Last Stop for Metallica 2017

My favourite thing to do in life is to go to concerts, specifically rock concerts. The first time I was able to see Metallica in concert was in 1996. It wasn't my first concert, by then I had already been to quite a few, but this one was spectacular!

I had waited outside all night with a group of about 7 other die hard Metallica fans on a cold January night, each of us taking turns running across the street to get some hot chocolate or coffee so we could warm up but we were first in line and we were gonna get tickets. I was third in line. There was no way I wasn't going to get tickets. 10:00 in the morning tickets finally went on sale. After the first 2 people in line got their tickets I eagerly got to the ticket window and asked for 2 tickets...."Sorry, we're all sold out!"

My jaw dropped to the floor, my heart sank. It was a crushing blow for a 19 year old. The place almost erupted in a riot! I didn't leave or go anywhere though. The one thing I knew is that any band that was even half decent always (at least back then) played 2 shows in Detroit! Today was no exception. Not only did I get seats, but I was in row AAA! Do you know how close that is? James Hetfield sweat drips on you. The pyro explosion when they played One was right in front of my face! I could feel the heat! I thought I was on fire!

I had no voice the next 2 days and my ears were ringing just as long. The figure 8 stage in the middle of the arena was the most fantastic thing I had ever seen. At the end of the concert the whole stage came crashing down in a big ball of fire complete with one of the stage hands (stunt man) on fire!

21 years later I got to see them for the fourth time, this time with my lovely girlfriend @ladybug146. They must have been on stage for close to two and a half hours and they have not missed a beat. They ripped it up big time. Gojira and Avenged Sevenfold opened up for them and although I wasn't front row anymore it didn't matter. 60,000 ravid fans at Commonwealth Stadium and the most awesome display of fireworks and video equipment made me feel like I was 19 all over again.

The set list was full of their all time favourites as well as a couple of new ones mixed in: Hardwired, Atlas, Bells, Memory, Unforgiven, Moth, Roam, Halo, Lites, Sad, One, Puppets, Fade, Seek. The encore included Blackened, Nothing and Sandman.

If you stuck around for all of the fireworks you also got to see all the band members on stage say good bye to the crowd as well as a nice little tribute video to the City of Champions!

If you missed the show you can go to their website and watch it. They live streamed it and it is still available at https://www.metallica.com/

All of the pictures here were taken from the concert in Edmonton, Alberta on August 16, 2017!