I have a best friend in Toronto who just happens to be a Metallica fan. In fact, it's what brought us together. It had been a while since I'd visited so when the dates were announced it was an obvious chance to ask her if she wanted a friend for the show. Hell yeah!! When I bought my ticket she already had hers which meant we'd probably be doing the show apart. This made a second show added a bonus, not just for the obvious reason but cuz we could buy tickets together. Yeah, yeah... seats. For any other old fogeys out there who appreciate having a seat, I got first row which is really the perfect spot, IMO. Rail rats, keep your negative comments to yourselves!

Toronto is a major world city and yet Metallica had not played there in several years. This crowd was hungry and grateful. I decided that even better than seeing Metallica in your own hometown is seeing Metallica in a city - any city - where the fans have been a bit starved, have a LOT to let loose and are exceedingly grateful to have 'Tallica in town. The crowd was loud beyond belief. The energy level had me on a natural high. In a word, it was awesome!

Of course, set lists, photos, and video can all be found on MetOnTour.com, but I'll tell ya here that another massive perk of two shows in the same town is variety in the sets. All the Death Magnetic tunes were fantastically welcome. We got "Judas Kiss" the second night, which was bad ass. I also heard "All Nightmare Long" which I think is my favorite DM song. I was recalling the last show I saw before these - the DC show a full year ago. Much as I loved that one too, there were no songs played off RTL which is my favorite album. So over two nights in Toronto getting "Ride the Lightning," "Fight Fire with Fire," "Fade to Black" and "For Whom the Bell Tolls" made Joanna a happy lady. "Holier Than Thou" was a nice treat too.

I came home with cool swag: T-shirt for me, 'Tallica hockey jersey for my husband, picks and... finally a friggin' beach ball! I got the mother of 'em all, too - it's gigantic. Mostly I have great memories cuz the thing that matters most, the thing you can't put a price on, is the exhiliration and pure ecstasy of fully immersing yourself in the experience of a really fucking good show!