Metallica At Highmark Stadium

Discovering Metallica

So I’ve been a fan of Metallica since I was younger. I first heard Enter Sandman playing in my uncle’s car as we were driving somewhere. I don’t remember exactly where, but I know I was younger sitting in his loud as can be car. He had one of those chunky iPods hooked up to an aux cord through his radio. We were listening to his playlist, and that song came up. Then I started wanting that song on my mp3 player. So I ended up getting that song downloaded on there with some help from my dad.

I remember this one conversation I had with my uncle as this song would be playing. I had this conversation with him a lot actually, about how I never wanted to get piercings, or dye my hair, or get my ears stretched. If you looked at me today, all that went south! (ha-ha) He would always say that would change, and for sure that did change.

When I was younger, I never really liked heavy metal, but I started listening to it with my uncle a lot more. He was also in a band at this point, and they did a lot of heavy metal music. So, I would always sit outside my grandpa’s barn door as they were practicing for hours at a time. It was just a core memory of how me getting into Metallica arose.

My mom started playing heavy metal in the cd player in the car, and any time Enter Sandman would come, on I’d scream it at the top of my lungs. Now mind you, I’m like almost 12 at this point. It is just crazy how things can change so fast. Flash forward to the year 2022. I just now turned 22 that past July, and I was told as kind of like a late birthday gift from my Mom’s boyfriend that he wanted to take me to go see Metallica live with him and my Mom.

Preparing for the concert

Fast forward to almost the day of the concert, which is August 11, 2022. Yay, another summer concert! If you can’t tell yet, summer concerts are my favorite. It always makes me so happy having summer concerts. Summer in general is the best. Anyhow, the day of the concert is finally here. I woke up pretty early, made my bed, then started getting ready. I needed to be ready, I believe it was by 3pm, so we could get to my mom’s boyfriend’s house. So we could leave from there to get to the concert.

Before we went to the concert, we stopped at a bar called Winfield’s Pub in Lackawanna, NY and had some food and drinks before heading to the actual concert cause venue prices for food and drinks can get expensive especially after one or two or three drinks and food of any type and if you plan on buying merch too it all adds up real quick.

The Drive In

So, the drive to the Venue was horrific because it was so busy. It usually is, especially at this venue. This is where the football team, the Buffalo Bills, call home. So during football season, it gets so backed up with traffic. So this didn’t surprise me, not one bit. I’m just glad there were a bunch of cops and traffic directors to direct traffic to where parking was at the venue. Others were trying to drop people of, and people were walking everywhere, even on the road just trying to get into Highmark Stadium.

The Openers

After we finally parked, we got out of the car and started walking in. Once we checked in and got our tickets, we made a quick pit stop at the restroom and headed to our seats. Then, the first of the openers opened up, which was Ice Nine Kills. I’ve seen them quite a few times now. They are crazy good. Check them out if you haven’t. If you like horror films, you will like this band very much. Then, we decided after they were done to run to the bathroom one more time. Because I was with a group of people. We were also stopping at the merch table, which is where I got a Metallica shirt, a beanie, and an Ice Nine Kills t-shirt. My mom and her boyfriend got matching t-shirts, from what I remember.

We headed back to our seats just in time for the second opener, which I am not a fan of at all the lead singer has good vocals I’m just not the biggest fan of Greta Van Fleet they have good songs, but I wouldn’t consider myself a fan. Anyways, they played. I truly wasn’t too into it, but his vocal range is pretty insane.

Metallica, the Show

Metallica finally walked out around Nine pm. We were up pretty high, not in a bad section though. I could see everything. They open by playing Whiplash which is a good song. It’s not one of my top favorites, but it’s good. Then, Creeping Death. When they started to play Enter Sandman, I literally was like, yes! I screamed that to my mom and her boyfriend. I was so excited. Enter Sandman has always been my favorite song so when they started playing it I started screaming along. I was screaming so loud I started to feel like I knew I was going to lose my voice by the end of tonight. Then, they continued playing through their two hour set list.

Metallica, the PSA

I remember during Fade to Black where James Hetfield, the lead singer, was talking about Suicide. “We’ve all had struggles. We’ve all had dark times. We’ve all known friends, or family members that have taken their own lives. They’ve committed to a permanence to a temporary problem. We’ve all been touched by it. If you’re feeling like you’re struggling, there’s people who will listen to you. There’s people that love you, I love you. You’re not alone, remember that. You are not alone!” he said before continuing to play the song. He stopped midway to speak up on this topic. It defiantly hit home. It tugged at my heart strings to be honest, still does to this day.

I lost someone to Suicide back in 2020. They say it gets easier, that’s true it does, but that doesn’t mean that even on the most random days, grief can’t still creep up on you. It doesn’t matter how or when, sometimes it’s just something someone says. It’s the fact that they talked about this before starting to sing again is what makes it even more impactful of a statement.

This song is actually about being in a bad place mentally. So this is a full circle moment. So many people in this world can agree and connect to this . It was a lot to take in. I just cried through the rest of this song. The whole time, after he said that, all I can remember is that the moment he said that, my tears just started flowing. It’s crazy what music can do to you, and how certain topics or certain emotions can just bubble at any time. Mental Health is a real thing. It’s crazy how our brains can react to certain songs and cause goosebumps, crying or many other emotions. It’s just bizarre how our brains do this.

Metallica, the Finale

Anyhow, they played Master of Puppets, which some of you would only know from Stranger Things. That still blows my mind to this day. You’ve got to expand your horizons folks! ha-ha Anyways, the artwork they used when they played this song was awesome as can be. We are getting closer and closer to the end of the show. They start shooting off fireworks for their last song, and fire blasters went off, and even though we were nowhere near it, you could still feel the heat off of these things. It was crazy, but so cool. I’ll never forget being able to check this band off my list too.

All the songs, all the artwork, and the lights matched up so perfectly with the songs. The sound was amazing too, no technical difficulties or speakers not being right. At the end of the night, I did lose my voice like it was gone getting to experience things like this make it all worth it in the end. I was so happy that I got to hear this song live finally, forever grateful I was raised on good music ha-ha.

The End of the Line

Finally, as we were leaving, Police were directing everyone, making sure traffic was flowing good, and everyone was being safe. Which I’m thankful for. So thanks to them for doing this, and making sure everyone got out of the parking lot safely. To end this, I finally got in my mom’s car. Her and I were finally on our way home. I lost my voice, this time fully, and my ears were ringing like crazy. I definitely recommend wearing earplugs if you go to a show. Even though I don’t, you should. I am so happy though that I went, and I got to experience something like this. It will never be forgotten.