The First Concert

            “Hey Diana, look what we bought you for your fourteen birthday”

            “Oh my God!!! Metallica tickets!” I yelled as I ran to snatch the tickets. 

            It was the first concert I attended so I was sweating from excitement.  I had been a big fan since I was eleven so I practically knew every lyric of every album.  My parents had bought the tickets a week before the concert which took place on March 6^th, 2004 at The Great Western Forum in Inglewood, California.  I looked at the ticket as if it was the Holy Grail and wondered what was going to happen.

            The first time I heard the band play was in 2001 when my brother borrowed some cds from his friends.  At first I couldn’t keep up with the music because the drum beats and guitar riffs are fast but that’s what thrash metal is all about but at least they don’t growl or scream while they sing.  I continued to listen and began to keep up with the hottest lead singer ever!  The lyrics became clearer and they flowed nicely with the rhythms.  Music can’t get any faster than Metallica’s, well it can in other metal subgenres but I think of that as pure senseless noise.  After hearing the first four legendary albums I became an instant headbanger and may I add the best air guitarist ever.

            Finally, after surviving the longest days of my life, March 6^th arrived.  It was time to bring out the metalhead uniform: black clothing, black eyeliner, boots and some wristbands.  I was ready.  I was instantly greeted by other fans that made me feel welcomed.  Some yelled, “Yeaah!” while they greeted me, others threw the “metal horns” gestures and some complimented my shirt.  It was one big happy (maybe scary to some) family.  There were tailgates everywhere I turned and different songs were being sung.  I’m sure that if I looked older they would have given me a beer.

            I entered the steamy forum where I was surrounded by anxious fans waiting for the show to begin.  The forum turned black but it was soon lighten up by thousands of lighters and I was one of them who kept burning my finger as I held it up.  “The Ecstasy of Gold” from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly was the introductory song and once it finished Metallica popped up as pyrotechnics flared.  We all start singing “Blackened” and I could see the people in the mosh pits get thrown around as if they were fighting.  I had never seen anything like it but the sensation of witnessing everything was like a drug, I couldn’t stop jumping and shouting the lyrics.  The next song that played was “Creeping Death” where I’m sure every security guard feared for their life.  At one point of the song we kept throwing our fist in the air singing, “Die, die, die!”  I looked over the crowd and it was a like a wave of soldiers saluting their leaders.

            The concert went on for about four hours and that was perhaps the best four hours of my life even though I lost my voice.  I have gone to various concerts but none can compare to that one.  

Diana