Back in August, Michael and I went to go see the Megadeth, Slayer, and Testament show at the Izod arena. He won tickets off a radio give-away and was kind enough to bring me along. I had never gone to a show with just metal bands playing before so this was a new a experience for me. So Michael picks me up and we grab a bottle of whiskey (the most metal of liquors) and go to tailgate the show in the arena's parking garage. We drank a significant amount of our bottle and some pbrs, as we enjoyed the rest of the metal community getting amped up before the show. These people go nuts before these concerts, especially when metal gods like Slayer and Megadeth are playing. The crowd was mostly old school metal heads, but there were parents who brought some youngsters to rage. Michael at one point spilt booze all over the front seat of the car, and so in a attempt to make the car smell less like whiskey, pours soda on it. This surprisingly worked.
So we made our tipsy way over to the arena, and we came across a guy trying to sell us satellite radio packages. We walked away with a pamphlet and sweet guitar shaped key chains/bottle openers. When we got inside there were not that many people sitting down, so we decided to get to know who was sitting around us. There were two guys sitting to our left. The one dude was very quiet and didn't say much to us throughout the show. The other gentleman was quite large and he would not remain quiet during the show. He was the biggest Slayer fan I had ever met. He kept showing us his tattoos, which consisted of every single slayer album cover and logo. He also had some swastika and iron crosses inked on him. That plus the fact he was a skin head, gave me and Michael the assumption that he was probably some sort of Neo-Nazi. Throughout the concert he would just shout SLAYER! at the top of his lungs (even when slayer wasn't playing). From time to time he would have enlightening conversations with us about how the other bands suck and how nobody rages as hard as slayer. We of-course nodded and agreed with everything he said.
The other guy we met was sitting in front of us. He was an older dude, but he was pretty jacked. He would tell us about the old days of metal, and snorting large quantities of coke before seeing bands in dingy NYC clubs. This guy was really pist off that he wasn't down in the pit right in front of the stage. I think at one point our entire row tried getting down into the lower level, but security was not budging. So guy in front of us basically tries to incite a riot so that a large group of us would bum rush the stage and get around the guards (this never happens). He did start a sort of half ass mosh pit on the stairs, which was probably not the best idea now that I look back at it. All and all it was a great time. Testament played an awesome set, and they organized one of the bigger walls of death that I have seen. I also got to hear some classic hits from two of the greatest metal veteran bands of all time. Slayer played incredibly. There is something about the energy of their sound that makes you uncontrollably move your head up and down vertically. I was a bit disappointed that there was no pyrotechnics at this show, but the intense lighting and cool back drops did a decent job of making up for it.As the show came to an end, we said goodbye to our metal friends and made it back to the car. When we walked out, there was a guy getting thrown out by several security guards. I don't know what he was yelling about, since the show was over and even if he could get back in there would be no point. I got separated from Michael at one point, but we ended up meeting at the spot where we got those sweet keychains. We debated on whether or not to do anything after the show, but as usual we concluded that we should go home. I woke up the next morning with my ear drums pulsing, no voice, my neck so sore from head banging, and a newfound love for old school metal. Here's a half-ass video I put together from that night.
Dumbassia: Slayer & Megadeth from Dumbassia on Vimeo.
