ankle and then showed me his ninja star on his wrist. I showed him my other Metallica tattoo and he was well impressed! Even more so when I told him that Leeds was my 15th Metallica show. Hehe!
After Avenged had finished, we went down to where the MetClub meet and greet winners were to be cos Kat was doing work for that. There I met Alan again, he had a meet and greet pass for this show and I stood and chatted to him and some other winners for a bit. Feeder was the next band on and they were pretty damn good live. Loved hearing Just A Day live – that song is awesome and the crowd went nuts for it!! Me, Mark and Melinda had decided to start going down the front during Tenacious D so we’d hopefully get a good spot in time for Metallica. I didn’t enjoy The D as much as I did in Dublin. I don’t know if it was because it was exactly the same banter they were doing between songs and I’d heard it all before but I found them a little boring then. Plus there were these two people next to us who were so pissed they could barely stand up. A circle formed around the guy cos we were totally convinced he was going to puke. At one point he turned to me, put his hand on my shoulder and slurred to some random guy next to him “Isn’t this just the best Metallica girl you’ve ever seen??” Ok then!! Haha!!
We got to the middle of the crowd right in the centre, which is really not where you want to be when a band kicks off cos it’s guaranteed to go mental there. I was right – Creeping Death kicked off and everyone was shoving front and back, left to right. I could feel myself standing on people’s feet and legs as everyone veered from side to side and I spent most of Creep just trying to keep myself upright. When it gets like that, I start to get really pissed off as I want to watch the band, sing, headbang and have a good time so during Fuel I thought sod it and went about 20 feet behind where I could stand up no problem and not have to worry about falling over cos if you fall over in the middle of one of those pits, then it’s game over! I really enjoyed Ride The Lightning once again – that song has one of my favourite solos in it. Up next was one of my “must hear” songs – Harvester Of Sorrow!! Hell yes!! We got Cyanide again and I noticed one guy next to me was singing along as well so after I tapped him on the shoulder and said to him that we must be one of the few people who knew the words to that song. To which he smiled and nodded, saying he loved that song.
When James started his yes/no call and repeat thing, I knew we were getting No Remorse!! I loved every second of it. I just love hearing Kill ‘Em All songs done by “now” James as his voice is so much better than back then. The stage lights faded and they start playing quiet fade in part. Me and the Cyanide guy look and each other in disbelief and say at exactly the same time, “The Day That Never Comes??” We were right!!!! When I realised what was happening, I burst into tears. I just couldn’t help it. The whole emotion of the song and the fact that I was witnessing the live debut it just hit me. It’s been a long time since a song has touched me in that way. I closed my eyes and just got totally lost in the music. It was like I was the only one there and the band were playing it just for me.
After Puppets, James said “Did I hear you say Kill ‘Em All?” to which the crowd roared their approval. Was I going to hear Motorbreath??? Then Lars started the drum intro and I went crazy!!! I was jumping about, headbanging, throwing the horns and screaming every word. I think the people around me must have thought I was a bit nuts!! I phoned Pete which I said I would do if they played it knowing full well he wouldn’t be able to hear jack shit but a promise is a promise!! Heheh!! I was very thankful Nothing Else Matters followed that one cos I was bloody knackered!! The rest of the set was pretty much the same as Dublin but I didn’t care. It was still awesome!!
Afterwards I met up with Ade at the meet and greet bit. My phone battery had died so I was glad when he showed up there as I hadn’t a clue where anyone was!! It was a fucking nightmare trying to get back to the car. None of the stewards had a clue where anything was and Kat and Ade were starting to get very pissed off and I don’t blame them. We eventually found someone who actually knew something and set off in search for the car. We had to go through the campsite which was unbelievably muddy. My shoes were almost getting sucked off my feet at points. I finally figured out that if I walked on tip toes that stopped them getting stuck in the mud but that was not a pleasant experience!! Hairy Muffin and Dave were back at the car when we got there and everyone had to take their shoes off cos we were completely covered in mud. We all piled in the car again and one by one passed out except for poor Ade who was driving. Got home about 3am or thereabouts and collapsed into bed, tired but happy.
Leeds Setlist
Creeping Death
Fuel
Ride The Lightning
Harvester Of Sorrow
Welcome Home (Sanitarium)
Cyanide
...And Justice For All
No Remorse
The Day That Never Comes
Master Of Puppets
Motorbreath
Nothing Else Matters
Sad But True
One
Enter Sandman
- - - - -
Last Caress
So What
Seek & Destroy
I would love to see Tenacious D one of these days. Linda, Sara, and Heather turned me on to them, and I would love to hear you tell some of your stories in person!
