Roadtrips, they're wonderful aren't they!? I enjoy roadtrip a lot, but this partiuclar one, well, it was special..at the end of this road waited Metallica. Yes, Dr Fever went to see the Metallica. But, my oh my, things are never as simple as they seem.
Things started innocently enough on the morning of July 8th. Got up at around 7:00am to get my shit packed up and ready, I was supposed to meet my friend Flounder at 9:15 over at the park and ride beside the interstate (he was driving down from Morgantown). Well, the packing up process went well enough and off I went. When I got there, Flounder was already there and he was asleep. He had shown up at 8:45, why? I don't know, but there he was. (at least he wasn't late)..after throwing my shit in his Sentra we were off and running..then the problems started.
I hooked up my discman so we could jam out to some "Kill 'Em All". It didn't work. So after some cussing, i lit a cigarette and suggested we stop at the K Mart that we'd be going past in about 20 minutes..i decided I was going to buy on of the Metallica albums on cassette so we'd have something to listen to..Flounder did me one better. He decided to go ahead and buy that discman he had always wanted..so, god bless him, we no had the ability to listen to some 'Tallica.
Now, I'll save you details of the actual trip there...except for: we made a 5plus hour trip in just over 4 hours or so (in other words: we were fucking moving!!) and we didn't get lost once (this impressed me). Now, we're in Sparta KY and we park at some impromptu parking lot under a maple tree (for ten bucks no less! jeez!). We get out, strech, yada yada. Then we head across the street to a bar, down a couple Bud Lights and we're on our way. The race track (which we could see in the distance) is about a mile and a half/ two mile walk from out location..but i didn't care. We get there and i'm thinking "alright were to now?!?!?" i found out that "were to.." was up a hill that to the ticket booth to go through "customs". this, was a (roughly) mile long walk...in the distance, the show has already started, I can hear System Of A Down ripping shit up and i'm pissed that i'm missing them! Eventually, we made our way into the race way...now the excitement is way jacked up! But, then the trouble comes back...we find out to get to the infield it's about ANOTHER mile and half walk. Now, we're tired and cranky..but we don't care..it's metallica damn it! So, we head for the infield...Powerman 5000 is already on the stage, but I don't care, i don't like that band. Anyway, we get to the infield just at PM5K is finishing up and now i'm REAL happy. Go grab up a t-shirt and head for the stage. Kid Rock comes up..we're about 50 yards or so from the stage, rocking out, fighting with the jackasses who are pushing past us to get closer to the stage..assholes..anyway, towards the end of K.R.'s set, we leave the infield for water (it was hot as hell!)..this is where the next problem presents itself...$3 a bottle for a 20oz water...fucking ridiculous. But anyway, Kid Rocks done at this point and we head for the MetClub tent. This is where things get interesting..
So, i'm standing there talking to one of the guys behind the table and he tells me that James Hetfield will not be there..he fucked his back up real bad and can't play..but don't worry, the rest of the band is going on with (basically) an All Star fillin lineup. This was the point i went thermo-nuclear. As we walked back across the garage area (me, still in shock) flounder proceeds to calm me down..i wanted to kill someone, anyone! I had waited half my life for this show and NOW it was fucked!! I was not a happy camper. Now, Korn's getting ready to hit the stage..this is where things got interesting again..
So, KoRn hit's the stage and I realize something through my anger..KoRn kicks ass live. I was quite impressed. So, in other words, my faith in Korn has been re-affirmed. So, they finish and we retreat to the shade for a few before we head back to see how close we can get for Metallica. 15 or so minutes later, we standing in the infield about 25/30 yards from the stage (we ultimately end up 20 yards from the stage), out walk Lars, Jason and Kirk to make the 'offical' announcment about James. This was also the point we found out about the free 'make up' show in columbus on August 2nd (needless to say, i'm going). So, anyway, there's about 45 minutes of space between the time after the announcment and the time the All Star Jam started..this is where the battle of the breasts got started. Every couple seconds, a new young lady made her way up to someone's shoulders and proceeded to flash the crowd..some off them were so close to each other (the girls) that they had "shake offs" to see who would get the biggest response...very nice stuff.
Metallica hit's the stage, opening with Creeping Death (this make me unbelivablely happy). They proceed to go through two hours of fuck ups, miscommunication and techinical problems, but all in all, a good show. Highlights of the set...
1. Serge from System of A Down singing "Sanitarium"
2. Kid Rock on vocals for a cover of Creedence Clearwater Revivals 'Fourtunate Son"
3. Jonathan Davis doing vocals on "One"
and finally..
4. Lars, Kirk and Jason doing "Whiplash" as a three piece..this was great if only because it's my favorite all time song.
Of course, i'm not even getting into lars doing "blind" with korn, Jason doing vocals with Fieldy for "ear ache my eye" and Kid Rock busting out "American Bad Ass".
So, the next day..after a night of sleeping in Flounders passenger seat we get up and head back..we took some side trips (i found the original Jim Beam plant..i was quite happy) and then headed back to my house for a steak dinner and some much needed rest. All in all, I had a great time and I can't wait till August 2nd..that's gonna be fucking great.
Don't forget to check out the pics page for a couple shots from the show
