Metallica RDS Dublin Ireland 20/08/2003

Pictures below courtesy of www.metontour.com seeing as security at the venue binned our cameras as we walked through.

Dublin was a good gig for us this year - we met new people which is always nice! We flew out to Ireland the day before the gig so we had a bit of time to have a look around Dublin which we did not do when we visited in 1999. We took the time to check out a few record stores and then went on to the Guinness factory - this was really worth seeing, especially the view over Dublin from the Skyview bar with a complimentary pint of Guinness. A few other Metallifans had the same idea as us and we met some people who had traveled over from Malta for the show. On the day of the show we managed to get to the arena only half an hour after they opened the gates, but we were to late to get the wrist bands to stand in the area in front of the stage. As we walked through security they took our cameras off us and binned them which pissed me off as I had some good tattoo shots from fans on there (any fans expecting to see pics on the site that I took in Dublin you know where they are...send me some and I will put them up). When we got into the arena we had to amend the lack of wrist band situation by asking a couple of security guards to sort us some for a fair chunk of cash. Money talked and within ten minutes we had two wrist bands on but were significantly lighter in the wallet department! But its Metallica and its worth every penny. Before the show we met up with Hector, Stuart, Anthony, Vangelis (traveled over from Greece for the Dublin, Leeds and Reading shows) and a couple of other fans. Hector and Anthony had meet and greet passes - have a look at the pics above to see them meeting the band. The Fans were not really into the support acts and chanted Metallica, Metallica throughout their sets. Metallica played the same set as they did from the Summer Sanitarium shows. The addition of the second barrier meant that the area at the front was not as crushed as I would have normally liked and you felt like it was not as hard work to be at the front. Maybe I'm in a minority but when I finish a Metallica gig I like to be physically exhausted and fairly beaten up, so it feels like I have to work to just stay at the front. Anyway the gig was great, James was very talkative with the crowd which always adds to the experience, Rob spoke a bit which was great and he is really finding his own Metalli' groove. By this show he had a few Metalli' gigs under his belt and I felt he was being more himself with some pretty wacky antics like playing lying on the floor and spinning round with his bass and arms outstretched. Rob really is a great addition to the Metallica family and must be seen live to be fully appreciated. It would be hard to pick out the best songs as they were all really great but for me Harvester of Sorrow, No Remorse, Blackened and Fuel had to be the songs of the night. The Lars/Kirk jam where they swapped instruments was really great to see - little things like that make the live show complete for me. After the show we met up with the guys from earlier and Ed, Stuart, Vangelis and I went out for a couple of beers. A few drinks with friends really rounds off a great show, not forgetting the obligatory Burger King meal as well!!

Steve 03