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 "Out there in the spotlight..."
Since my truck was incapacitated (see NY show), and I didn't want to drive my dad's little car up to Philly, I had to make alternate travel plans. Elusive Fueler Steve Crowder and his better half, Leslie, were kind enough to let me ride up to show with them and crash on the floor of their hotel room (thanks!). The trip went smoothly until we started hitting the toll booths, which created some monster traffic. By the time we hit a few traffic jams, we had a running joke going about how we had to hurry so we could catch Mudvayne (none of us were much intersted in any of the opening acts, other than Leslie wanting to see Linkin Park). We made a quick stop to check into the hotel which wasn't too far down the interstate from Philly. We hit up KFC for some health food, and then hit the gas station to fill-up. I'm not sure what the deal was with the gas-station, but you had to pre-pay before pumping gas, and this was in the middle of the day! For some reason Steve had forgotten about getting there in time for Mudvayne, so he was taking his time doing some shopping inside the gas station, when he finally came out, I was tapping my watch yelling "Mudvayne".
After getting back on the interstate and sitting in traffic some more we made it to the stadium. At the gate, they tore our tickets and let us in without any problems. I started looking for the booth, but managed to find Club Sanitarium before I found the booth and Toby happened to be coming out when we got there, followed shortly after by Eric (you know, that rocket scientist guy from the VH-1 show). We went with Toby down to the booth. Steve and Leslie both got stamped for Club Sanitarium and went on their way (secretly, I think they ran off to watch Mudvayne). Toby and Eric asked if I would mind working the booth with Jeff, since Jimbo was doing the meet and greet. At the time, I thought that Eric meant that Jimbo was going to be helping out with taking people back to the meet and greet. Toby said that he was going to do something nice for helping him out. Truth be known, I enjoy working at the booth far more than just sitting around waiting for the show to start. It's actaully a great opportunity to meet your fellow clubbers, and you get to give back to the club. I told Toby not to worry about and that the club had already done plenty for me. Of course, you can't tell Toby what to do, nor should anyone try.
Eventually, Jeff and Jimbo made their way in. Jimbo asked about checking in for the meet and greet, and I thought he was just busting my chops, but it turns out he had won a meet and greet pass after all (sorry about that Jimbo!!!). Jeff asked where my wristband was for going on the floor (wristband? what wristband?) I ended having to go back to the gate and tell them they never gave me a wristband for going on the floor. Luckily, I managed to run into Steve and Leslie on my way there, and we all went and got our wristbands. (hey, that was MUCH easier than dealing with security at NY). Anyway, I made it back to the booth and spent most of the day there with Jeff stamping hands, meeting clubbers, answering questions, and dealilng with a few morons from time to time. It was great to see several Fuelers come by, even if some them don't remember stopping by.
 The Mighty Hetfield The most ridiculous episode of the day came in the form of two Romanian Metallica fans, a father and son pair who had flown in for the show. The older of two decided that he wanted the So What! that was on display at the booth. The guy apparently did not understand what "not for sale" meant. We told him if he wanted a So What!, all he had to do was join the club, and he would get a subscription. At this point, he decided that he was going to join the club "right now, not tomorow, not Monday, but right now", and upon joining he would take the So What! with him. We tried to explain to him that he could not sign up at the booth, but he could do it on-line as soon as he got home or he could mail in the membership form. Unfortunately, for him, that did not fall into the "right now" category. He then explained that in Romania we would not treat people this way. (What? We're following the rules. Is he trying to say that they don't follow the rules in Romania?) This went on for probably a good 45 minutes when you combined all the times that he came over. He was nice enough to try to bribe us with beer. Since I don't drink, he basically ended up buying Jeff two beers, while I was stuck paying $3.50 for a bottle of water (thanks a lot Mr. Romania). I think he eventually realized that we weren't going to give him the magazine, so he started asking us for someone he could talk to who was "above" us (the last girl that I hung out with thought she was above me, maybe I should have given him her number). He also wanted to know where the person that we were working for was at, and insisted that we had to know where he was. Even if we wanted to tell the guy where anybody else was, we wouldn't have had any idea. We had been sitting at the booth all-day. Eventually Toby showed up and talked to the guy for about 5 seconds, and he left and never came back. Toby apparently has some mysterious secret powers that can ward off idiots in one fell swoop. The funniest part of the story is that while we arguing with the guy somebody stole a copy of the So What! that he had been trying to get the whole time. He should have thought of that and saved us all the trouble.
 There were plenty of other sights to behold at the booth, but none matched the spectacle of the Romanians. I did notice that Jeff's camera seemed to be broken. It seemed as though it would mysteriously take pictures on its own, especially whenever there were good-looking women around. It was very strange. [Ed. The camera in question is now fixed.] Eventually, it came time to start taking things down. We got everything in the case and were waiting for Toby. He showed up with Ron [Ed. Another metclubber who helped out Toby.] and explained that he was going to get us up on the platform on the stage. He basically told us to do what we were told once we got up there, because they would have to move us for some of the pyro. Jeff, Ron and I were all stoked and were waiting down on the side of the field while LB finished up. For those of you who think that Jeff has no tact, he pulled off one of the most inconspicuous uses of a cup for a urinal right in the midst of plenty of people including security, while we were waiting. I still remain impressed with this feat. [Ed. Please, please, no applause is necessary.] After Limp Bizkit exited the stage (thankfully!), Toby came and escorted up to where we would be watching the show from. It was an amazing experience to get a bird's eye view of seeing the stage being set-up and being able to look out at the crowd. After what seemed like an eternity, we heard the AC/DC start going, and we were all ready get things going. It was awesome being up there with Jeff and Ron, because I knew they were both going to really be into the show, unlike when you're down on the floor surrounded by people who don't know half the songs on the set, sometimes. I will say this, though, aside from the three of us, the rest of the people up there were very half-hearted, at best, when it came to really getting into the show, but who cares? It's their loss for not letting such an awesome opportunity go by with really getting into things. Speaking of blowing opportunities, two of the guys who were up there kept standing on the ramp to the stage. Jeff said very early on that those guys were going to end up getting the boot. Well, midway through the show Gio [Ed. Metallica's security] started heading in our direction from the stage. We yelled "Gio" as he was going by, and the man never even flinched. The look on his face was enough to let you know that somebody was about to be on the receiving end of something really bad. The next thing you know Gio had those two guys and was chewing them each a new one. He pretty much sat them down away from the stage and that was the end of them. A word to the wise, do not EVER do something to piss that man off.
 Nice view, eh? The show was excellent, once again. I'd say performance-wise it was on par with the NY show from earlier in the week. However, this experience completely blew away my experience at the NY show. Having the guys standing right in front of you playing is indescribable. Rob played right in front of us several times and was really interacting with us, which just awesome. The first time that Kirk came over he recognized Jeff and pointed right at and said "hey" or something, which is starting become standard routine for him, it seems. There really is little point in me trying to go into this show any further. Words can't describe the experience. At the end of the set, Rob came over and said to the three of us, "You guys fucking rock!" and gave each of us a pick (hey, where did he get a pick from?) I also got a pick from James, and Lars slapped me five. This was one night that I won't ever forget, and I am very appreciative of being given this opportunity. It was just flat-out AWESOME!!!!
 "You guys FUCKING rock!"
 Shake my hand Mr. Ulrich! After the show, we made our way back out of the venue. Jeff snagged a pyro sign before leaving the stage and Ron managed to get a setlist. I met up with Steve and Leslie, and we began to venture our way across the vast parking lots. When we finally made it to the car, some guy was coming dangerously close to going over the edge with his girlfriend/wife (not sure which). This guy was just going off on her and being a total jackass. He finally calmed down enough that they got in their vehicle. So, we packed up and started to make our way out of the parking lot. As we were pulling out of our parking space, I saw Jon from the U.K. (hey, that's how he introduced himself, so that's what I'm going to call him.). Philly was show #152 for him. He said L.A. was next on his list. We made our way out of there and got to the hotel and crashed. Got up the next morning and made our way back home safe and sound. What a weekend!!!!!
 Be Careful Kids!
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