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Cads memories of a fantastic trip
Every now and again you get a summer season of gigs that
stands out from all the rest because of the bands that happen to be
touring. 1999 was indeed
one of those years.
It all started in May when I ventured to my very first
Dynamo Festival for the boys, then on to Dublin before the first, and
what looks like last, Big Day Out at the National Bowl. I feel I must
add that up until this point I’d had two close encounters with
MetWorld founder Steve, without even knowing who he was!….more about
that later.
The season was panning out to round off nicely with a
double whammy Iron Maiden tour at the legendary cavern called Paris
Bercy and on to the Rotterdam Ahoy.
Very nice.
Little did I know what was going to drop through my
letter box at the end of the long summer……….. an A4 flyer from
Steve at International Concert Travel.
Metallica & the Berlin Symphonic Orchestra – Only European
Appearance! I had to go. It would have been
extremely rude to have said no.
Dover Travel Center was the normal pick up point for me
where I met another enthusiastic fan called Andy. A monster of a man
dressed in a hand knitted Kill Em All jumper. He’d also brought his
mom along to see the show. Cool or what?!?
On board the P&O ferry I got to mingle with the rest
of the punters… including Akam and monsieur Gillyboy. The other crewmembers for this
trip were Graham from Ireland, Stuart and Matt Proctor. It was good to
meet up with these guys as the journey across France, Belgium and
Germany was going to be a right fucker.
Snow and high winds made the pilgrimage take until late evening
to arrive at our hotel. The trip ended up taking 21 hours from Dover!
Some unlucky fuckers were from Scotland!
That night, quite a few beers were had with members from
our sesh ending up in Strip Clubs, Police Vans and Steve getting his
lovely painted leather jacket “baptized by urine” courtesy of one
his room mates… (Graham!)
Gig day…. I
woke first and went for brekkie at Burger King. I met up with the rest of the
clan from the night before and we headed into the city on a mission to
find Til Linderman’s residence. 5
Metallica fans looking for the Rammstein singer’s house in Berlin…
it seemed like a good idea at the time.
This ended after numerous metro journeys and ending up at a
tenement block with the Linderman flat being occupied by what we took to
being a local dentist. 10/10 for trying I guess.
We headed back to get Tallica’d up. Fair play to some of the patrons
that donned dinner suits with full Met patches on the backs. Full
commitment was on show.
It was lightly snowing as we got to the Velodrome and
filtered our way through tight security and eventually to our seats. I
recall a few of our group hiding cameras and recording devices into
various bodily crevices to avoid confiscation. Neat.
The show was seated and all had an official program for
the nights events which made for a nice souvenir. I recognized a few
faces that had been in my hotel for the Dublin gig earlier that summer
as we took our places. Before
long the lights dimmed and the
orchestra slipped onto the rear of the stage to take their weapons. The
crowd was getting tetchy with anticipation. Michael Kamen then entered the
stage to a huge cheer.
Silence………………silence…………….silence…………..The
Ecstasy Of Gold.
It sounded awesome being played live right in front of
us. Goose bumps aplenty I
was transfixed to the stage waiting the boys to appear. One by one and to a roar each
time, Lars, Kirk, Jason & James took to the stage.
Ktulu sounded great.
I believe Steve was close to tears during this number. The Orchestra parts sounded
better and better as the night went on. Before long we were privy to one of the new tracks being
played tonight, No Leaf Clover. Wow…
I was impressed to say the least. Hero
Of The Day and the sublime Bleeding Me brought the first half to a
close.
I must admit that Nothing Else Matters was one of the
fellas that I was really looking forward to. And it didn’t disappoint
one bit. The next new song
was –Human which had that sound that only Metallica can do. Roam was next with the intro
being played live which made a change!
Outlaw Torn, SBT & One closed the main set but we new they
weren’t leaving Berlin without giving us Sandman. They topped an unbelievable
night with a dosage of Battery. Amazing, Gob smacked, Unique, Fucking Hell! How do you describe this one to
your mates back at home!?
Tempted to head to the local chapters party after the
show, we opted for donning our expensive S&M event shirts and
finding a bar. After
another skin full followed by a 4am McDonalds and currywurst all round,
we retired back to our hotel. My room was the size of a large coffin or
shoe box so the decision was made to join Steve, Matt and Graham in
their room for a wait until the bus came. This was not so bad as we were
returning to the room at about 6am! No sleep that night.
The road trip back seemed to be better than the one out. We discussed the previous nights
show and others we’d been at. This is where I found out that Steve was
on the same ferry back from the Dublin gig in July as me. Also, when the BBC filmed the
Ozone at the Big Day Out, the only 2 front row crowd shots they used
were of him and myself!… Strange But Tue?!?!?
We did a few photo’s back in Dover. Mainly of Big
Andy’s Shattered Met tattoo across his shoulders. Brave man considering it was bloody freezing cold!
I swapped details with Steve and bid them farewell. Andy’s mom was a diamond and
gave me a lift back home.
A
legendary trip that will never be forgotten for sure.
Mark
(literary excellence) Cadier 2004 (fucking good memory also!)
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