Joe Louis Arena @ Detroit, MI - 1/13/09

After sleeping on the "cozy floor" of a Detroit train station, we hopped aboard the train to Detroit at 5:30am. I had a meet & greet for this show, so I wasn't in a big hurry to get there super early, since standing in line for me was pointless. Our train was scheduled to arrive at 3pm, so that left me 2 hours to get from the train station to the arena. What could possibly go wrong? The train stopping repeatedly due to delays, that's what. We ended up getting to Detroit around 4:30pm. Fortunately, there was a cabbie waiting at the train station when we stepped outside. Unfortunately, when we told him we were going to Joe Louis Arena he wouldn't give us a lift, because it was too close, so we headed out on foot. A guy asked me if he could have my running shoes while we were walking. We noticed several bus stops while we were hoofing on foot, so after about 10 minutes of hiking, we hopped on the bus and asked if it stopped at JLA (no, not the Justice League of America, the Joe Louis Arena). The bus ride was quite an experience to say the least, but I ended up getting to will call at 4:55 with 5 minutes to spare. That was cutting it a little close for comfort.

One my entries into the "Design the 2009 MetClub T-Shirt" Contest

The meet and greet was cool. I had the guys sign a pic of me and Ron singing Frayed Ends from the Basement show. Plus, I got to explain that I did not have "too much iced tea" to James and Lars. James even said something about Super Ron helping me out when I keeled over. I also had the guys sign one of the t-shirt designs that I had submitted for the MetClub 2009 T-shirt contest. Lars actually commented that he thought it was cool and even took it and showed it to a couple of people. So, that was kind of cool.

I also ended up talking to Big Mick for a while. He was totally cool and down to Earth. He's also quite humorous. If you ever get a chance to have a chat with him, don't let the opportunity pass by. (On a side note, Big Mick said that the stage they are using on this tour is not the original stage that they had planned to use. According to Mick, the original stage set up had catwalks and a snake pit, but the band liked the regular old stage set up that they used for rehearsals that they just went with that instead.)

Waiting for The Sword to get off the stage, followed by waiting for Machine Head to get off stage. We did meet a crazy Canadian chick at this show who wanted us to let her up front. Ron and I explained to her that Brad was the weak link, so if she had any hopes about getting up front, she should stop wasting her time with us and head down towards Brad. It didn't take long before she was up-front right next to Brad (you ma'am, are "The Winner!") Apparently, she also discussed a fantasy involving some sort of physically activity taking place during a live performance of One. Brad did not take her up on the offer, though (likely due to the fact that One is not a 2.5 hour song). The setlist at this one was another cookie-cutter one...solid, but nothing different or rare. We did end up on the front page of The Detroit News the next day (my second front page pic from a Metallica show in less than a year).

Picture from Detroit News/Bryan Mitchell
(L to R) Crazy Canadian Chick, Brad, me, Super Ron

After the show Ron and I slept in the lobby of the Detroit airport. I was wearing every article of clothing I brought with me and was still freezing cold the whole night. The automatic doors don't hold the heat in all that well. Did I mention that I hate being cold?

"Can I BE wearing anymore clothes?"

The Good: M&G and talking with Big Mick
The Bad: The stress of almost not making it there in time
The Ugly: The homeless dude with the "I won't lie. I want money for beer" sign who harassed us at White Castle at 12:30am.