Dang near 20 years ...

Metallica was moments away from coming to the stage. Lamb of God and The Sword had both already performed. I was sipping on my eggnog latte. My son and my brother were both to my left. Ringo was in my 1988 Metallica Summer Tour tee shirt. We were all standing. Key Arena was made smaller by configuration being in the round. Our seats were fantastic so the stage was not far away. The ticket was a gift. It was a school night. I am 41 years old.

The last time I had been to a Metallica concert and was waiting for them to hit the stage was in August of 1989. I was chugging a soda. It was in the old Spokane Coliseum and The Cult had just finished playing. I was by myself. I was wearing my 1988 Metallica Summer Tour tee shirt. The building was much smaller, I was standing because it was general admission, and the stage was not far away. The ticket was a gift. It was a school night. I was 22 years old.

There were many opportunities to see them again over the years. Due to a variety of mishaps and near misses dang near 20 years had passed.

My son had asked me back in September, "Dad, can you take me to Metallica?" part of me wanted to just say no. A serious right of passage is involved here. Metallica is not a pop tour, this is a big arena rock tour, an entirely different animal. I have and had mixed emotions standing there. With my bro going too I joked I was taking two 12 years olds, but actually my bro is great for concerts because he likes to be left alone to enjoy the music and Ringo was just into it so there was nothing remotely like a problem to deal with when it came to either of them.

Beyond that ... it was an interesting set and a great show. They through everything into it from lasers to fog to flames. They played old songs and featured new ones while basically skipping 93-07. I wanted one of the black beach balls but did not get one.

24 hours later I was listening to a download of the show that came with the tickets ...