Metallica in Columbus.

This blog is dedicated to Pac-man, the only man I have ever personally known to like Metallica as much as me.

I always seem to struggle where to start when I begin a new blog and this is no exception. The night was so amazing and there was so much that happened that it is tough to know where to start! I guess I can begin with telling all of you that I have loved Metallica since I was in 7th grade. We had to do a project for music class and someone did video from "Enter Sandman." When I saw it something special happened inside me, it was like the first time I kissed a girl, or the first time I made poopy in the potty. I knew that this band ROCKED and I need to hear more. So over the years I have listened to more, even through Load, Re-Load, and St. Anger, which most fans did not like, I however, did. Now, even though I have always loved this band this, at 29 years old, was my first concert.

As we got to the arena I was getting pretty stoked and it was just building as we were walking around to our seats. We got to our seats and Sword was playing. Decent band, rocked pretty hard, but nothing stood out in particular. But after Sword went off and Down was setting up something happened that made and incredible night even better. A "woman" shows up to sit in the row in front of us and she can only be described as a former Metallica groupie from the release of Kill'em All in 1981. This "woman" was easily 45+ and an utter disaster. She came in wearing a black bandanna keeping up hair that was 20 shades of yellow. I say yellow and not blonde because it really was yellow, it was like some sort of toxic blond, as a matter of fact I think I am going to the doctor later today to look for cancer from inhaling fumes from her hair. Moving on, she is wearing a sleeveless hoodie, proudly displaying her tattoo that says "Wild Child 4 life." Nice. She was also displaying these arm bands that looked like Madonna threw up heavy metal on her arms. They had zippers and rainbow colors and all kinds of weirdness. Then I heard her talk, I was actually startled, it sounded like someone had just started up a Harley, I can only hope that I am painting an accurate picture here, because she was hilarious all night, mainly because we were sitting behind her and not next to her. I say that because I think she managed to spill at least a cumulative whole beer on the guys next to her as she waved her arms around wildly during every song.....all night long! She is the very definition of a train wreck and I thank god she was sitting in front of us!

Now, on to the glory that is Metallica. Here is the set list for the evening.

1. Ecstasy of Gold
2. That Was Just Your Life
3. End of the Line
4. Creeping Death
5. Ride the Lightning
6. One
7. Broken, Beat and Scarred
8. Cyanide
9. Sad But True
10. Wherever I may Roam
11. Leper Messiah
12. The Day That Never Comes
13. Master of Puppets
14. Battery
15. Nothing Else Matters
16. Enter Sandman

Encore

1. Die, Die My Darling
2. Jump in the Fire
3. Seek and Destroy

They played for a little over 2 hours straight, it really was amazing. I remember hearing the Ecstasy of Gold start to play and it was like going to the Phantom Menace and here the Start Wars intro and getting so excited I almost peed myself. The best part was that there was no fucking Jar Jar Binks at the concert to fuck it up!

They started with a couple of songs from the new album and mixed it up the rest of the way with new and old. I was a little surprised that they did not doing anything in the middle. There was not one song played from Load, Re-Load, or St. Anger. They even played a song off Garage Inc, that was a cover instead of those three albums. I guess I should not be shocked that they did not play anything from St. Anger, and it was something the guys and I talked about before the concert, since St. Anger was not well received by most fans.

The performance of the night was One. They started in total darkness and as the sounds of war were going on the pyrotechnics started going off like bomb were dropping on the stage. As the song continued so did the pyro show, it was nothing short of amazing, it was worth the price of the ticket just to see that performance. It was also cool to see James Hetfeild and Kirk Hammet "duel" during The Day that Never Comes. And then during the encore, as they were playing Seek and Destroy they released all black beach balls with Metallica on them. I wish I would have been closer to grab one of those it would have been super cool!

The only thing that I was perhaps disappointed in was that they did not play All Nightmare Long, which is my favorite song off the new album. Instead they played Cyanide, which is a good song, but there are at least 5 songs on that album I like more.

It really was an amazing night and I can not wait until the next time Metallica is in town. When i say in town I mean in Cincinnati next time! I mean I will drive to Columbus again, but it sure would make life easier if they just came to the Nati!

A special thanks to my wife for getting the tickets for me for our anniversary! I wish you could have been there to share this special night, but I understand why you could not. And thank you to Isaiah, Neil and Tony for being there with me as I broke my Metallica cherry, I hope you had as much fun as I did.

Side Note:
I got a little side tracked by the "train wreck" earlier, but I have to mention that we also saw a guy in an argyle sweater at the concert. I know fans are fans, but really? An argyle sweater? To one of the hardest playing bands in history? He appeared to be foreign, but you have to know better right?