Wachovia Center @ Philadelphia, PA - 1/17/09

On the day of the show, Dawn, Amy and I drove up to Philly for the second of my four shows. We gathered in Springfield and fueled up and then hit the road. I had one extra ticket, but Dawn was finagling something with one of her PPM buddies and Amy and was working it all out. The conversations we had on the drive up to Philly were deep. It had nothing to do with Metallica. We just talked about life, and it was really cool to have "girl time." If you can believe it, I rather unintentionally monopolized it and gave more than my share of sharing. Thanks for listening ladies!

(L to R) Jeff, Amy, George, Sean, Brad, Ron, Blou, Steph, Dawn, Mike, me, Matt and Yuri
Picture from Rod Snyder

Along the way, Dawn was in touch with her NY PPM friend Stephanie, who was already in line, and was “saving our spot.” This was particularly cool because at least 2 of us had kid stuff to deal with that morning and I barely got out when I did. For this trip, I thought ahead and decided it would be my first time making a sign. I wasn’t sure what it was going to say, but I had all the necessary materials - double-sided florescent colored poster board, stickers, all kinds of silly stuff, and a black sharpie. I figured between the three of us we could flash some seriously hard-to-miss signage.

By the time we got to the venue, the road warriors were out in the FREEZING cold again, waiting. Although they were less than thrilled to see us come up front while they had been waiting for so long, they let it happen, and it was good. I’m forever grateful guys. Again, doors opened, and it was a rapid transition from waiting outside to rabid animals who just wanted their spot. I was warned this time, “Hey, don’t follow so close, ok?!?!” Ok. ;) This time was cool because Dawn, Amy and I got on the rail, except we got separated from Amy. We still rocked together though, with the occasional lean-over-the-rail-devil-horn-flash-with-crazy-smile” moments. Even though Dawn and I were separated from Amy on the rail, she got a rail spot between some very cool men.

You can't really see me, but I'm to the left of Dawn
Picture from Rod Snyder

I had decided not just to make this show unique for me by bringing signs, but by wearing a non-Metallica shirt...but it was calculated. I chose a DC United Shirt in hopes that it would catch Rob's and James' attention since they are soccer fans. I don’t know if it worked, but I know they saw it. [Ed. What about Lars? He's a soccer fan too!]

Back to the signs - I had asked Jeff for some sign wisdom, but no one could think of anything good to write on my sign. Nothing that seemed as funny or exciting as some of the stuff I’d seen before came to mind. I made one for Dawn, one for Amy, and a few others, but I needed one for me. Finally I came up with, “10 year Clubber seeks M&G”. I really want to meet them! It’s all I’ve ever wanted. Well, it did make it to MetOnTour, and that was pretty cool.

I'm the one holding the orange sign
Picture from MetOnTour.com

When I saw the picture on MetOnTour, I thought to myself it would be cool if they’d zoomed in and figured out who I was and gave me a meet-n-greet!!! Yeah, right! The only clue would have been if they’d remembered that I was in Virginia Fuel. The show was awesome as usual, and I got another ball. So, I had two Metallica balls (he he he) - it’s still fun to say. The trip home was interesting. Dawn rode home with Joie. On the way home, Amy and I stopped at one of my old friend’s house to say hello. It was a mess, and so was my friend. D'oh! Sorry Amy!

We took off for home around 2-3 in the morning, and Amy, who was so psyched to be going to an Obama thing the next morning, drove the car. Then she said the magic words, "Why don’t you just get some sleep. You’ve got Jayda when you get back." Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. I finally plopped my tail in bed while the sun shone bright, and it was good.

(L to R) Ron, Blou, Steph, Dawn, Mike (holding the 'MOT Ruined My Life' sign), me, Matt and Yuri
Picture from MetOnTour.com