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MADLY IN ANGER WITH ONTARIO, PART 2
Imagine this scenario: you're a good Kelowna, BC, boy. It's 5am on Thursday
and you're in Toronto/Scarborough standing at a bus stop getting ready to head off to Ottawa for your second Metallica concert
in as many days. You've got a total of 5 hours of sleep under your belt since getting up at 5:30am on Tuesday. Your voice
is shot. Your ears only have a mild ring to them, and your neck is all right. Welcome to my world, friends.
I meet up with
Hilary, we head to the hotel, go for lunch, and then it's off to the worst-located hockey arena in the world, the Corel Centre.
It's not even in Ottawa proper, no no it's in Kanata, half an hour out of town. Thanks Rod Bryden, dumbass. We get there about
4pm and the line-up is already halfway around the building. Crud. Hil and I get intrepid and start looking for Clubberz who
will let us "join" them and thus ensure a solid spot on the railing (which I'd already decided upon for the night...dead centre
in front of Lars). Instead we run into the dude who was behind us in line for VANCOUVER!!! Whoa! Guess where he was in line?
FIRST! THANK YOU EVAN + FRIENDS!!! While out there, Niclas gave official word about my sign!!! We get in and take the pre-destined
spot....this would result in very good things later on for both of us.
Good crowd tonight, louder than T.O. and damn did
we get some pretty cool shit. Harvester, which I hadn't heard since Seattle 2003; Unforgiven AGAIN; Memory Remains; Fight
Fire With Fire; and THE PRINCE!!!! The last one was a total surprise, as it had not been played since the Garage Tour back
in 1998. Chris, eat yer heart out! Aside from Kirk having tuning difficulties and then breaking a string early on, plus Rob's
bass trouble at the start of Sanitarium, Metallica was very tight tonight, putting forward an awesome performance. Top songs
were Harvy, Creep, Fight, and Rob's bass solo (which was also played in TO!) was top notch. As usual I threw out my voice
during Creep---damn you Jason Newsted! LOL---one day it may not come back! The Prince was also well done; not too many people
knew the words but I sure as hell did.
It was during the interval between Prince and Seek that I TALKED TO LARS!!! He was
at his kit and I had my PRICELESS sign out. Dialogue as follows:
Lars: "What's that say? 2500 miles *makes face* not bad!
James' wrist...*LOL*...great!"
Me: "Saw you last night too!"
Lars: "Awesome!"
Then while James was doing the "this
might be your first Metallica show or your 25th" deal, I was holding up all five fingers on my right hand, and he's like,
"Five? Pretty good....thank you!" Oh I should mention that he'd already given me a really good high-five (after Fuel....more
solid than James'!!!) and after Seek he did again! And then he pops down to the floor AND HANDS HILARY A DRUMSTICK!!! YEAH!!!!
For
myself, I got a Lars cartoon pick (geez it really was Lars Night eh?) from Rob as well as Sully's USED guitar pick during
Godsmack's set. Four picks, handslaps from everyone but Rob, plus a stick for Hilary, equals an awesome two-day haul. Another
fantastic show. No wristband from James, but hey I'm on the website and I had an absolutely fantastic time seeing the greatest
band alive!!!
Special thanks to Hilary for letting me talk to you into this, and hey I'd say it paid off eh? Also many
thanks to Gio for the pick! Super-duper thanks to Niclas for putting me on that "silly little website" that we all love and
appreciate so much!!! To Godsmack: you guys are so much more than an opener or a crowd-warmer-upper; you're the future and
I look forward to you guys having a long and successful career. And of course, to James, Lars, Kirk, and Rob for putting on
two absolutely amazing shows and blowing me away yet again!!!!
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