After weeks and weeks of arranging mainly by Uncle
Stephen I might have to add, the time had finally come to do the first Metallica tour of our lives. No doubt the journeying to the 3 dates of Hell
(Dublin, Paris
and Milton Keynes Bowl) would unravel a broad scope of stories and excitement for you readers in Metallicaworld.
We got dropped off at Nottingham bus station to catch the bus to
Holyhead so we could get the crafty ferrous wheel (ferry well hover
craft) to Dublin for the first gig.
The first leg would take us from Nottingham to Birmingham which lasted approximately
one and a half hours. When we arrived at Birmingham we had a wait of a
couple of hours. We decided to sit in the station to wait for the bus.
We then thought it might be nice to tuck into our packed lunches. Now at this point I wasn't quite aware of the brisk lashings in store for
us, I soon realized however that my sandwiches were wet ...!!!...was it water?
.... or was it ..... fucking anti freeze? god dam it. Well I am no expert on sandwich making but my mum never put antifreeze in my sandwiches before and fucking Delia Smith never mentioned it.
Anyway after this delightful culinary treat we thought we would prepare
ourselves for Ireland the proper way and popped into an Irish bar just
around the corner. When the time came to get on the bus Steve was still laughing at the sandwiches and
we prepared ourselves to sit out the journey. I remember this wasn't a massively eventful
journey, just a vermin child crying which
kept us awake until we actually arrived at Holyhead at 3.00 am. Bloody
children...like rats!
The hover craft was pretty good me and Steve always enjoy a ferrous treat like the deviants we
are.
I had on a met denim (patched up to the nads) and Steve had his painted
jacket so we were completely 'tallicered up. For most of this journey we slept in the cinema which was
a bit of a bitch as it was next to the door which people kept opening
and it was bloody cold. Haven't people got anything better to do at
4.00am.
We arrived in Ireland in good time and decided to have a trip
around town. On our travels we met an Irish blackbird (boy) who told us how to get to various music stores so we could hunt for bootlegs and the like. I remember
us picking up some 'Tallica promo pictures from record stores, we got one with 'welcome back boys' in huge letters which indicated the feisty people of Dublin Knew who the boys were without getting confused with 911 or the back door boys, the kind of
behavior you might expect in gay Paris...(later on this jaunt). So we get to the youth hostel later after a cab ride where we talked to the cabby about Metallica (once again full respect to the Irish) and relax. After a dog shit and a kip we
are ready to have our throats slit!
We get a cab there to the Point and arrive to the outer fencing. The security is tight like a ducks undercarriage cos someone died a year ago at this venue, so my chain had to get a handed over to security for collection afterwards. We get in quick and run to the first barrier area. Monster magnet were first on and did a really good show, they are a great band. Then it's time for the boys. The arena
(hall) goes pitch black and the Ecstasy of Gold commences as you can imagine the adrenalin is fully pumping round the body at this point. There is a brief moment
when this lone guitar kicks in and a shadow walks on stage, the arena still dark, it's fucking
Breadfan! and when the drums kick in the lights come on and the whole band is there before our eyes, and I remember thinking it don't get any better than this, what a
sonic-fucking we have in store for us.
The opener of Breadfan was exciting enough, like standing in a brothel with £100 to burn, but as the song ended
d.....d..d..dur (if you had not realised thats the into to puppets!!) it's puppets and the crowd go nuts ...feeding on our deaths construction. The energy of the gig was so immense because it ain't a huge place, it was the first time I saw them on a linear stage and the intensity was concentrated so much. Puppets followed with a couple of heavy duty numbers wolf and thing ... crushing... then into fuel the first time I heard it live and it blew me away such a good live song. The pace then slowed for a well earned breather through Memory bleed and then turn the page. This wasn't the most intense part of the gig but the crowd reacted soo well to what followed, bellz. I remember at this point I started to feel uneasy at being
pummeled like a water bed for an obese hippo against the barrier and later in the gig I started throwing up all over the barrier...great. The intensity was then pushed up to maximum through the rest of the set inc one, fight fire, Creep. Later on in this show the bloke next to me on the barrier managed to catch James' wife beater t-shirt he threw out and cos the Irish are so friendly and I got a claw on it to too he gave me the pick he had ascertained moments earlier, everyone's a winner.
Another stand out point for me was when a fan threw a cup of water on Jason and his electronics!!! and in return Jason kept
head banging like nothing had happened, 100% fucking class. So there we are I'm fucking still ill throwing up down the barrier and we get to whisky, James announces that someone is gonna help out and it's fuking thin
lizzy's Eric Bell. Now this performance is one of the most memorable treats you could imagine
... shivers down my spine the song is great live and in Ireland well it
don't get better ... the full experience.
Enter sandman ended what was the best Tallica gig I'd seen to that point. Pure
class aka castrate the beast. As the arena/hall gets disemboweled of the
shows participants we wait behind on the barrier with the faint hope
that Metallica may reappear (knowing full well that they would not) but
just enjoying the post show adrenaline anyway. As we vacate the premises
we ask probably 10 security guys how to reclaim the chains before
getting any sense out of them. Well to cut a long story short I
had to hand in one chain and I got 2 back one fatter one, plus padlock
and a little slip of a chain - Interest rates went up a long way in the
3 hours!!....well not as high as they did for Steve who arrived with
none and left with a brace!!
As
we left the Point with our new chains in tow we realized that we could
not get a taxi back to the Youth Hostel, so we thought never mind it
cant be to far to walk...what we had not gambled on was the fact that we
did not know where to go to get back to the Hostel and that we had to
stop every couple of minutes for me to throw up!!...Steve decided to
stop off at McDonald's for the obligatory on the way back. Steve
tucked into the full meal while I carried on being sick which I can
honestly say only strengthened Steve's hunger. I think he felt he should
eat for the two of us. I can honestly say the full stint of throwing up
got no sympathy whatsoever from Steve. After a lot of asking about we
found the Youth Hostel and settled down for a night of tinatus and
nightmares 'o' one more little detail... Enter Steveman....When we got back to the hostelry I went
to get some things out of my locker but could you believe the
totalitarianistic viscosity of the sexual situation. I had been
entrusted with the key only hours earlier but hidden deep animosity so deceiving
meant I had lost the monkey, in the jungle of the show. Well well well
what can the matter be...a short little chat with the bolt cropper majesty.
Situation solved! After this little hiccup in an other wise smooth path
of distortion free sensibility!! we were ready to retire for the night
into the fold of our sheets.
Steve and Ed joint effort |
