I had been looking forward to this day since I bought the tickets (actually since I missed the New Years Show cause it was in Ramadan a few years ago)…which was the Thursday before they went on sale to the public.  I joined the Metallica Club thinking, if I wanted to get tickets…then I’d have to spend the night in Pontiac…and that just was not gonna happen!  So, I figured, get in the club and get the tickets early...which I did, however I didn’t think of the fact that there are 65,000 tickets available at like 80 bucks a pop…those tickets didn’t sell out in a hurry!

Wednesday Night

Anyway, a couple of nights before Esa, Adil, and myself were cruisin’ through Birmingham when we came across non other than the lead singer of Linkin Park…Chester!!!  That guy was so cool!!!  I yelled out the window to him…”You Rock man!!!”  He replies, “No, YOU ROCK!”  That was nice of him.  We were driving away until I decided we’d go back and try to get a picture w/him thanks to Esa’s Cell Phone Cam…as it turns out, he made Esa and Adil get out of the car too, so they could take a picture w/us.  Chester’s like, “What’s your name dude?”  “Asim.”  “Asim?!!!”  Dude, that’s Awesome! 

Finally....we figured out how to get the pics off the cam!!! 

I guess a simple "Cheese" doesn't cut it when hangin' out w/rock stars!  I still don't know who he is!

Thursday Night

Sid and Al were flying in, so after we picked them up, we decided that we were gonna meet some rock stars.  This time, we packed our cameras w/us.  We didn’t get to meet the boyz from Metallica, however we did meet Fred Durst and his new lead guitarist, Mike.  Also, we got to meet a couple of more guys from Linkin Park.  They were all pretty cool to us.

Adil, Esa, Fred, and Ali	Fred and me!	Man, the life of a Rock Star Sucks!	Limp's new Guitarist, Mike!	"Hey, can you get me Metallica's Autograph?"	The boyz from Linkin Park!

Friday

It’s show time!!!  We were late to the show, cause guess who lost the tickets???  Yep, me!  But sure enough we found them, got some breakfast, and were on our way.

We were unable to take our camera in, so the shot of the Silverdome was our last pic.  However, Esa took a bunch of shots w/his cam so after we figure out how to do so, those pics will be up too.  We ended up getting a ticket for Adil in the parking lot…it was pretty easy.

We missed all of Mudvayne and most of the Def Tones.  No big deal, cause with the next band, I was in for a shock!!! 

I had no idea Linkin Park could kick so much ass!!!  Up and down the stage!!!  Holy crap!  An incredible amount of energy that got us all going!  And their lyrics are fantastic…I thought they actually took some of the songs (which I heard for the first time) right out of my head and played them for everyone!

Limp Bizkit wasn’t bad, and Fred was pretty entertaining.  Whether it was making fun of Britney in public for the first time, or making fun of that dude that kept throwing water bottles and shoes at him, he kept our attention.  “Limp-dependence day my butt!”  The guys took Adil to sit down…but I had to inch closer to the stage…Metallica was gonna be next!

Metallica!  They rocked the frickin’ dome!!!  An awesome set!!!  No better place to start out their US tour than Detroit Rock City!  This is when it got really physical, and I gave up my spot in the second row (standing of course, right in front of the stage), to head on over to the Mosh Pit!  After 6 hours of jumping around and going nuts, I don’t think many of us had much energy left, but we gave all that we had.  Funny thing…I coulda sworn I broke my arm…but thank God that wasn’t the case.  Had a tough time clapping the rest of the night, but had enough energy to score me a guitar pick from KIRK HAMMET!!!  Rob has an incredible presence on stage, Lars is as energetic as ever, and there has never been a lead-singer that wraps himself around the mic w/his guitar like James Hetfield!

I think it was a bonding experience for us all, and it was Esa’s first Metallica show.  I’m happy we got to walk out of there as happy, excited, and rejuvenated as we were.  Another funny story, we picked Sid up so he could body surf…the guy went three feet before he fell hard right down on the concrete…OUCH!!!!!!!!  He said his back was sore from the whole day, and it took falling 6 feet on to the Silverdome Concrete floor to loosen things up. 

Messages to my boyz:

Adil – I’m glad we got that ticket in the parking lot…it’s about time you went to a real man’s show!

Ali – you knew every word to all the Linkin Park songs…props!!!

Sid – What would a Metallica show be w/o you bro?  I’ve been to every show w/you…we’d better keep it up.

Esa – I’m glad you enjoyed your first show, and I hope we get to go to every show together too.

Metallica - keep pumpin' out the cds, and keep coming back to Detroit!   

Metallica Set List