The Black Album and the black ice
On Thursday night, motorhead5 and I went to see Metallica at Nassau Coliseum. It was a hell of a show. We skipped openers The Sword. But we caught a strong, heavy set from Machine (fucking) Head with their trademark blasts of precision double beats--had a great view of their drummer. Rob Flynn's guttural roar powered them through a selection of songs from current album The Blackening (which fucking rocks, by the way and might be the best metal album of '07) and a surprise cover of Iron Maiden's "Hallowed Be Thy Name."
Have to mention--we had amazing seats--bought through the Metallica "Mission Metallica" pre-sale. I was in Wildwood, NJ on Labor Day morning, in a shitty cyber cafe in the motel down the street from our motel, and had to pay $5 to use a computer to buy these but there was no ticket service charge from Ticketbastard or LiveNation, so fuckin' A. Seats were center ice, dead center, eye level with the band and 20 feet from the in-the-round stage. I rock.
'Tallica took the stage around 9-915 and played a solid set. Six songs from the new record (including the awesome "All Nightmare Long") and a selection of old favorites, including "Creeping Death", "Unforgiven", "The Thing That Should Not Be" and "Damage Inc." as the "optional" songs. (Four songs are changed in each night's setlist, plus one in the encore. The band selects from a huge playlist that starts with "Ride the Lightning" and goes all the way up to "Until It Sleeps" from Load and "Frantic" from St. Anger.) The encore was awesome, opening with a gonzo cover of Queen's "Stone Cold Crazy", and unbelievably, "Phantom Lord." That's a song that I have never seen them play--and this was my eighth Metallica show in 20 years! We got the train home with some cool dudes and I got home around 2am. Great show, made better by my anticipation for Saturday night, when I would see them in Newark.
It was not to be.
For most of January, I've been preoccupied with the fact that I injured my knee a few weeks ago. It was a bruise, but a painful one and the knee, while mostly healed and functional, was still tender to the touch. Well, on Saturday night, outside the Domain of Evil known as the Prudential Center, I parted from my buds and went in to get the tickets. Across the street from the box office, I slipped on a patch of black ice and hit the asphalt hard, on the same knee. I limped to the box office and (eventually) got the tickets. I was in a shitload of pain but could still walk if I was careful. Gave two tickets to evilsausage and EJS. Then I called the fourth of our little party, epinephric who had just pulled in and hadn't parked yet.
A plan formed. He was kind enough to drive me to Brooklyn so I could hit the ER of a hospital I'm actually familiar with--Maimonides, in my neighborhood. Ep dropped me off at the ER door, and after some persuading from me, drove back to Newark for the show. Yes, he made it in time to see the boys play a hell of a show, with even MORE pyro, the lasers, the coffins, and a set that swapped in "Battery", "For Whom the Bell Tolls", "Ride the Lightning" and "...And Justice For All" (god I'm fucking jealous! JUSTICE!) for the songs mentioned above. green_kohai met me at the hospital. Had an x-ray (it's another bruise, a nasty one but thank god that's all it is), and then the Greek doctor on duty gave me a prescription for a mega-dose of Ibuprofen (600 mgs) and a tetanus shot. Because of the latter, this is the first day since (Saturday nght) that I've felt up to typing ANYTHING. So I'm home, slightly stoned and sore. But at least I saw Metallica!
Have to mention--we had amazing seats--bought through the Metallica "Mission Metallica" pre-sale. I was in Wildwood, NJ on Labor Day morning, in a shitty cyber cafe in the motel down the street from our motel, and had to pay $5 to use a computer to buy these but there was no ticket service charge from Ticketbastard or LiveNation, so fuckin' A. Seats were center ice, dead center, eye level with the band and 20 feet from the in-the-round stage. I rock.
'Tallica took the stage around 9-915 and played a solid set. Six songs from the new record (including the awesome "All Nightmare Long") and a selection of old favorites, including "Creeping Death", "Unforgiven", "The Thing That Should Not Be" and "Damage Inc." as the "optional" songs. (Four songs are changed in each night's setlist, plus one in the encore. The band selects from a huge playlist that starts with "Ride the Lightning" and goes all the way up to "Until It Sleeps" from Load and "Frantic" from St. Anger.) The encore was awesome, opening with a gonzo cover of Queen's "Stone Cold Crazy", and unbelievably, "Phantom Lord." That's a song that I have never seen them play--and this was my eighth Metallica show in 20 years! We got the train home with some cool dudes and I got home around 2am. Great show, made better by my anticipation for Saturday night, when I would see them in Newark.
It was not to be.
For most of January, I've been preoccupied with the fact that I injured my knee a few weeks ago. It was a bruise, but a painful one and the knee, while mostly healed and functional, was still tender to the touch. Well, on Saturday night, outside the Domain of Evil known as the Prudential Center, I parted from my buds and went in to get the tickets. Across the street from the box office, I slipped on a patch of black ice and hit the asphalt hard, on the same knee. I limped to the box office and (eventually) got the tickets. I was in a shitload of pain but could still walk if I was careful. Gave two tickets to evilsausage and EJS. Then I called the fourth of our little party, epinephric who had just pulled in and hadn't parked yet.
A plan formed. He was kind enough to drive me to Brooklyn so I could hit the ER of a hospital I'm actually familiar with--Maimonides, in my neighborhood. Ep dropped me off at the ER door, and after some persuading from me, drove back to Newark for the show. Yes, he made it in time to see the boys play a hell of a show, with even MORE pyro, the lasers, the coffins, and a set that swapped in "Battery", "For Whom the Bell Tolls", "Ride the Lightning" and "...And Justice For All" (god I'm fucking jealous! JUSTICE!) for the songs mentioned above. green_kohai met me at the hospital. Had an x-ray (it's another bruise, a nasty one but thank god that's all it is), and then the Greek doctor on duty gave me a prescription for a mega-dose of Ibuprofen (600 mgs) and a tetanus shot. Because of the latter, this is the first day since (Saturday nght) that I've felt up to typing ANYTHING. So I'm home, slightly stoned and sore. But at least I saw Metallica!