Monday, January 19, 2009

The Daily Pitcher: Seek and Destroy

It was my brother's birthday yesterday, and Metallica was nice enough to throw a party for him at the TD Banknorth Garden. Okay, so they didn't invite either of our spouses,or any of our friends or families, and we had to pay to get in. It's the thought that counts.

As Dale said, "They ain't lost nothin' off their fastball." They brought for two solid hours, plus an encore of "Seek and Destroy." The coffin lighting rigs flashed me back in a funny way to the U2 Zoo TV show I saw with Dale back in '92 at Sullivan Stadium. And the fact they played in the round meant everyone got something resembling face time from every band member. 

I misread our ticket, thinking we were in loge 12, which led to a) talking to a couple of nice but very hammered guys from New Brunswick who drove eight hours to see the show, and b) the people who actually owned those seats showing up just as Metallica were about to take the stage. Compounding the drama was the fact I'd lost my ticket during my last trip to concessions. It turns out we were in loge 2, which was still a great location, and the usher waived us in after he saw only Dale's ticket. 

The encore was punctuated with the dropping of big, black inflatable balls with the Metallicalogo. I was thisclose to grabbing one, but the kid behind me punched it fifteen rows ahead. If he had caught it, I wouldn't have been pissed--it's a cool souvenir. Unfortunately, he was quick enough to punch and slow enough not to consider it as a keepsake. Dale did snag a WAAFsticker on the way out commemorating the show, date and all. A great night all around.

Dale's understanding was that Metallica tended to run a tight ship with security to minimize photos, videos, and audio from leaking out. So I opted to leave the camera behind. Big mistake--we were treated to typical Garden security. Getting a camera in would have been no problem. So the upshot is that the few pictures I took are from my phone. 


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