Like all Metallica fans, I was anxiously awaiting the announcement about the Big 4 coming to America. I think my first reaction was shared by many - WTF??? Only one show? And it's in California? That sucks!

But after my initial reaction, my next thought was "I have to go!" But wait! Today is Tuesday, and tickets go on sale Thursday! That gives me about 48 hours to plan this. Damn! Doesn't Metallica know that I have a life and need time to plan these things? Well, after that reaction, my next thought was "Make it happen."

And make it happen I did. In fact, I even arranged for a good friend of mine in California to come to the show. We decided to do the Metallica Club package and spend the money for the awesome hotel/resort and, well it almost goes without saying, buying the VIP tickets so we could be right up front with most of the 50,000 people behind us.

We flew out on Friday, and the concert was on Saturday. We landed at the airport and grabbed a cab to the hotel. When the cab driver saw my Metallica shirt, he asked if I was in for the show and then played Metallica on his iPod in the cab - coolest cab ride ever!! (I bet you were wondering why I mentioned a boring detail like grabbing a cab from the airport... there's a method to my madness!)

Cool shirt

We got to the hotel and a couple of hours later my good friend, Jim, and his wife, Veronica, met us there. We had a couple of drinks, and Jim shows me what they found in his hotel room. Somehow they got a room that was meant for one of Slayer's road crew members - they had the road crew agenda and room numbers of everyone else on the crew. Jim gave that to me as a thank you for hooking him up with the tickets - very cool! Then went out to Ruth's Chris steakhouse for a great dinner. The cab driver there was going to the show. How did we luck out and get another cool cab driver?

Saturday morning was the day of the big event! We got up and went to a brunch at the hotel, which was awesome. Then we jumped on the bus that was taking us to the show (part of the package deal). That was the way to go! Hanging out with a bunch of Metalheads on the bus was cool.

When we got there, we decided we all needed to splurge and pay the outrageous t-shirt costs - how could you not get a shirt for the first Big 4 show in America?? Then we got a beer and browsed through the vendors to kill some time before the show started.

All four bands were awesome. The crowd was still thin for Anthrax, but they put on a great show. They played a new song "Fight 'em til You Can't" which was the first time I'd heard something off the new album. I liked it right away! (btw, if you don't have their new album - go get it! It's great!) With the VIP passes, we had our own food area so we decided to get some food before Megadeth. Well, they didn't have much time in between bands so we had just sat down with our food and we hear Megadeth take the stage. We ate as fast as possible and got back to the front of the stage. Megadeth had some technical problems, but other than it was a great set. By this time, the crowd was getting more and more crowded - and rowdy. I actually haven't smelled so much pot at a concert since the 80s... I guess that's a California thing! HA!

Anthrax

The Ripper

What I didn't tell you is that Veronica had never been to a metal concert before and isn't a huge metal fan (obviously). Well, Slayer is quite an introduction to the metal show scene. It got rough, and she didn't really like that too much. She did LOVE Metallica though and is now a fan! Metallica was awesome as always. It was cool to see everyone come out from the different bands and play "Am I Evil" even though I was hoping they would do a different song. They had already played "Evil" at some of the overseas Big 4 shows (not that I had gone to one of those shows). It was awesome nonetheless (and in New York they played a different song so that was cool, but I'll leave that story for someone else).

It was an awesome show overall, the buzz was in full force with this being the first American Big 4 show in history - it was great to be there!

The vacation didn't end there though. I have a cousin who lives in LA so we went there for two days. We took a walk down Hollywood Boulevard - which really isn't that much except for the stars on the sidewalk (and meeting a miniature Mr. T). We did go with my cousin and his girlfriend to eat at the Rainbow (damnit, Lemmy wasn't there), and then we hit the House of Blues for a Steel Panther show - which was lots of fun! They really put on a fun show - check them out if you are ever in LA or Las Vegas (or if they ever tour).

"I pity the fool!"

Ozzy, Ozzy, Ozzy!

A full rock and roll vacation - that's for sure. I'm so glad I decided on a whim to make it happen - it's a trip I'll never forget.