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!
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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