I Can Definitely Say That Sports Karma Exists

July 24, 2025 by njnonconformist Leave a Comment

by Ned Moraghan, special to The North Jersey Nonconformist

Exhibit A – Catching an MLB Baseball

The first game I attended was Braves at Phillies in the early 80s. We were on the first row on the first base side right next to Pete Rose. A foul ball came by us and if I was sitting in my brother’s seat, I would have caught it. For the next 20 years of my life, it would always be really close but no cigar. This includes a Cubs Mets where a Sammy Sosa foul ball ricocheted off me. Per my tour of baseball stadiums, I hit the three in Southern California along with some friends and my future wife. In the game at Dodger Stadium I caught a ball intended for a kid. The kid was crying and Dave told me I should give him the ball. I reluctantly did. The very next game, my 55th overall, we’re in the 500 level of Angels stadium and a foul ball practically falls in my lap.

Exhibit B – Always believing in your team.

Upon going to college, I turned into a hard-core Devils fan. They were on the rise with new goalie, Martin Brodeur. The 1994 playoffs, the Devils lost a heartbreaker to the Rangers. The following year, the Devils went on a run to the Stanley Cup finals, beating the Bruins and Penguins in five games each and the hated Flyers in six. Before the series started, a friend had obtained tickets to games 3 and 4. Prices were $90 for game 3 and $110 for game 4. Please remember those are 1995 prices and I was a poor college student. My historically bad statement: I’ll take game 3, It’s not like the Devils are going to sweep. I’ll just leave it there.

I learned my lesson. In 1998, the Giants were having a forgettable year standing at 5-8. Their next opponent: the 13-0 Broncos. I worked for JDEdwards which was based out of Denver. I didn’t mind that they won the Super Bowl the year before but now they were getting arrogant. All week prior they were telling me the Giants were just a speed bump on the way to a perfect season. I had enough and bet one of my friends straight up that the Giants would win. I attended that game and it was a classic. The Giants came to play. They led at halftime and still had the lead late in the 4th quarter until the Broncos took a 3 point lead with 4 minutes left. The Giants were driving and then turned the ball over. However the defense held and the Giants had one last shot. Kent Graham hit a bomb to Amani Toomer with less than a minute to go for the win. 13-1! My loyalty paid off and I got a nice Colorado sweatshirt as a souvenir.

Exhibit C – Don’t anger the sports gods

In 2017, we vacationed in Ohio. I took my girls to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. One of the exhibits is all the previous winners of Super Bowl rings. As I was showing my girls the four Giants championships, a Cowboys fan was doing the same thing for his wife for their titles. Where are the Eagles fans? At the design your own ring kiosk. The Cowboys fans, Amelia and I laughed at this. The Eagles heard our laughing and were ready to start a fight. Strike one on karma. As you probably know, the Eagles made it to the Super Bowl. After the match up was set. I emailed Bill Simmons on how all Giants fans would be rooting for the Pats. This was an epic level troll. Not only am I knocking the Eagles, the only team that the Pats hate are the Giants because of Eli Manning’s two wins over Tom Brady. The post and several other Giants fans’ emails to Bill are still up. One of my friends who’s an Eagles fan saw this and called me out. Strike two. The roles are currently reversed between the Giants and the Eagles.

Filed Under: Guests

Approaching Thunder, Awaiting the Light

June 19, 2025 by njnonconformist Leave a Comment

When Metallica announced the 2025 leg of the M72 World Tour, they included several cities that would only get one show, as opposed to the two no-repeat shows they performed across the tour in 2023 and 2024. Houston was one of those one show-only cities on the 2025 list. I initially ruled it out as a destination, picking the two-show cities of Philadelphia and Denver instead. I bought my tickets for the two cities and locked in my travel plans.

But my good friend Chris reached out and told me he had a friend who had two extra Snake Pit passes for the Houston show. That changed the calculus in an instant. I offered the second one to my steady travel companion Susan who accepted. Suddenly, I was off to Houston for a quick one-off weekend on the tour.

June 13, 2025

Fresh off the highs from having watched the premiere of “Metallica Saved My Life” in close proximity to the band just two days prior, we hopped an early flight from Newark to Houston. We would only have about a day and a half to take in the sights and sample the local cuisine.

I wanted to visit the Space Center Houston Museum, so we set that as our first destination. But we also wanted lunch, and I wanted to try Mexican, so I found a casual spot nearby, Los Lopez Taqueria. I’m used to global cuisine in New York City, but I enjoy the authenticity of Mexican food when I visit a border state. This restaurant was perfect, and we both enjoyed our meal.

The Space Center Houston was a quick ride from there. My dad worked in the aerospace industry for most of his career, and NASA was always at the forefront in our household. I was excited about making my visit to the museum.

The museum has a wide array of exhibits of the history of American space travel, as well as those that describe future missions to the moon and eventually to Mars. We wandered around the whole museum and took in most of them.

There was a lot of information about past Space Shuttle missions and how their engines worked.

There was an exhibit about the International Space Station and how it is built to include life-sustaining features for both humans and plants. I had no idea the space station recycles and purifies water and sweat.

Astronauts drink their own, and each other’s piss

Next time I take a leak, I won’t take gravity for granted

There was a wall with pictures of every manned space mission crew, from the very beginning with Alan Shepard, to the most recent missions to and from the ISS. Coincidentally, the first one I happened to read was from the doomed Space Shuttle Columbia flight in 2003 that exploded on re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere.

We wrapped up at the museum and drove towards the hotel. I haven’t spent too much time in Texas, but I am certainly amazed by their maze of elevated highways. In some places they look like they are stacked four high. From a distance, I couldn’t even guess which one I was headed towards.

I made a quick stop at the NRG Stadium to shop at the merchandise truck. I wanted the Houston-specific artwork shirt, but they were sold out of my size by the time we got there. They never have enough of the local shirts, so I haven’t gotten one on this tour. I had to settle for the Houston stadium shirt, and two generic M72 2025 World Tour shirts. Poor me.

After a quick trip to the hotel to check in and get gussied up for the evening, we headed out to dinner. I traveled with Susan on this trip, and she has a knack for finding good restaurants and bars. Unlike Pooch who does PhD-level research ahead of time when we travel, Susan operates by feel of a city, and she always nails it.

I suggested Texas barbecue for dinner, but she found something that looked good, so I deferred to her expertise. We took an Uber to The Travelers Table, which billed itself as a “globally-inspired eatery”. That was not what I was expecting from a restaurant in Houston. We were early so we sat at the bar, and I ordered the margarita flight from the menu, a first for me.

Susan ordered the duck, and I ordered a shrimp concoction, and both of our meals were a hit. Score one for Houston cuisine!

From looking at the map and from our observations while in transit, there appears to be a good restaurant scene in Houston. We saw enough places that made me wish we had a few extra days in town. But for the rest of the night, we wanted to at least check out the bars and the clubs.

I found a bar on Yelp that was highly reviewed, but it totally sucked so we split and found another bar in the area called Soho Garden. It had outdoor seating and a good cocktail menu.

It was a very lively scene and a fun place to spend the rest of the night. Unfortunately, there were too many Astros fans there, apparently the bar was only a few blocks from the stadium and the game had just ended. As a Yankee fan, I am still upset they cheated their way past us in the 2017 American League Championship Series. Other than that, the crowd was interesting, especially the dude passed out face down at a table.

I only spent one evening in Houston but came away with the impression that it was a good town for dining and partying. I will need to find another reason to come back.

June 14, 2025

Today was going to be the main event of the weekend, the Metallica concert at NRG Stadium. But first we had to get our “passes”. The way it was described to me by Chris, that an old friend of his who lives in town was connected to a guy who was connected to a guy at Live Nation and would get us inside the stadium without a ticket and give us Snake Pit passes. Seemed legit. Well, it turned out to be legit but only after a series of agonizing events that we can only look back on and laugh at.

The idea was that Chris and his friend would meet us for lunch at 1:30 at Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen, a Cajun seafood restaurant a short distance from NRG stadium. Our connection was scheduled to meet us at 3:30 with our passes. Sounded great.

Susan and I headed to the restaurant and met Chris and his friend, Ralph, and his wife. The first thing that Ralph said to me was “trust the process and be patient, it always works out.” I had no reason not to, so I sat down to lunch with them. This restaurant was another winner. I ordered the Texas Redfish which I had never even heard of. My fish was adorned with crab, shrimp, and a brown-butter lemon sauce. I thought it was fantastic.

I had an enjoyable time catching up with Chris, he has a fascinating career, and his stories are always compelling. It was good to meet Ralph and his wife; they were very friendly. We wrapped up lunch and sat at the table for a while. We decided to get up and wait outside for the “pass guy” to show up. That is when things got interesting.

Our scheduled meeting time of 3:30 came and went. There was no sign of the guy. Ralph swore he was coming. Chris started to get agitated. Susan was hoping to grab the pass and head back to the hotel to do some work and rest before the show, and the window to do so was closing.

Things started to get ridiculous around 5PM. The guy was an hour and a half late. I am not saying I ever doubted Ralph and Chris, but the situation was at least getting weird and annoying.

Susan pointed at some slovenly dude in a pink shirt, talking on his phone and pacing back and forth nervously. She said that she thought it was the guy with our passes. As it turns out she was right. After pacing back and forth on the phone for a long time, he found Ralph and we met outside the restaurant. Suddenly a huge crowd appeared around him. We were not the only people waiting for him, there were nearly 20 of us promised these passes and we were all on time and waiting for the guy.

After a protracted discussion, we learned that we all needed to go to the stadium to some loading dock to get our passes. After all that, the dude did not have them. Traffic had started to build around the stadium, so I could tell this was going to be an exercise akin to herding kittens.

Ralph’s wife drove us a half mile to the stadium and dropped us off near the loading dock. There were two people there waiting for their passes and they were annoyed. The opening act, Suicidal Tendencies, was about to hit the stage and we were stuck outside.

Of course, the pass dude took forever to get there. He went the wrong way around the stadium and needlessly passed through security. Then when he got to the loading dock, security wouldn’t let him in. He had to call whoever it was that had the passes and that guy wasn’t answering the phone. Maybe it was because the show started and the guy was working, and he expected us to be there at 3:30 PM!

At this point, all of us were ready to strangle the guy. Ralph went from telling me to trust the process and be patient to apologizing profusely. We could hear the band playing from inside the stadium.

Finally, some guy sitting at the gate heard what was happening and said he would radio in to get the guy who had our passes. Nobody answered at first, so he walked inside the stadium. After a wait that seemed like forever, some important looking guy came out. All of us huddled around them as they exchanged pleasantries. I grabbed Susan and Chris and said let’s get there first. I was worried after all this, he would be one or two passes shy, and I just wanted to get inside and never see the pass guy again.

We got our passes and Snake Pit bracelets. The passes weren’t tickets; they were some sort of Live Nation employee pass. We walked in through the loading dock, went through a security check and entered a side door into the stadium while Suicidal Tendencies was playing. Finally!

This was our “pass” to get in the side door at NRG Energy Stadium. Whatever!

I went straight for the Snake Pit. Susan went for a walk; she wasn’t interested in the opening acts. Chris went to try to get a Houston Metallica shirt, but the line looked like it was an hour long and they only had medium left. If only we got in early like we were supposed to.

I got some explanation that the guy was out getting drunk and was late because of that. The guy had about twenty people waiting for over two hours and let us in late. I just wanted to put it out of my mind. I was happy to be inside. I was so worked up that I followed Mike Muir around the donut-shaped stage from inside the Snake Pit.

I got close to Suicidal Tendencies drummer Jay Weinberg and watched him play. He grew up in my home state of New Jersey and is the son of the legendary E Street Band drummer, Max Weinberg. I am a graduate of Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, NJ and so is Jay. Prior to Jay’s arrival at Stevens, its most distinguished graduate was Henry Gantt, the inventor of the Gantt chart. Jay surpassed him as the most distinguished Stevens graduate when he landed the gig drumming for Slipknot. Here he was that day drumming on the same stage that Metallica was about to play on. I can’t think of a better alumnus in school history.

I always wanted to see him play up close. The drunk, slovenly, pass dude robbed me of a half hour of the show, but I enjoyed what I could.

The greatest graduate of Stevens Institute of Technology

Suicidal wrapped up and Pantera soon followed them. The Snake Pit was not very full yet and I was able to get very close to the stage. I got some very close up views of Zakk Wylde playing just feet away from me.

The fifth greatest guitar player of all time, Pantera’s Zakk Wylde

Pantera finished their set and the hour-long wait for Metallica began. I wrote about M72 World Tour Snake Pit positioning in my Philadelphia blog. I wanted to position myself in front of the first Metallica drum kit to pop up. To do that, I had to orient myself inside the circular stage. I picked the spot based on where the Suicidal Tendencies drumkit was placed for the Philadelphia show, assuming they would be consistent. The first Metallica drum kit first popped out directly to the right of where Jay Weinberg’s drums were.

Some woman standing in front of me insisted that spot was the third drum kit. She said she had seen Metallica before, and she knew what she was talking about. To me, she seemed dumb, and her opinion did not hurt my resolve. Most of the fans around me agreed we were in the right spot.

Eventually, a stage manager came to us and introduced himself. He said that he oversaw opening and closing the trap doors and that if we had our hands in the wrong place they’d get cut off so we should be careful. I asked him if it was the first drum kit, and he winked and smiled at me, so I got my affirmation from an authoritative source, not the idiot in front of me. Chris decided to find a stationary spot for himself on the other side of the stage. Ralph and Susan stuck with me.

There is no barricade inside of the Snake Pit, so I was about a foot away from the stage when the lights went off. As “Ecstasy of Gold” played, the trap door in front of me opened and I saw drum tech Jimmy Clark being lifted with the drums.

Jimmy Clarke riding the drums directly in front of us

In just a moment, Lars Ullrich was going to be right here!

I was overwhelmed with excitement as Lars Ulrich sat down on his kit and Kirk Hammett and Robert Trujillo converged. I hate fans who record videos of concerts, so I grabbed my phone and hit record anyway. Lars counted in “Creeping Death”, and I lost my mind. The show was off to a fiery start.

A quick video I took of Creeping Death to start the show

I stopped recording after a minute; I just wanted to capture a quick moment of the perspective I had. I got to jumping up and down and screaming along with the song like a proper fan should.

The first three songs were all from the 1984 classic album “Ride the Lightning” and they bled into each other. I can’t imagine that anyone thought in 1984 that Metallica would fill football stadiums and play those songs on a stage like this.

Lars walked over and gave the fans nearby a high-five. I haven’t washed my hand since mine touched his.

So close to the band inside a huge stadium

Me and Susan in front of the Greatest Drummer of All time and some uninterested security guy

The last song of the first set was “The Memory Remains” and the band played an extended outro while the crowd sang along to the eerie Marianne Faithfull melody. Normally I like to switch spots during the fourth song, but I was having too much fun being so close to Lars, so I waited there for the last note. I immediately grabbed Susan and Ralph and said, “LET’S GO!” We bolted from our spot and pushed our way towards where the second drum kit would be. We nailed it perfectly and got there in time for the high energy “Lux Æterna”, a song Metallica wrote about the exhilaration of their own concerts. Once again, we had a great view of Lars and the rest of the band.

Followed the drums all night, that’s where the action is

They played through another newer song “If Darkness Had a Son.” I love part of that song where the crowd can shout “Temptation! Temptation!” along with James Hetfield. It rattles the whole stadium. They transitioned into an epic rendition of “The Day That Never Comes”.

James played the opening guitar part while sitting on a stool to our left. It was my seventh time seeing this song played on the M72 World Tour, but my best vantage point for it yet. The song features time changes and punishing instrumental sections. Unfortunately, a couple near us got engaged during the song, but I didn’t let that ruin things for me.

They play “The Day That Never Comes” with such intensity

When it was over, we bailed on our spot again to head over to where the third drumkit would be. We were in transition while the pyrotechnics lit for “Fuel”. We rocked out to that while we waited out the next drum transition because I knew what was going to happen next.

The third drum kit popped up right in front of us again. I nailed our positioning three times in a row! I think at this point, I became the best Metallica Snake Pit Strategist of all time! The band converged on the drums and played the instrumental “Orion”.

Our third stop of the night to see “Orion”

Watching Metallica play Orion from six feet away is as close as a religious experience one can have at a heavy metal concert. James dedicated it to the late Cliff Burton.

Next up was “Nothing Else Matters” and the crowd pulled their phone lights out to create an amazing visual scene.

As the band played through another Black Album classic “Sad but True”, we made our final transition to the last drum kit. The concert wrapped up with the barrage of classics “One”, “Seek & Destroy”, “Master of Puppets”, and “Enter Sandman”. There was a frenzy of activity as the band roamed the stage more freely for the last set. I didn’t know which direction to look in as we were completely immersed in Metallica.

They always look like they’re having fun

Another epic Metallica show was over, and I was sore and exhausted. We regrouped and took the obligatory group photo in the center of the pit.

Myself, Susan, Chris, and Ralph made our way into the show and survived the Snake Pit

I thanked Ralph and Chris again. Despite the ridiculousness of the entry process, everything worked out great in the end. We had another unforgettable Metallica experience, and I got to travel to another city that I probably wouldn’t have otherwise.

I wrapped things up in the morning and went to the airport. Susan had a business trip in Germany, and she flew straight there. We had two weeks off until ours and Metallica’s last stop on the US leg of the 2025 M72 World Tour in Denver.

My M72 Would Tour Itinerary

	Show #	Date	Venue	City
Complete	1	5/17/2023	Stade de France	Saint-Denis, France
	2	5/19/2023	Stade de France	Saint-Denis, France
	3	8/4/2023	MetLife Stadium	East Rutherford, NJ
	4	8/6/2023	MetLife Stadium	East Rutherford, NJ
	5	8/11/2023	Stade Olympique	Montreal, Quebec, Canada
	6	8/13/2023	Stade Olympique	Montreal, Quebec, Canada
	7	9/1/2023	State Farm Stadium	Glendale, AZ
	8	7/12/2024	Estadio Cívitas Metropolitano	Madrid, Spain
	9	7/14/2024	Estadio Cívitas Metropolitano	Madrid, Spain
	10	8/2/2024	Gilette Stadium	Foxborough, MA
	11	8/4/2024	Gilette Stadium	Foxborough, MA
	12	5/23/2025	Lincoln Financial Field	Philadelphia, PA
	13	5/25/2025	Lincoln Financial Field	Philadelphia, PA
	14	6/14/2025	NRG Stadium	Houston, TX
Upcoming	15	6/27/2027	Empower Field at Mile High	Denver, CO
Upcoming	16	6/29/2027	Empower Field at Mile High	Denver, CO

My lifetime Metallica concert history

Show #	ShowDate	VenueDescription	City	Tour/Event	VantagePoint
1	4/8/1992	Brendan Byrne Arena	East Rutherford, NJ	Wherever We May Roam	Seats
2	7/17/1998	Giants Stadium	East Rutherford, NJ	Poor Retouring Me	Seats
3	11/24/1998	Roseland Ballroom	New York, NY	Garage Barrage	General Admission
4	11/23/1999	Madison Square Garden	New York, NY	S&M	Seats
5	7/20/2000	Giants Stadium	East Rutherford, NJ	Summer Sanitarium	General Admission
6	7/8/2003	Giants Stadium	East Rutherford, NJ	Summer Sanitarium 2003	General Admission
7	4/20/2004	Nassau Coliseum	Uniondale, NY	Madly In Anger With The World	General Admission
8	10/22/2004	Continental Airlines Arena	East Rutherford, NJ	Madly In Anger With The World	General Admission
9	1/17/2009	Wachovia Center	Philadelphia, PA	World Magnetic	Seats
10	1/31/2009	Prudential Center	Newark, NJ	World Magnetic	General Admission
11	2/1/2009	Prudential Center	Newark, NJ	World Magnetic	Seats
12	11/14/2009	Madison Square Garden	New York, NY	World Magnetic	General Admission
13	11/15/2009	Madison Square Garden	New York, NY	World Magnetic	Seats
14	9/14/2011	Yankee Stadium	New York, NY	The Big 4	General Admission
15	6/23/2012	Bader Field	Atlantic City, NJ	Orion Music + More	General Admission
16	6/24/2012	Bader Field	Atlantic City, NJ	Orion Music + More	General Admission
17	5/12/2017	Lincoln Financial Field	Philadelphia, PA	Worldwired	General Admission
18	5/14/2017	MetLife Stadium	East Rutherford, NJ	Worldwired	General Admission
19	5/17/2017	The New Coliseum Presented by NYCV	Uniondale, NY	Worldwired	General Admission
20	7/19/2017	Parc Jean-Drapeau	Montreal, QC	Worldwired	Snake Pit
21	10/20/2018	Bryce Jordan Center	State College, PA	Worldwired	General Admission
22	10/25/2018	Wells Fargo Center	Philadelphia, PA	Worldwired	General Admission
23	9/6/2019	Chase Center	San Francisco, CA	S&M2	Seats
24	9/24/2021	Highland Festival Grounds at KY Expo Center	Louisville, KY	Louder Than Life	General Admission
25	9/25/2021	Highland Festival Grounds at KY Expo Center	Louisville, KY	Louder Than Life	General Admission
26	5/29/2022	Harvard Athletic Complex	Boston, MA	Boston Calling	General Admission
27	8/11/2022	Highmark Stadium	Buffalo, NY	(none)	General Admission
28	5/17/2023	Stade de France	Saint-Dennis, FR	M72 World Tour	Seats
29	5/19/2023	Stade de France	Saint-Dennis, FR	M72 World Tour	Seats
30	8/4/2023	MetLife Stadium	East Rutherford, NJ	M72 World Tour	General Admission
31	8/6/2023	MetLife Stadium	East Rutherford, NJ	M72 World Tour	General Admission
32	8/11/2023	Stade Olympique	Montreal, QC	M72 World Tour	General Admission
33	8/13/2023	Stade Olympique	Montreal, QC	M72 World Tour	General Admission
34	9/1/2023	State Farm Stadium	Glendale, AZ	M72 World Tour	General Admission
35	7/12/2024	Estadio Cívitas Metropolitano	Madrid, ES	M72 World Tour	Snake Pit
36	7/14/2024	Estadio Cívitas Metropolitano	Madrid, ES	M72 World Tour	Snake Pit
37	8/2/2024	Gillette Stadium	Foxborough, MA	M72 World Tour	General Admission
38	8/4/2024	Gillette Stadium	Foxborough, MA	M72 World Tour	General Admission
39	5/23/2025	Lincoln Financial Field	Philadelphia, PA	M72 World Tour	Snake Pit
40	5/25/2025	Lincoln Financial Field	Philadelphia, PA	M72 World Tour	General Admission
41	6/14/2025	NRG Stadium	Houston, TX	M72 World Tour	Snake Pit

Link to YouTube playlist of all official Metallica concert videos I have been present for.

Metallica songs I have seen performed on the M72 World Tour

Song	Times Seen
Creeping Death	8
Fuel	8
Lux Æterna	8
Nothing Else Matters	8
Orion	8
Sad But True	8
Seek and Destroy	8
Enter Sandman	7
For Whom The Bell Tolls	7
Harvester Of Sorrow	7
If Darkness Had A Son	7
Master of Puppets	7
One	7
Ride The Lightning	7
The Day That Never Comes	7
72 Seasons	6
King Nothing	6
Moth Into Flame	6
The Call of Ktulu	6
Wherever I May Roam	6
Fade To Black	5
Shadows Follow	5
The Unforgiven	5
Welcome Home (Sanitarium)	5
Whiplash	5
Battery	4
Blackened	4
Holier Than Thou	4
The Memory Remains	4
Too Far Gone?	4
Whiskey In The Jar	4
Cyanide	3
Hardwired	3
Screaming Suicide	3
You Must Burn!	3
Fight Fire With Fire	2
Inamorata	2
Leper Messiah	2
Until It Sleeps	2
Dirty Window	1
I Disappear	1
No Leaf Clover	1
Sleepwalk My Life Away	1
Unique:	43
Total:	215

All Metallica songs I have seen performed live

Song	Times Seen
Nothing Else Matters	33
Enter Sandman	32
One	32
Sad But True	32
Master of Puppets	31
Seek and Destroy	29
For Whom The Bell Tolls	26
Creeping Death	24
Fade To Black	20
Fuel	20
Wherever I May Roam	17
Blackened	15
Moth Into Flame	15
Ride The Lightning	15
Battery	14
The Day That Never Comes	14
The Unforgiven	14
Harvester Of Sorrow	13
Whiplash	13
The Memory Remains	12
Welcome Home (Sanitarium)	12
Hardwired	10
Holier Than Thou	10
Cyanide	9
King Nothing	9
Orion	9
The Call of Ktulu	9
Fight Fire With Fire	8
Lux Æterna	8
Whiskey In The Jar	8
If Darkness Had A Son	7
Now That We’re Dead	7
72 Seasons	6
Atlas, Rise!	6
No Leaf Clover	6
The Four Horsemen	6
All Nightmare Long	5
Broken, Beat And Scarred	5
Halo On Fire	5
Of Wolf and Man	5
Shadows Follow	5
That Was Just Your Life	5
The End Of The Line	5
Breadfan	4
Hit The Lights	4
Last Caress	4
Too Far Gone?	4
Until It Sleeps	4
I Disappear	3
Screaming Suicide	3
St. Anger	3
The God That Failed	3
Through the Never	3
Turn The Page	3
You Must Burn!	3
Am I Evil?	2
Bleeding Me	2
Blitzkrieg	2
Die, Die My Darling	2
Dirty Window	2
Don’t Tread On Me	2
Frantic	2
Inamorata	2
Last Caress/Green Hell	2
Leper Messiah	2
Motorbreath	2
My Friend Of Misery	2
Overkill	2
The Outlaw Torn	2
The Shortest Straw	2
The Struggle Within	2
The Thing That Should Not Be	2
Trapped Under Ice	2
– Human	1
(Anesthesia) – Pulling Teeth	1
…And Justice For All	1
All Within My Hands	1
Confusion	1
Damage Inc.	1
Devil’s Dance	1
Disposable Heroes	1
Dyers Eve	1
Escape	1
Hell And Back	1
Helpless	1
Hero of the Day	1
Iron Foundry	1
Jump In The Fire	1
Justice Medley	1
Killing Time	1
Last Caress/So What/Die, Die My Darling	1
Low Man’s Lyric	1
Mastertarium	1
Mercyful Fate	1
Metal Militia	1
My Apocalypse	1
No Remorse	1
Phantom Lord	1
Sabbra Cadabra	1
Sleepwalk My Life Away	1
Small Hours	1
So What	1
Spit Out The Bone	1
Stone Cold Crazy	1
The Ecstasy of Gold	1
The Judas Kiss	1
The Prince	1
The Unforgiven III	1
The Wait	1
Unique:	109
Total:	699

Filed Under: Metallica Tagged With: Houston, James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett, Lars Ulrich, M72 World Tour, Metallica, Robert Trujillo, Snake Pit, Travel

Metallica Saved My Life – With Metallica!

June 12, 2025 by njnonconformist 1 Comment

I just got to watch “Metallica Saved My Life” with Metallica! Like, I was in the same theater with the four members of the band watching it with them. It was a surreal Wednesday night that I won’t soon forget.

I got a note from their emailer a few months ago about a world premiere for “Metallica Saved My Life” at the Tribeca Film Festival in Manhattan on June 12, 2025. I work in downtown Manhattan not too far from the theater and it just so happens that I was not ironically planning to visit a city the band was playing in that day (I wasn’t set to leave for Houston until Friday). The email teased that the band might be there.

Normally, I wouldn’t be caught dead at the Tribeca Film Festival. In fact, I wouldn’t be caught dead at a movie theatre. I hate movies. But this was a no-brainer exception to those rules, and I used the pre-sale link to grab general admission tickets.

I didn’t know what to expect other than I’d get to see the movie and maybe they’d trot one of the band members out on stage after it ended. As it turned out, with a little luck the experience far exceeded my expectations.

It started with a sequence of events that got me in the exact right place at the exact right time. I was supposed to take Monday off work to help my dad with some things around the yard. But it rained on Monday, so we rescheduled for Wednesday. That altered my plans slightly, I wouldn’t be in my office that day and would have to commute into the city in the evening. I would end up getting there later than I would have if I was at work.

I arrived about 30 minutes before showtime. When I got there, because they just love doing this in New York City, there was a line down the block to get in. So, I had to wait there for no reason. But when I got inside, just before they took my tickets, I scored big time.

Some dude who I didn’t even see said to me “Hey, do you want an upgraded ticket?”. I said “sure”, and he handed me two tickets for assigned seats in row D. If I got there ten seconds sooner or later, I would have missed it.

My original ticket was General Admission, this was much better

As the letter on the tickets implied, D was the fourth row, and it was close to the center of the stage. How lucky was that?

Not too long after I found my seat, I heard a small commotion to my right. Lars Ulrich, the greatest drummer of all time, was standing at the end of my row to my right! I was in complete shock. I wasn’t sure if I should scream and yell or run over there and say something. I got hold of myself and sat down. Lars sat down in the same row in the next section over. I was going to watch the Metallica movie in the same row as Lars!

I looked around some more and in the section to my left in the fourth row was James Hetfield! He was with his girlfriend and his daughter Marcella whom I coincidentally met when she was working at my favorite jeweler in Manhattan. At that point I was completely beside myself. How on earth did I manage to land tickets to the premiere of a Metallica movie and sit in the same row as the two founding members?

Luckily the lights went off and the movie started before I could faint. I couldn’t help myself the whole night, my eyes kept darting from James, to the screen, to Lars, to the screen, and back to James. I wanted to see the movie, but I also wanted to see how they reacted to it.

There are going to be plenty of reviews of the movie as it is released globally this week. I won’t attempt to properly review it, nor will I spoil anything about it, but I will say that I was blown away by how good it was.

My first impression was that the title “Metallica Saved My Life” was a bit misleading. It was not a movie solely about fans who would have died had Metallica not been in their lives somehow. In fact, there was only one person featured in the movie who could legitimately say that he would have been dead had it not been for Metallica.

I would categorize the movie more as a documentary about both the band and its powerful connection to its diverse and global fan base. The poster advertised it as “starring a shitload of Metallica fans” and that was an understatement.

There were over a dozen compelling main-character storylines about Metallica fans from all around the world. It covered fans from every continent, including Antarctica. They ranged from original fans, to obsessed fans, to fans who had to overcome terrible adversity in their lives and used Metallica as the soundtrack of their perseverance. The stories they told were heartbreaking, irreverent, and inspirational. The common thread across all the storylines in the movie was the intensely powerful connection between Metallica and their fans.

I especially enjoyed the scenes about fans who travel the world to see Metallica play. I can relate because that’s what I’ve been doing since the beginning of the M72 World Tour. I also enjoyed a blink-and-you-miss-it picture of one of the fans in Duff’s Brooklyn with its owner, Jimmy Duff. It is one of my favorite bars in the world and I immediately DM’d Jimmy to tell him he made the movie. He had no idea!

Unfortunately, I did not make the movie. I need to fire my agent. But I don’t think I’ve ever felt as connected to the band as I did that night. James was rocking out to scenes of fans covering Metallica music. He laughed out loud at some scenes, especially ones that featured children. Lars took the movie in a bit more quietly. He appeared to be in a reflective mood. I don’t know where Kirk Hammett and Robert Trujilo were sitting, but I know they had to be somewhere nearby in the reserved section. I don’t know what I did to be so lucky as to get that seating upgrade, but I am forever grateful to whoever that guy was who handed it to me.

As the movie drew closer to the end, James and Lars left their seats so they could get backstage. When the movie ended, the band took the stage for a moderated discussion about the movie. They sat down right in front of me!

Metallica and some lame moderator who tried to impress the band by wearing a Metallica shirt

The best dressed guy in the band, Kirk Hammett

They answered the interviewer’s softball questions about themselves and the movie. Some insights they offered up were about how the movie came about. Lars explained that the band sold “tour passes” for every show on the arena leg of the WorldWired Tour, and that got them interested in the stories of the people willing to go to every show.

They introduced some of the people in the audience including director Jonas Åkerlund, their manager Cliff Burnstein, and the director of the first theatrical Metallica documentary “Some Kind of Monster” Joe Berlinger. I wasn’t just sitting among the members of Metallica, I was surrounded by Metallica royalty.

The interview ended and Metallica left the stage to a raucous ovation. As I made my way up the stairs, I said hi to Marcella when I walked by her. I held up my ring that she repaired for me when we first met.

I was on cloud nine. My mind ran through all the special Metallica experiences I’ve had in my life:

Seeing them play at the old Roseland Ballroom in Manhattan
Watching concerts from the Snake Pit in Montreal, Madrid (twice), and just two weeks prior in Philadelphia
Meeting Robert Trujillo at Blackened American Whiskey bottle signings on two separate occasions in crappy liquor stores in New Jersey and Arizona

But this one instantly became one of my top Metallica experiences, and it wasn’t even at a concert.

I’m off to Houston for the weekend to see them from the Snake Pit again. I’m hoping Lars and James see me in the crowd, recognize me from the theater, and feature me in “Metallica Saved My Life Part II”. If not, I’m sure my memories from all my past and future Metallica experiences will be good enough.

Filed Under: Metallica Tagged With: Duff's Brooklyn, James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett, Lars Ulrich, M72 World Tour, Metallica, Metallica Saved My Life, Robert Trujillo, Tribeca Film Festival

Craving Dopamine

June 10, 2025 by njnonconformist 3 Comments

I was working from home the day before I was to attend the first of two Metallica M72 World Tour concerts in Philadelphia. I was trying to focus on getting through the workday so I could get ready to split in the morning. I got the alert that I won two Snake Pit passes through the Metclub contest and my mind went blank.

The best email I ever received in my life

“HOLY CRAP! I finally won one of these contests!”

“HOLY CRAP! I’m going to be in the Snake Pit tomorrow for the show!”

“HOLY CRAP! I need to pick somebody to come with me! What am I going to do?”

The M72 World Tour stage is shaped like a donut in the middle of a football stadium. The Snake Pit is the donut hole. If you are in the Snake Pit, you are immersed in the performance all night. I spent two nights in the Snake Pit in Madrid in 2024 and was blown away by the experience. I could not believe that I would be there again the next night. But I had to pick only one of my friends.

As I explained to them, they were all my favorite. But in 2017, Pooch scored us Snake Pit passes for Metallica in Montreal, and I have always felt like I was beholden to him since. I called him and offered him the pass, which he quickly accepted so that problem was solved.

With that dilemma solved, I was able to focus on the weekend ahead. I’ve been following the Metallica M72 World Tour since 2023, and these would be my first shows of 2025. I was excited to get back on the road.

May 23, 2025

I had a grandiose plan to ride my motorcycle to Philadelphia so I could enjoy a scenic ride back on Memorial Day along the Delaware River. Those hopes were dashed when I woke up to rain and cold that showed little sign of letting up. I also had a work emergency which ate into my day so there was no time to load the bike. I was bummed but was not going to let it ruin my weekend. I traded the excitement of my Harley for the comfort of my relatively uninteresting car.

I could have written a blog about how awful the traffic was from the moment I left my house in Hudson County, NJ until I got to Lincoln Financial Field, but you would not want to read it. By the time I got there, I felt like I ran a marathon. But we all managed to check into our hotels and since I had the car, I told the group I would be the designated driver. I grabbed Joe, Pooch, and Lefty and we made it to the show.

The Friday Night Crew before we split up

It was a bummer to have to split off from the rest of the crew. Lefty and Joe went into ham-and-egger general admission to meet up with Ed and Rita. Bobby was already somewhere along the rail; he lined up early to secure his spot. Pooch and I grabbed our Snake Pit wristbands from the box office and quickly made our way inside. We missed the first opening act, Ice Nine Kills. No big deal, they are not my favorite act on this tour.

I paused for a moment on my way into the Snake Pit. It is a bit of an overwhelming experience to begin with. But I especially enjoy walking past the losers on the other side of the general admission barrier knowing that I will have a much better view than they will. I sensed their jealousy. Granted, I would have been one of those losers had I not won the contest, but they didn’t know that.

I quickly found Chris and his stepson inside the Snake Pit. Chris cashed up and bought his way in. They picked a spot along the inside wall near where one of the four drum kits would pop up during the Metallica set.

Without much delay, Limp Bizkit hit the stage. This was my first time seeing them since July 8, 2023 when they opened for Metallica at Giants Stadium. This lineup was mostly original with a grey-bearded Fred Durst, accompanied by Wes Borland, Sam Rivers, DJ Lethal, and John Otto. We were standing right in front of Borland’s guitar rig.

Limp Bizkit is one of those bands that the cool kids did not want to admit they liked in the early 2000’s. But I never cared, I thought their tunes were catchy and I was excited to see them again. Durst sounded great and they played through their classics with intensity.

Not too long into the show, it unexpectedly started to pour. The road crew attempted to put a canopy over DJ Lethal and his equipment but appeared to fail and gave up. His stuff got soaked and apparently ruined. He unplugged everything, gave it to the fans, and eventually jumped into the Snake Pit to mosh with us. I got to high-five him.

When Limp Bizkit finished, things got real in my mind. It was my first time seeing Metallica in nearly nine months and not only was my wait about to end, but I was going to be surrounded by them all night.

This is when my Snake Pit strategy came into play. I was in the pit twice in Madrid in 2024 so I have a good feel for how things work inside and how to maximize the experience.

Metallica plays 15 songs per night, and there are 4 drumkits, one for each quadrant of the stage. The band roams the whole stage throughout the show, but most of the action takes place near the drums. They play four songs in the first quadrant, four in the second, three in the third, and four in the fourth. In a regular general admission concert setup, there is a crush of people in front of the stage. But since there is no front of this stage inside the circle, there is no singular crowded spot so you can move around. Therefore, I wanted to plant myself in front of all four drumkits before they popped up before people crowded them.

My original instinct told me we were in the wrong spot and standing in front of the third drumkit. Pooch was happy where we were and didn’t want to move. I told him I was going to the other side of the stage and that I’d find him. But when I got to the other side, I asked security, and they told me that side was the third drumkit. I immediately made it back to Pooch and Chris and told them that this must be the right spot for the first drumkit. Since my sources were not 100% reliable, I was very nervous for the rest of the break in between sets. I really did not want to screw this up.

The lights went off and AC/DC’s “It’s a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock and Roll)” blasted over the insane PA system Metallica uses for their stadium tour. It was time! AC/DC transitioned into “Eecstacy of Gold”, the traditional opening song for Metallica concerts. Much to my relief, a trap door opened in front of us and I caught sight of Jimmy Clark, Lars Ulrich’s drum tech being lifted on to the stage along with the drums. We got it right. We were about eight feet away from drums!

In a flash, Metallica took the stage and Lars counted in “Creeping Death”. The rest of the band huddled close to him and tore into the song. The crowd was screaming and jumping up and down. We were so close to the drums, we could hear them over the PA. It was bedlam.

We were just a few feet from the band when the show started

You can’t get closer to Metallica than the Snake Pit

Metallica was fired up as they ripped through the first song. They quickly transitioned into the slower but just as heavy “Harvester of Sorrow” and followed that with the deeper cut “Holier Than Thou”. They were moving at a blistering pace and had the entire stadium hanging on every note. With a quick pause to introduce “King Nothing”, I knew it was time to find the next spot.

Chris from his spot in the Snake Pit with James in the background

Chris elected to stay put, but Pooch and I pushed towards the second quadrant and found it with relative ease. “King Nothing” ended and the second drumkit popped up right in front of us and the band followed for two newer songs, “72 Seasons” and “If Darkness Had a Son”. The latter was made to be played live with James Hetfield prompting the crowd to chant “temptation!” repeatedly.

James sat on a chair for the intro to the “Death Magnetic” epic “The Day That Never Comes”. Kirk Hammett and Robert Trujillo huddled close throughout the long instrumental parts of the song, and the band was in a zone.

James playing the intro to “The Day That Never Comes”

By my count, it was time to think about the next move. Before the band could start “Cyanide”, Pooch and I had rushed towards the third drumkit. We had to sacrifice being close to Lars on this song, but it would pay off when the next song hit. Once again, we were mere feet away from the band and just in time for “Orion”, the greatest heavy metal instrumental song ever written.

The band stayed closest to each other during this song. Being within feet of Metallica playing one of their greatest songs is like having had the opportunity to watch Leonardo da Vinci paint.

Our view of the third drumkit while the band played “Orion”

Watching Metallica play “Orion” from this close is a near-religious experience

Next up were two more “Black Album” concert standards, “Nothing Else Matters” and “Sad But True”. About the time I wanted to depart for the fourth drumkit, James was standing right in the spot. I started to panic, there was no way we could make it to the front if everybody was looking right at him. Eventually I said we should go and figure it out on the way. Then I looked up and saw Robert being pushed through the Snake Pit on a mobile platform, and he was coming right at us! I looked up at Robert as he looked down at me, I couldn’t believe my luck. Pooch instinctively ducked behind the platform as it moved because it parted the crowd and gave us a path right to where we wanted to be for the fourth drumkit. We made our own luck this time.

With four songs to go, I was happy with how we progressed. We nailed the spot for all four drumkits and had the best Snake Pit experience out of anybody there! At the end of “Fight Fire With Fire” Kirk threw one of his picks and it hit me in the right ear. It stuck to my jacket and the guy behind me handed it to me. I would have kept it if I was him.

Our spot for the final four songs of the show

Metallica rounding out their set right in front of us

The set rounded out with pyrotechnics during “Fuel”, a beach ball drop during “Seek and Destroy”, and a frenzied rendition of “Master of Puppets”. Metallica owned Lincoln Financial Field that night.

May 24, 2025

One of the many cool things about the two-night schedule for the M72 World Tour is that it leaves a gap on Saturday. It is even cooler if you are visiting a city that you wouldn’t normally be in and you have your friends with you.

Unfortunately, Ed and Bobby couldn’t stick around on Saturday, but Joe, Lefty, and Pooch were ready to go. I was especially happy to have Pooch there, he is known for his PhD-level research of things to do when travelling, with a focus on breweries and restaurants.

We met at The Butcher Bar on Chestnut Street or brunch. It is probably not a coincidence that Pooch picked a place with bottomless brunch drinks.

To avoid making it a messy all-day drink fest, we planned a bit of sight-seeing and spontaneous exercise following brunch. We walked to The Philadelphia Art Museum to visit The Rocky Statue. Someone had the idea that we should run the steps. We all made it up without having a coronary. All the time I spent at my local gym was worth it.

After we triumphantly conquered the steps of the Philadelphia Art Museum, we took the obligatory picture in front of the Rocky statue.

Proud of our accomplishments, we walked south on the scenic Benjamin Franklin Parkway to Victory Brewing. I tend to be a Pabst Blue Ribbon and Miller Lite guy, so I was a bit lost. Pooch was already well versed in their offerings, so I asked him to fill out a flight order for me. They started off OK, but the flavor fell off a cliff on the last two. They didn’t convince me to be a craft beer guy.

Dressed in my Metallica shirt, several people at the bar asked if I was at the show the previous night. I’m not sure who would walk around Philadelphia in a Metallica shirt the day after they played there and have not attended the concert, but I answered their stupid questions in the affirmative anyway. They all said something like “I thought about it but didn’t go”. Talk about people who make really, really, really bad life decisions in this town.

But every time one of them asked me about the show, I could not help but picture Metallica right in front of me. It was my 39^th Metallica concert and I was still just as stoked as ever to have seen them and could not get over how good they were and how amazing the Snake Pit experience was. It really made me realize how appreciative I was to have had that experience. I made sure to let each one of those idiots know that they completely blew it.

We left Victory and made a few more stops. First was at a rooftop bar for some cocktails. Then we went to Barcade Philadelphia. Barcade is a small chain of bars that has rows of retro video games and pinball machines. A friend of ours, Brian, happens to be the manager there so it was cool to see him. Another lucky way Metallica brings us all together.

Barcade had the wrong band’s pinball machine. It was fun anyway.

At dinner time and Pooch directed us to Fogo de Chão Brazilian Steakhouse. Pooch is a big rodizio guy, so it was no surprise he wanted to go there. The waiters aggressively carved grilled meats on our plates, it was very intense. I flipped my stop/go card to the red side after I ate what felt like 17 pounds of beef.

Our last stop of the night day was a heavy metal bar called Doom that Pooch found. It was very spacious and was outfitted in gothic décor. There was custom stained glass and original art on the walls. There was one major flaw, however. The music they were playing was so obscure that we couldn’t identify it using Shazam. It was Metallica weekend in Philadelphia and there were only a handful of people there. Not a good showing for the only heavy metal bar in town. It looked like they had a good idea when they built it, but their execution was poor, and it did not catch on. It was worth checking out, but I would not recommend it.

May 25, 2025

I got a call from Bobby that he was in town and on the line for the Metallica pop up store. I drove over and cut in line next to him, saving myself about 45 minutes. These stores are very popular and often difficult to get in to. I grabbed three t-shirts and a license plate cover because I don’t have enough Metallica stuff already.

Me and Bobby outside of the greatest store in Philadelphia history

We finished our shopping excursion, and Pooch told us to meet him and Lefty at Yards Brewing. I was shocked that he picked another brewery! I never drink on Metallica days so I couldn’t partake in another crappy flight, but everyone else seemed to enjoy their beers.

The culinary highlight of the trip came next. We made the short walk to Del Rossi’s Cheesesteak & Pizza Co. for cheesesteaks. I’ve had a handful of Philadelphia cheesesteaks in my day, but this one was my favorite. Great bread and great cheddar cheese made the sandwich perfect.

Cheesesteaks usually do not photograph well, but this one was a 10/10

Pooch and Lefty wanted to hit a distillery, so I went back to the hotel to grab my stuff and check out before heading back to the stadium for the final time. I didn’t miss much, Pooch later told me that each successive taste of whiskey in his flight tasted more and more like turpentine. Even PhD’s have errors in their research sometimes.

We met up and took an Uber to the stadium. Pooch, Lefty, and Joe wanted to grab some beers at Victory Brewing at the Xfinity Center entertainment complex outside the stadium. I wanted to catch Suicidal Tendencies, the first opening act so I went in early. I said hi to Sue, Ned, and Colleen who were on the rail already.

I visited Ned and Colleen near their spot on the rail

Then I found Bobby who was dutifully lined up close to the rail on the side of the stage. It was a bit of a bummer being reduced to ham-and-egger general admission status for this show, but I was stoked regardless. We had a good spot, and I was going to make the most of it.

Suicidal Tendencies now features a rhythm section of Jay Weinberg on drums, and Robert Trujillo’s son, Tye Trujillo on bass. During the show, we noticed that Robert was watching the show from one of the Lux Æterna platforms on the far side of the stage. It must have been a proud moment for him as a father and a former bass player for Suicidal Tendencies. It was a fun show and Suicidal played all their hits. I could see Chris in the Snake Pit directly across from me and we had fun taking pictures of each other and sending them back and forth.

After the ST set ended, Pooch, Lefty, and Joe came in and met up with Ed. Unfortunately, too many people surrounded me and Bobby by that time, and they were not able to get very close to us. Pantera hit the stage and people started to mosh behind us. It was a lot of fun, it reminded me of seeing the original Pantera lineup in the late 1990’s. I always love watching Zakk Wylde play, he is one of my favorite musicians.

The hour-long wait between Pantera and Metallica always feels like it is a day long. But when AC/DC hit the PA, it felt like we were hit by lightning. Metallica took the stage and started with the 1-2 punch of “Whiplash” and “For Whom the Bell Tolls”. They always hit the stage and sprint out of the gate. I never understood how they can get so fired up so quickly.

In my third year of following this tour, I pretty much always know what song is coming next. But the lack of suspense never dulls my excitement for the classics like “Ride the Lightning” and “The Memory Remains” which followed. Metallica played an extended outro at the end of the latter which I had never seen live. It looked like something they improvised.

We were on the side of the stage where the final two drumkits would pop up. We stood in front of Robert Trujillo’s rig and bass tech, so he spent a lot of time in front of us between songs.

Robert Trujillo’s side of the stage was right in front of us

When the drums made it to our side of the stage for the second half of the show, we had our best views of the evening. They started with “The Call of Ktulu”, an instrumental on par with “Orion”. The band stuck together like they normally do for that song and looked like they were having a blast playing it. I think that is one of the things that make these M72 concerts so great. Since Metallica is in the round, they can’t hide anything. You can sense their genuine enjoyment throughout the night.

Not quite the Snake Pit, but close enough

The final songs of the night battered our senses with fire, fireworks, beach balls, and loudness. They played through hits, finishing up with “One” and the anthemic “Enter Sandman”. I was completely drained.

We huddled up and took the subway back to the hotel. Since I couldn’t ride my motorcycle as originally planned, I just drove home after the show. It wasn’t quite the ending to the weekend I was looking for, but my spirits were high. I got everything else I wanted out of the weekend. Time spent with friends in a fun city, and 30 unique songs from The Greatest Band of All Time.

Next up for me is a trip to Houston for a one night-only stop at NRG Stadium. A friend of a friend scored us Snake Pit tickets, so it is going to be worth the quick trip.

My M72 World Tour Itinerary

	Show #	Date	Venue	City
Complete	1	5/17/2023	Stade de France	Saint-Denis, France
	2	5/19/2023	Stade de France	Saint-Denis, France
	3	8/4/2023	MetLife Stadium	East Rutherford, NJ
	4	8/6/2023	MetLife Stadium	East Rutherford, NJ
	5	8/11/2023	Stade Olympique	Montreal, Quebec, Canada
	6	8/13/2023	Stade Olympique	Montreal, Quebec, Canada
	7	9/1/2023	State Farm Stadium	Glendale, AZ
	8	7/12/2024	Estadio Cívitas Metropolitano	Madrid, Spain
	9	7/14/2024	Estadio Cívitas Metropolitano	Madrid, Spain
	10	8/2/2024	Gilette Stadium	Foxborough, MA
	11	8/4/2024	Gilette Stadium	Foxborough, MA
	12	5/23/2025	Lincoln Financial Field	Philadelphia, PA
	13	5/25/2025	Lincoln Financial Field	Philadelphia, PA
Upcoming	14	6/14/2025	NRG Stadium	Houston, TX
	15	6/27/2027	Empower Field at Mile High	Denver, CO
	16	6/29/2027	Empower Field at Mile High	Denver, CO

My lifetime Metallica concert history

Show #	ShowDate	VenueDescription	City	Tour/Event	VantagePoint
1	4/8/1992	Brendan Byrne Arena	East Rutherford, NJ	Wherever We May Roam	Seats
2	7/17/1998	Giants Stadium	East Rutherford, NJ	Poor Retouring Me	Seats
3	11/24/1998	Roseland Ballroom	New York, NY	Garage Barrage	General Admission
4	11/23/1999	Madison Square Garden	New York, NY	S&M	Seats
5	7/20/2000	Giants Stadium	East Rutherford, NJ	Summer Sanitarium	General Admission
6	7/8/2003	Giants Stadium	East Rutherford, NJ	Summer Sanitarium 2003	General Admission
7	4/20/2004	Nassau Coliseum	Uniondale, NY	Madly In Anger With The World	General Admission
8	10/22/2004	Continental Airlines Arena	East Rutherford, NJ	Madly In Anger With The World	General Admission
9	1/17/2009	Wachovia Center	Philadelphia, PA	World Magnetic	Seats
10	1/31/2009	Prudential Center	Newark, NJ	World Magnetic	General Admission
11	2/1/2009	Prudential Center	Newark, NJ	World Magnetic	Seats
12	11/14/2009	Madison Square Garden	New York, NY	World Magnetic	General Admission
13	11/15/2009	Madison Square Garden	New York, NY	World Magnetic	Seats
14	9/14/2011	Yankee Stadium	New York, NY	The Big 4	General Admission
15	6/23/2012	Bader Field	Atlantic City, NJ	Orion Music + More	General Admission
16	6/24/2012	Bader Field	Atlantic City, NJ	Orion Music + More	General Admission
17	5/12/2017	Lincoln Financial Field	Philadelphia, PA	Worldwired	General Admission
18	5/14/2017	MetLife Stadium	East Rutherford, NJ	Worldwired	General Admission
19	5/17/2017	The New Coliseum Presented by NYCV	Uniondale, NY	Worldwired	General Admission
20	7/19/2017	Parc Jean-Drapeau	Montreal, QC	Worldwired	Snake Pit
21	10/20/2018	Bryce Jordan Center	State College, PA	Worldwired	General Admission
22	10/25/2018	Wells Fargo Center	Philadelphia, PA	Worldwired	General Admission
23	9/6/2019	Chase Center	San Francisco, CA	S&M2	Seats
24	9/24/2021	Highland Festival Grounds at KY Expo Center	Louisville, KY	Louder Than Life	General Admission
25	9/25/2021	Highland Festival Grounds at KY Expo Center	Louisville, KY	Louder Than Life	General Admission
26	5/29/2022	Harvard Athletic Complex	Boston, MA	Boston Calling	General Admission
27	8/11/2022	Highmark Stadium	Buffalo, NY	(none)	General Admission
28	5/17/2023	Stade de France	Saint-Dennis, FR	M72 World Tour	Seats
29	5/19/2023	Stade de France	Saint-Dennis, FR	M72 World Tour	Seats
30	8/4/2023	MetLife Stadium	East Rutherford, NJ	M72 World Tour	General Admission
31	8/6/2023	MetLife Stadium	East Rutherford, NJ	M72 World Tour	General Admission
32	8/11/2023	Stade Olympique	Montreal, QC	M72 World Tour	General Admission
33	8/13/2023	Stade Olympique	Montreal, QC	M72 World Tour	General Admission
34	9/1/2023	State Farm Stadium	Glendale, AZ	M72 World Tour	General Admission
35	7/12/2024	Estadio Cívitas Metropolitano	Madrid, ES	M72 World Tour	Snake Pit
36	7/14/2024	Estadio Cívitas Metropolitano	Madrid, ES	M72 World Tour	Snake Pit
37	8/2/2024	Gillette Stadium	Foxborough, MA	M72 World Tour	General Admission
38	8/4/2024	Gillette Stadium	Foxborough, MA	M72 World Tour	General Admission
39	5/23/2025	Lincoln Financial Field	Philadelphia, PA	M72 World Tour	Snake Pit
40	5/25/2025	Lincoln Financial Field	Philadelphia, PA	M72 World Tour	General Admission

Link to YouTube playlist of all official Metallica concert videos I have been present for.

Metallica songs I have seen performed on the M72 World Tour

Song	Times Seen
Creeping Death	7
Fuel	7
Harvester Of Sorrow	7
Lux Æterna	7
Nothing Else Matters	7
Orion	7
Sad But True	7
Seek and Destroy	7
72 Seasons	6
Enter Sandman	6
For Whom The Bell Tolls	6
If Darkness Had A Son	6
King Nothing	6
Master of Puppets	6
Moth Into Flame	6
One	6
Ride The Lightning	6
The Call of Ktulu	6
The Day That Never Comes	6
Wherever I May Roam	6
Fade To Black	5
Shadows Follow	5
The Unforgiven	5
Welcome Home (Sanitarium)	5
Whiplash	5
Battery	4
Blackened	4
Holier Than Thou	4
Too Far Gone?	4
Whiskey In The Jar	4
Cyanide	3
Hardwired	3
Screaming Suicide	3
The Memory Remains	3
You Must Burn!	3
Fight Fire With Fire	2
Inamorata	2
Leper Messiah	2
Until It Sleeps	2
Dirty Window	1
I Disappear	1
No Leaf Clover	1
Sleepwalk My Life Away	1
Unique:	43
Total:	200

All Metallica songs I have seen performed live

Song	Times Seen
Nothing Else Matters	32
Enter Sandman	31
One	31
Sad But True	31
Master of Puppets	30
Seek and Destroy	28
For Whom The Bell Tolls	25
Creeping Death	23
Fade To Black	20
Fuel	19
Wherever I May Roam	17
Blackened	15
Moth Into Flame	15
Battery	14
Ride The Lightning	14
The Unforgiven	14
Harvester Of Sorrow	13
The Day That Never Comes	13
Whiplash	13
Welcome Home (Sanitarium)	12
The Memory Remains	11
Hardwired	10
Holier Than Thou	10
Cyanide	9
King Nothing	9
The Call of Ktulu	9
Fight Fire With Fire	8
Orion	8
Whiskey In The Jar	8
Lux Æterna	7
Now That We’re Dead	7
72 Seasons	6
Atlas, Rise!	6
If Darkness Had A Son	6
No Leaf Clover	6
The Four Horsemen	6
All Nightmare Long	5
Broken, Beat And Scarred	5
Halo On Fire	5
Of Wolf and Man	5
Shadows Follow	5
That Was Just Your Life	5
The End Of The Line	5
Breadfan	4
Hit The Lights	4
Last Caress	4
Too Far Gone?	4
Until It Sleeps	4
I Disappear	3
Screaming Suicide	3
St. Anger	3
The God That Failed	3
Through the Never	3
Turn The Page	3
You Must Burn!	3
Am I Evil?	2
Bleeding Me	2
Blitzkrieg	2
Die, Die My Darling	2
Dirty Window	2
Don’t Tread On Me	2
Frantic	2
Inamorata	2
Last Caress/Green Hell	2
Leper Messiah	2
Motorbreath	2
My Friend Of Misery	2
Overkill	2
The Outlaw Torn	2
The Shortest Straw	2
The Struggle Within	2
The Thing That Should Not Be	2
Trapped Under Ice	2
– Human	1
(Anesthesia) – Pulling Teeth	1
…And Justice For All	1
All Within My Hands	1
Confusion	1
Damage Inc.	1
Devil’s Dance	1
Disposable Heroes	1
Dyers Eve	1
Escape	1
Hell And Back	1
Helpless	1
Hero of the Day	1
Iron Foundry	1
Jump In The Fire	1
Justice Medley	1
Killing Time	1
Last Caress/So What/Die, Die My Darling	1
Low Man’s Lyric	1
Mastertarium	1
Mercyful Fate	1
Metal Militia	1
My Apocalypse	1
No Remorse	1
Phantom Lord	1
Sabbra Cadabra	1
Sleepwalk My Life Away	1
Small Hours	1
So What	1
Spit Out The Bone	1
Stone Cold Crazy	1
The Ecstasy of Gold	1
The Judas Kiss	1
The Prince	1
The Unforgiven III	1
The Wait	1
Unique:	109
Total:	684

Filed Under: Metallica Tagged With: 72 Seasons, James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett, Lars Ulrich, Limp Bizkit, M72 World Tour, Metallica, Pantera, Philadelphia, Robert Trujillo, Suicidal Tendencies, Travel

WrestleMania 41 Postscript

April 23, 2025 by njnonconformist Leave a Comment

WrestleMania 41 week has finally finished. It feels like WrestleMania runs longer than a seven game World Series. It is a lot of fun, but it is also a lot to take in.

My initial reaction to the Saturday and Sunday shows is that they were entertaining but fell short of perfection. There were some great matches and some fun moments. But there were one or two head-scratching moments that were a distraction.

With a few exceptions, it was a good weekend to be a bad guy. It is rare to have a WrestleMania end with the bad guy winning, but both main events featured just that. The heels thrived in the undercard, too.

We were led to believe the Saturday main event was a story about CM Punk, Seth Rollins, and Roman Reigns. But that match was all about WWE Hall of Famer Paul Heyman. Heyman started off dancing to Living Color as he walked CM Punk to the ring. He proceeded to off the rare feat of making two heel turns in a single match, turning on both CM Punk and Roman Reigns! Who saw that coming?

The Sunday main event won’t be remembered as a classic. The match’s major creative flaw was that The Rock failed to appear and interfere. Instead, Travis Scott was the heater. I never understood why Travis Scott was at the Elimination Chamber, and I don’t understand why he interfered in the match at WrestleMania. Nobody talks about him and his motivations, and he never cut a promo.

On the WrestleMania Sunday post show, Peter Rosenberg quipped that nobody will “put the match in The Louvre”. But the historic outcome remains, John Cena won his record-breaking 17^th world championship, breaking Ric Flair’s record of 16.

Elsewhere over the weekend, The New Day, Jacob Fatu, El Grande Americano, Drew McIntyre, Dominik Mysterio, and Logan Paul all won as heels. Dominik Mysterio got a huge babyface reaction to his win. It is almost as if the bad guys are the good guys in today’s WWE.

The only major heel to lose was Gunther in a fantastic match against Jey Uso. But don’t shed too many tears for him, his attack on Pat McAfee on the following Monday Night Raw will keep him very hot going forward.

The biggest takeaway from the weekend was it is apparent where the WWE is headed, and where it is not headed.

The company is clearly behind the John Cena retirement tour in 2025. Seth Rollins was anointed as another top star in the company with his main event win. Jey Uso is going to have a long run as the secondary champion. Dominik Mysterio is going to rule the mid-card with his Intercontinental Championship run. Bronn Breaker went from losing his championship to being a Paul Heyman Guy.

On the other end of things, Roman Reigns is now stuck in neutral, he no longer has Paul Heyman, The Bloodline, or a championship. Cody Rhodes, whom the fans willed to a championship win at WrestleMania Xl, was loudly booed during his match which he lost. These two feel like they are a long way from their “face of the company” tenures.

My breakdown of winners and losers is as follows.

Losers

The War Raiders: That was probably their last big match in WWE.
LA Knight: What is he going to do now that he is no longer a champion of any kind?
Charlotte Flair: Her comeback from injury was botched by the company, no way someone of her stature should have lost to Tiffany Stratton.
Roman Reigns: If he isn’t the top guy, where does he even go from here?
Bayley: I don’t know if her injury is real or not, but it sucks to get pulled from the WrestleMania card like that. It tells me her best days are behind her.
The woman in the front row: Steve Austin is either losing his ability to drive or was drunk when he hit that barrier knocking that woman to the ground. How much did she pay for that ticket?
Cody Rhodes: Is it me, or is he losing the crowd? That’s almost unfathomable considering where he was just one year ago when he finished his story. Maybe he needs to write a new one. I hear that being a heel is all the rage these days.
Solo Sikoa, Sami Zayn, and Braun Strowman: There was nowhere on either card for these guys?

Winners

The fans that no longer have to listen to “F!EIN”: That had to be the worst WrestleMania theme song of all time. That is not because I don’t like the genre. It is because it is objectively bad. It was just someone singing “FE!N” repeatedly. It didn’t have a hook or anything catchy to it at all. Give me Flo Rida or The Weeknd any day over this guy.
Jey Uso: He is an organic babyface that won gold at WrestleMania. A difficult feat to achieve these days.
Jacob Fatu: This guy came out of nowhere to win a WrestleMania championship match. He has a lot of upside potential.
El Grande Americano: The best luchador on the roster today!
Seth Rollins: Biggest win of his career, and a red-hot storyline going forward.
Iyo Sky: She looked terrible headed into WrestleMania but pulled off a big win in a surprisingly fun match.
Drew McIntyre: He always looks good no matter what he is asked to do.
Dominik Mysterio: A signature win for this Judgement Day member. He even managed to win over the crowd.
Joe Hendry: Whoever this guy is, he managed to have his WrestleMania moment even though he is not a WWE wrestler!
Logan Paul: Just keeps on winning.
John Cena: GOAT status with his 17^th championship win, and first as a bad guy

I am excited for the possibilities for the rest of 2025. There is a two-day SummerSlam in my home state of New Jersey and I expect excellence!

Filed Under: WWE Tagged With: Bronn Breaker, CM Punk, Cody Rhodes, Dominik Mysterio, Drew McIntyre, El Grande Americano, Gunther, Jacob Fatu, Jey Uso, Joe Hendry, John Cena, Logan Paul, Pat McAfee, Paul Heyman, Ric Flair, Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, The New Day, The Rock, Travis Scott, WrestleMania, WWE

WrestleMania 41 Analysis and Predictions

April 19, 2025 by njnonconformist Leave a Comment

The WWE hits Las Vegas this weekend for a two-night celebration of professional wrestling at its best. The WWE has such a glut of talent on the main roster that even fourteen matches over two nights do not have enough spots for some familiar names. There was room on the card for Nia Jax, Sami Zayn, Braun Strowman, or Solo Sikoa. But all that means is that we should expect the best of the best to attempt to collectively raise the bar from last year’s classic WrestleMania XL.

There are a lot of matches to analyze and predict so I will get right to it.

WrestleMania Saturday

The War Raiders (Erik and Ivar) (c) vs. The New Day (Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods) in a Tag team match for the World Tag Team Championship

Kingston and Woods were working with the most tired and overused gimmick we have seen in some years and were overdue for a change when they turned heel. Despite the necessity for a change, the heel turn landed with a thud and these guys are still boring and uninteresting.

The War Raiders endured a litany of name and gimmick changes under Vince McMahon’s direction in the beginning of their WWE run. They’ve finally settled on something that works for them, a straight-talking, badass duo. They will undoubtedly be excited for this opportunity and will bring their A game to the show.

Prediction: Winners and still World Tag Team Champions, The War Raiders

Rey Mysterio vs. El Grande Americano

Rey Mysterio is somehow still hanging on as a full-time performer in WWE. He is often referred to as the greatest luchador of all time. But he now has competition for that title as he faces off against El Grande Americano. This relative newcomer to the WWE is handling himself like a tenured veteran. This match will be a great demonstration of the lucha libre style of wrestling.

Prediction: Winner, El Grande Americano

Jade Cargill vs. Naomi

This match is barely fit for Smackdown, let alone WrestleMania. This feud is boring, and neither one of them is very good in the ring. These two are taking a spot that could be used by wrestlers that are compelling to watch.

Prediction: Winner, Naomi

LA Knight (c) vs. Jacob Fatu in a Singles match for the WWE United States Championship

LA Knight is good for his staccato catchphrase and not much else. His promos are short and sweet, and they resonate with the audience. But Jacob Fatu is force to be reckoned with. In his short time on the WWE main roster, this Bloodline member (where do they get so many of them?) has gotten over quickly with both his credible microphone work and his in-ring skills. This is a great opportunity for both guys to put on a signature WrestleMania match.

Prediction: Winner, and new United States Champion: Jacob Fatu

Tiffany Stratton (c) vs. Charlotte Flair in a Singles match for the WWE Women’s Championship

Many consider Charlotte Flair to be the women’s wrestling GOAT, yet somehow the WWE managed to botch her return from injury at the Royal Rumble. The crowd was not too pleased when she won the Royal Rumble match, punching her ticket to WrestleMania. Tiffany Stratton is the current champion but has not done much to distinguish herself. This program is so boring that the two of them had to dig into each other’s personal lives in a live segment just to get people talking.

Prediction: Winner and new WWE Women’s Champion, Charlotte Flair

Gunther (c) vs. Jey Uso in a Singles match for the World Heavyweight Championship

Jey Uso shocked the wrestling world when he eliminated John Cena from the Royal Rumble to clinch a WrestleMania championship match. Out of all the entrants in the Royal Rumble, Uso was the darkest of horses to have his hand raised. But this former WrestleMania main eventer has what it takes to carry a big match, and he has an army of fans behind him.

Gunther is a legitimate superstar in his own right. He built a reputation as a no-nonsense bruiser who is almost adorned in championship gold. Most importantly, he is easy to hate, and he is the perfect foil for the fan-favorite Uso. This should be the hardest-hitting and most physical match of the night.

Prediction: Winner and still World Heavyweight Champion, Guenther

Roman Reigns vs. CM Punk (with Paul Heyman) vs. Seth Rollins in a triple threat match

Leaving the company for ten years did nothing to help accelerate CM Punk’s timeline to main event WrestleMania, nor did his immediate injury upon his return in 2023. But here we are in 2025 and CM Punk is a WrestleMania main eventer for the first time.

This story behind this match blends a lot of real-world situations into the worked drama. Paul Heyman was a mentor, friend, and protector to Punk early in Punk’s career. Paul Heyman and Roman Reigns have a slightly less dramatized off-screen friendship to match their on-screen relationship. Seth Rollins harbors a grudge with CM Punk for leaving the company in 2013.

Heyman’s allegiances to Punk and Reigns will be tested. Rollins stands as the wildcard in this situation. These are three of the best wrestlers in the world right now and this match has instant classic written all over it.

Prediction: Winner, Roman Reigns

WrestleMania Sunday

Iyo Sky (c) vs. Bianca Belair vs. Rhea Ripley in a Triple threat match for the Women’s World Championship

While the triple-threat main event on Saturday night has the potential to be an instant-classic, this triple threat has the potential to be a disaster. The big difference is talent. The Saturday night main event has three of the best wrestlers in the world. This match has two of the best female wrestlers in the world, and one of the worst.

Bianca Belair already proved she can carry a WrestleMania match very capably when she main-evented WrestleMania Saturday at WrestleMania 37. Rhea Ripley dominates the women’s division right now and can stand with anybody. But Iyo Sky is a mess. She is undersized, cuts bad promos, and does not look like a credible threat against anybody. This is one of the bigger booking mistakes we have seen in the Triple H-era, and it would have been much better had they rolled with Belair vs. Ripley only.

Prediction: Winner, and new WWE Women’s World Champion, Rhea Ripley

Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez (c) vs. Bayley and Lyra Valkyria in a Tag team match for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship

I watch a lot of wrestling, and I still wouldn’t recognize Lyra Vaklyria if she bit me on the ass. Is that on me? Or does she just not make an impression? Maybe I haven’t given her enough of a chance, but I do not have high hopes for this match. It will be tough for these four that were thrown together to find some chemistry with each other and make it look good.

Prediction: Winners, and still WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions, Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez

AJ Styles vs. Logan Paul

This match is slightly lost in the WrestleMania shuffle but has a ton of promise. Styles and Paul are two of the very best the WWE has right now, but with the logjam of talent at the top they are stuck on the mid-card of WrestleMania Sunday.

In his short and part-time WWE run, Paul has mastered crowd psychology like a 15-year veteran, and his athleticism is unparalleled. Styles wrestled all over the world and has been to the top of the WWE himself. This could be a hidden gem on this WrestleMania card.

Prediction: Winner, Logan Paul

Bron Breakker (c) vs. Penta vs. Finn Bálor vs. Dominik Mysterio in a Fatal four-way match for the WWE Intercontinental Championship

This looks like one of those “let’s get everyone booked somehow” matches from afar. But under the surface, there is a compelling championship match between four entertaining wrestlers.

Breaker is off to a good start on the WWE main roster. He is still a little rough around the edges and has a bit of a ways to go, but his speed and athleticism have delivered some noticeable in-ring spots. I would not want to be on the receiving end of his 22mph spear.

Bálor and Mysterio are a bit of an unlikely duo but have undeniable chemistry in the Judgement Day. The jealousy and mistrust between the faction members is classic heel work.

The newcomer Penta is one of several luchadors on the roster but received an open-arms welcome by the WWE fans upon arrival. WWE fans always like new and Penta is fun to watch. This is a quick ascension to WrestleMania status for him so he should be motivated to try to steal the show in what should be an unpredictable match.

Prediction: Winner and new WWE Intercontinental Champion, Dominik Mysterio

Damian Priest vs. Drew McIntyre in a Sin City Street Fight

Much like Logan Paul and AJ Styles match, this match features two stars who could be in the main event themselves. Both are former champions and are known for putting on hard-hitting matches. If you want a preview of what you could see, check out the McIntyre vs. Punk Hell in a Cell match from 2024.

A Street Fight allows for a lot of creativity. Expect this match to go anywhere in the stadium, maybe even out to the Vegas Strip!

Prediction: Winner, Drew McIntyre

Randy Orton vs. TBA

Kevin Owens had to bow out of his announced match against Randy Orton due to a spinal injury that requires surgery. It is good to see Randy Orton still on the card with an open challenge match and I am looking forward to seeing who the surprise entrant is. An NXT callup? A top star left off the card like Sami Zayn, Braun Strowman, or Solo Sikoa? A Hall of Famer? Goldberg?

Prediction: Winner, the other guy

Cody Rhodes (c) vs. John Cena in a Singles match for the Undisputed WWE Championship

The reaction that John Cena has received since “The Heel Turn Heard ‘Round The World” has been amazing. His heel promos are so good that the audience can’t help but cheer him when they are over. With Cena set to retire in 2025, he has saved some of the best work for the end.

Cody Rhodes is hanging on as a babyface champion a year after finishing his story at WrestleMania XL in an epic main event against Roman Reigns. It is not easy to keep the crowds hot for a year as a babyface in today’s WWE, but Rhodes has connected with an audience that loves him.

This is Cena’s last WrestleMania match it it might be his biggest one ever. Rhodes is no stranger to WrestleMania events, having competed in two at WrestleMania XL and in the Sunday main event at WrestleMania 39. All the ingredients are in place for this match to punctuate an epic WrestleMania weekend in Las Vegas.

Prediction: Winner, and new Undisputed WWE Champion, John Cena

Filed Under: WWE Tagged With: AJ Styles, Bianca Belair, Bron Breakker, Charlotte Flair, CM Punk, Cody Rhodes, Damian Priest, Dominik Mysterio, Drew McIntyre, El Grande Americano, Fin Balor, Gunther, Jacob Fatu, Jey Uso, John Cena, LA Knight, Logan Paul, Paul Heyman, Randy Orton, Rey Mysterio, Rhey Ripley, Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, TBA, Triple H, WrestleMania, WWE

The Top 10 Most Impactful Heel Turns of All Time

March 8, 2025 by njnonconformist Leave a Comment

Among the most important facets of professional wrestling is the heel turn. A wrestler who is favored by the fans does something to draw their ire, thus changing the trajectory of their character.

A heel turn can take on many forms. Some are surprise acts of betrayal. Others are teased over a longer period until the situation boils over. But whether you see them coming or not, the best heel turns have a lasting impact on the wrestling landscape.

It has been a week since John Cena turned heel (spoiler alert, it will make the list) and it was such a welcome surprise that it transcended WWE and was widely covered in the mainstream media. It had a huge impact on WrestleMania season and will define his farewell tour in 2025. This was a heel turn done right.

Following last week’s shock, the Internet was plastered with lists of the greatest or the biggest surprise heel turns. I have a different take on what makes a heel turn great, and that is the aftermath of the act itself. Here is my list of the top ten most impactful heel turns of all time.

#10: Triple H Breaks up D-Generation X at WrestleMania XV

A European Championship match between X-Pac and a corporate Shane McMahon took a shocking twist when Triple H interfered in the match on behalf of McMahon. D-Generation X was the hottest faction in WWE at the time and nobody saw it coming. The fans did not want to see D-X break up, but Triple H went on a decades-long run as a top superstar in the company, ultimately accumulating enough credentials to be enshrined as a two-time member of the WWE Hall of Fame.

#9: Bret Hart and Stone Cold Steve Austin double-turn at WrestleMania 13

The submission match between Bret Hart and Stone Cold Steve Austin with Ken Shamrock as the special guest referee was the best match on an otherwise forgettable WrestleMania card. Hart was an established babyface at the top of the card. Austin was an upstart talent that found a character that worked so well, the crowd was beginning to cheer for him despite him being a heel.

The match was executed so well that over the course of the match, both men turned. The crowd turned on Hart and cheered a bloody Austin as he refused to submit to the Sharpshooter. One of the biggest babyface runs in WWE history was launched at that moment, due in large part to Hart turning heel to put Austin over.

#8: Roman Reigns returns to the WWE at SummerSlam 2020

Roman Reigns was a multi-time WrestleMania main-eventer and WWE Champion as a babyface. Despite, or maybe because of his overexposure, the fans never embraced his character. He seemed very disingenuous as if he was pretending to be someone he was not.

In real life, Roman Reigns is a cancer survivor and in the early days of COVID-19 in 2020, he decided it would be best to skip WrestleMania 36. A few months later, he made a surprise return at SummerSlam. Following the main event WWE Universal Championship match between Bray Wyatt and Braun Strowman, Reigns attacked them both.

It was the heel turn the fans had been begging for. It was the beginning of The Bloodline storyline that dominated every WrestleMania from then on.

#7: Steve Austin makes a deal with the devil at WrestleMania X-Seven

During the Attitude Era Steve Austin and The Rock took turns as the top babyface in the company. Throughout Austin’s run, his chief rival was not a wrestler, but the authority figure of Mr. McMahon.

Austin and The Rock both entered the main event of WrestleMania X-Seven as babyfaces. But to the shock of everyone, Austin sided with Mr. McMahon to underhandedly tilt the match in his favor to defeat The Rock and become champion.

This was a controversial heel turn as the fans did not want to accept it. But Austin was able to take chances with his character and he did some of his best work with his ensuing heel run.

#6: Seth Rollins turns on The Shield: There’s always a plan B

The Shield was one of the first NXT success stories following their main roster debut in 2012. Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, and Dean Ambrose were an unlikely trio, but there was no denying their individual and collective talents. They worked heel at the beginning, but the crowd cheered them on anyway and they became a wildly popular faction.

At WWE Payback in 2024, a surging Shield defeated Evolution in a six-man tag team match. At the following Monday Night Raw, with The Shield in the ring, Triple H told them that there is “always a plan B”. Without warning, Seth Rollins smashed Roman Reigns on the back with a steel chair and broke up the stable.

The fans did not want them to break up, but it was time for them to move forward as individuals. All three eventually won the WWE championship. Ambrose foolishly departed the WWE for the obscurity of AEW, but Rollins and Reigns are still on WWE Hall of Fame trajectories in the WWE.

#5: Shawn Michaels attacks Marty Jannetty on The Barber Shop

The Rockers were an entertaining tag team. The relationship between Marty Jannetty and Shawn Michaels had begun to fray. They attempted to air it out their differences on the Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake hosted Barbershop. Just when it seemed like things were smoothed over, Shawn Michaels stunned Jannetty with a superkick. What happened next cemented the heel turn when Michaels violently through Jannetty through the Barbershop glass.

Shawn Michaels went on to be a two-time WWE Hall of Famer. Marty Jannetty went on to be, well, Marty Jannetty.

#4: Andre the Giant challenges Hulk Hogan for the WWF Championship

Andre the Giant and Hulk Hogan were long-time veterans of the professional wrestling territory circuits, working both as babyfaces and heels. But the era of nationally televised wrestling began with WWF in the mid 1980’s, so most fans knew them both as good guys.

On the eve of WrestleMania III in 1987 that was set to be held in the Pontiac Silverdome, Hulk Hogan needed a challenger for the WWF Championship. On an episode of Piper’s Pit, much to Hogan’s, and everyone’s surprise, Andre the Giant appeared with Bobby Heenan to challenge Hogan for the championship.

Hogan reluctantly accepted the challenge, and Andre was suddenly a bad guy. The interest in that main event sold out the Silverdome. WrestleMania went on to be the biggest annual event in professional wrestling.

#3: Vince McMahon: Bret Screwed Bret

In a turn of events at the 1997 Survivor Series colloquially known as The Montreal Screwjob, Shawn Michaels applied the sharpshooter to Bret Hart and Vince McMahon ordered the timekeeper to ring the bell despite Hart not submitting. While McMahon had always been the owner of the WWF, most fans only knew him as a television announcer and did not know he had actual authority in the company. On top of that, nobody in professional wrestling ever admitted to the fans that it was a work.

Vince McMahon had to make a critical decision about how to present things to the fans on Raw is War just two days later. Of all the things he could have done, he borrowed a move from 17^th century Don Quixote author Miguel de Cervantes and interjected himself into the story.

In an interview with Jim Ross, McMahon said that let Hart go to the WCW for financial reasons and was forced to call the match short because Bret refused to drop the title to Michaels on the eve of his departure. He unapologetically declared that it was not his fault and that “Bret screwed Bret”. Not only did McMahon admit that wrestling was fiction and that he called the shots, but he gave birth to the Mr. McMahon authority figure character that was the reigning heel for the Attitude Era.

#2: John Cena turns on Cody Rhodes

There is some recency bias here, but in just one week this became known as “The Heel Turn Heard ‘Round the World”. In 2025, an all-time great John Cena is in the final year of his career. If there is any knock on him is that he was overused and was always a babyface for nearly two decades.

All that changed in an instant following his victory at the 2025 Elimination Chamber. The Rock came to the ring (accompanied by Travis Scott for some reason that is not clear) and asked Cody Rhodes if he was willing to sell his soul to him. Using some not-safe-for-work language, Rhodes declined The Rock’s offer. Cena gave Rhodes a celebratory hug, but The Rock gave Cena a throat-slash gesture and Cena’s smile turned to a frown. Cena kicked Rhodes in the clackers and all three men gave Rhodes a beatdown in the middle of the ring.

Not only did this upend the storylines for WrestleMania 41, but it was the most shocking and unpredictable heel turn since #1 below.

#1: Hulk Hogan joins The Outsiders to form the nWo

The heroic Hulk Hogan character that dominated the wrestling landscape for a decade had grown stale. In WCW in 1996 he needed a change. Scott Hall and Kevin Nash had recently departed the WWE for the WCW and loosely branded themselves as “The Outsiders”. They teased the crowd by saying there was a third member of the group.

At the 1996 Bash at the Beach, Nash and Hall delivered a beat down to Randy Savage. Hogan walked down the ramp and appeared to be there to save his long-time friend from further damage. In a Shakspearian Twist, Hogan immediately delivered a leg drop to Savage and the newly formed trio beat him to a pulp.

In a post-beatdown interview with Gene Okerlund, Hogan admitted he was the third member of the group and called it the New World Order of wrestling. The nWo was formed at that moment and went on to be the most influential heel faction in wrestling history.

Filed Under: WWE Tagged With: Andre The Giant, Cody Rhodes, D-Generation X, Heel Turn, Hulk Hogan, John Cena, Mr. McMahon, nWo, Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, Shawn Michaels, Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, The Shield, Triple H, WWE

2025 Royal Rumble Analysis and Predictions

February 1, 2025 by njnonconformist Leave a Comment

Cody Rhodes and CM Punk, possible adversaries at WrestleMania 41

WrestleMania 41 season begins with the Royal Rumble, and the WWE is riding a creative high headed into the event. The two keys to their recent string of creative success have been effective long-term storytelling, and an embarrassment of riches of talent at the top of the card.

Fans were miffed that Cody Rhodes failed to capture the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 39. But that just gave us a year of anticipation headed into WrestleMania 40. That WrestleMania 39 loss made his WrestleMania 40 win that much more satisfying. Now ten months into his championship run, he has maintained his momentum as a babyface champion and is still a big draw for WWE.

WrestleMania is a two-night event now, and even that does not seem like enough time to feature all the main event-level talent on the roster. It seems likely that Rhodes is a lock for one of the main events, it is hard to predict who else could join him. It could be anybody in this list: John Cena, Roman Reigns, CM Punk, Seth Rollins, Damien Priest, Gunther, Drew McIntyre, The Rock, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Jey Uso, Logan Paul, Charlotte Flair, Rhea Ripley.

Some of those names obviously have longer odds than others of qualifying for one of the two main events. The Rock is probably the first domino to fall. If he is available to compete (it would require a break in his schedule to train for a match), he would likely get one of the spots. But after his appearance on the first Raw on Netflix, he seemingly buried any feud he had with Rhodes or Reigns, so there is no obvious path for him to return.

Looking past The Rock, John Cena and Roman Reigns look like the top candidates to be in a main event. John Cena announced that this is his last WrestleMania, so this is his last chance to main event a WrestleMania. Roman Reigns would qualify based only on his stature. Assuming those two qualify, the next likely candidate to join them would be CM Punk. Punk was probably slated for a top spot at WrestleMania 40 had he not been forced to miss the event due to injury, so he could get his shot this time. But so many others on that list are hot right now and none of them would be a huge surprise to be featured in one of the main events.

The undercard features a compelling championship match between Cody Rhodes and Kevin Owens, and two filler matches. My expert predictions are as follows.

#DIY (c) vs. Motor City Machine Guns in a two out of three falls match for the WWE Tag Team Championship

Everybody in this match is terrible, and there is no good reason it should be a two out of three falls. There is no good storyline coming into this match, and there will be no good outcome coming out of it. With any luck, none of these guys are on the WWE roster by the end of 2025.

Prediction: Winners, and still champions, #DIY

Cody Rhodes (c) vs. Kevin Owens in a Ladder match for the Undisputed WWE Championship with the “Undisputed” and “Winged Eagle” championship belts will be suspended above the ring.

That is certainly a mouthful. I mean, what could be better than a regular ladder match, but one with two belts suspended above the ring. Who even thinks of this stuff?

If you look across the whole roster, there is nobody better at playing the good guy than Cody Rodes, and there is nobody better at playing the bad guy than Kevin Owens. This business about Owens stealing Cody’s belt and pretending it is his own is priceless.

That is what makes this match so intriguing. Owens did all the work to really make the crowd hate him, and Cody sold it perfectly. These two are going to tell a great story in the ring at the Rumble.

Prediction: Winner and still champion, Cody Rhodes

Women’s Royal Rumble Match

As of the Smackdown before the match, only 14 women were announced for this match. That speaks volumes about the state of the women’s roster. There are a handful of credible wrestlers, and the rest are there to make them look good. Pick between Nia Jax, Bayley, Charlotte Flair, and Liv Morgan to win. The rest, as a certain disgraced promoter used to say, have no chance in hell.

Prediction: Winner, Charlotte Flair

Men’s Royal Rumble Match

The Rumble is a perpetual creative trap for the WWE. If we know that the winner is going to get a title shot at WrestleMania, it eliminates the plausibility of winning for most of the field. But this year the field is stacked with main-event level talent. Many of them have spent the past few weeks giving killer promos telling us exactly why they are going to win the Rumble.

As of the Smackdown before the Rumble, 18 men have been announced for the match. That tells me that the likely winner is one of those 18, and the others will be a handful of competitors from the main roster, a few NXT callups, and one or two returning legends, none of whom have a shot.

I would expect that there will be a lot of positioning for WrestleMania to take shape for those who do not win, too. All the top guys are going to be booked for WrestleMania, so they will come out of the Rumble with a direction to head in. I would pay attention to who eliminates who and how they do it.

The field can be separated into probability buckets.

No Chance in Hell

LA Knight
Rey Mysterio
Shinsuke Nakamura
Penta
Chad Gable
Bronn Breaker
Carmelo Hayes
Santos Escobar
Jacob Fatu

Outside chance, wouldn’t be shocked with a win

Jey Uso
Drew McIntyre
Sami Zayn
Logan Paul
Damian Priest

Likely winners

John Cena
CM Punk
Roman Reigns
Seth “Freakin” Rollins

I’ll go out on a limb and make a prediction. John Cena wins the match by eliminating CM Punk. Cena goes on to face Rhodes at WrestleMania. Punk then can complain that Cena always screws him and gets the top spot. But he goes on to win the Elimination Chamber. Then he faces Roman Reigns for the title at WrestleMania after Roman defeats Gunther somewhere along the way. Man, I feel like I should be booking this stuff!

Filed Under: WWE Tagged With: Charlotte Flair, CM Punk, Cody Rhodes, Drew McIntyre, Gunther, Jey Uso, Kevin Owens, LA Knight, Logan Paul, Rhea Ripley, Roman Reigns, Royal Rumble, Sami Zayn, Seth "Freakin" Rollins, The Rock, WWE

No Mercy from the Ghost Within

December 31, 2024 by njnonconformist 1 Comment

A diary of my trip to Foxborough to see Metallica on the M72 World Tour in August 2024.

My final stop on the Metallica M72 World Tour was in Foxborough, Massachusetts. It was an easy decision to pick Foxborough as a destination because it was easily drivable from home in New Jersey. Anytime Metallica plays a drivable concert for me, I buy tickets and go.

I put together a group of friends to spend the weekend in Boston and go to both shows. There was no rain in the forecast for Thursday or Monday so instead of driving, I readied my motorcycle and plotted a scenic route to Boston. I could not ask more for a long early-August weekend: spending time with friends, taking a motorcycle trip, and going to see the greatest band of all time twice.

August 1, 2024

I promised myself the last time I drove to Boston (to see Metallica in 2022, of course) that I was never again going to just take the most efficient route through Connecticut. The main roads are typically choked with traffic and uninteresting. Instead, I plotted a scenic route through southern Vermont. Vermont is not on the way to Boston from my home in New Jersey, but this ride was about the journey.

I woke up early, mounted my luggage on the bike, and hit the road towards the Bear Mountain Bridge. The Bear Mountain Bridge is an out-of-the-way Hudson River crossing that is not part of any major Interstate Highway. It leads to highway 9D in Putnam County, New York. Once I crossed the bridge, the scenery for most of the ride was beautiful.

I took 9D to Cold Spring, New York and headed east through some state highways and backroads until I hit US-7 in Connecticut. I took that north through Massachusetts and into Vermont. I left Massachusetts so I could come back to Massachusetts! This is what you do when you take the scenic route on the bike.

It was about when I reached Bennington, Vermont that I stopped to check the time to Boston. I had to be cleaned up and ready to meet my friend Erin for dinner at 7 PM. I hooked a right and headed east through the mountains to Brattleboro. I went south to Route 2 and took that east to Boston. Traffic picked up the closer I got to the city, but my main mission was accomplished. I took the most scenic and least hectic route I could find between my home and Boston.

Trace of my ride from New Jersey to Boston through the mountains of west MA and south VT

Wearing over 300 miles of road grit on my face

I cut my timing for dinner very close. I jumped off the bike, checked in to the hotel, showered up, hopped in an Uber, ran up a flight of stairs, and breathlessly greeted Erin. I did my best to hold up my end of the conversation after 325 miles and eight and a half hours on the motorcycle.

It was a work night for Erin so after dinner I found my good friends Gail and Joe who were in town for the weekend. Joe was coming to both Metallica shows and Gail was along for the sightseeing. We had a few drinks, and I had to call it a night.

August 2, 2024

Friday was the first big day of the weekend; we were going to get to see Metallica at night! My plan was to refrain from drinking so I could focus on the show at the stadium. Pooch arrived in town shortly after noon, and we met him at the Dorchester Brewing Company for lunch. Pooch is a great guy to travel with if you are into drinking craft beer and eating barbecue. They had both at Dorchester.

I went with him to another brewery on his list (he has a brewery list everywhere he goes), Castle Island Brewing for the rest of the afternoon. We drove past the highway and saw first-hand how bad the Boston traffic was headed out of town. As a group, we decided to take the train to Foxborough to save ourselves from the trouble of sitting in traffic.

We went back to the hotel and got the group together to head out to the train station. Ed rolled in just as we were leaving (he lost about two hours to the aforementioned traffic between New Jersey and Boston) and he hurried along with us to the train.

The trip from Boston to Foxborough sucks. The stadium is nowhere near the city and the roads are unable to handle event-day traffic flow. I highly recommend taking the train if you ever have the misfortune of having to make the same trip. It was relatively painless.

The train dropped us off at the parking lot and we grabbed something to eat outside the stadium. We headed in to catch the end of Mammoth WVH’s set.

We settled in near the center of the stage on the opposite side of the entrance. We were able to get close and had a good view of half of the stage from where we were standing. We were excited for the second act to come on. Pantera hit the stage and tore through a blistering set.

Pantera guitarist Zakk Wylde, the 5th Greatest Guitar Player of All Time

All the money Pantera made on this tour, Phil still can’t afford socks and shoes

Pantera will obviously never be the same without the deceased Abbott brothers. But there could not be a better replacement for Vinnie Paul than Charlie Benante. And if you must replace Dimebag Darrell with someone, it might as well be the 5^th greatest guitar player of all time, Zakk Wylde.

The crowd was hot for this show. It looked like a lot of us had seen the original Pantera lineup 25 years ago. There was a lot of singing and head-banging. I thought they picked up some younger fans while they were at it.

Throughout the tour, the wait between the end of the Pantera set and the beginning of the Metallica set feels like it lasts a day. I don’t even know what to do with myself while I’m waiting.

By the time AC/DC played, I was fired up and ready to rage! In just a few minutes, Metallica hit the stage. Lars Ulrich counted in “Creeping Death”, and it was on. I knew they were going to start with “Creeping Death”, and I was still amazed. The wave of energy that sweeps a football stadium when Metallica begins their set is indescribable. People are yelling, singing, head banging, moshing, even crying tears of joy. It is an experience unlike anything else.

The third song in the set was “Leper Messiah” and this was only the second time I’ve ever seen this classic played live. Metallica always finds a way to make each show memorable like this.

The rest of the set was standard M72 World Tour stuff. A combination of songs that spanned the band’s entire career, from the “Kill ‘Em All” to “72 Seasons” albums. Nobody in heavy metal has a catalog like theirs, and each song they chose to play filled the entire football stadium. The production, the sound, and the band battered our senses for two hours.

They capped the setlist with a ferocious rendition of “Master of Puppets” and we were spent. We made a quick trip to the train because if we missed it, we were going to have to sleep in the parking lot. The train was slow to leave, because a passenger had a medical emergency and had to be removed. But once it got going, we made a straight shot back to the city and to our hotel.

August 3, 2024

Before Pooch visits a new locale, he does PhD-level research on the local bars and restaurants. He can find the best craft beer and barbecue before he even arrives. So, we left Saturday planning to him.

We started off at the Tip Tap Room for brunch. From there we walked around Downtown Boston for the afternoon, making several stops along the way. We hit the Distraction + Democracy Beer Garden at Boston’s Old City Hall, the Sam Adams Downtown Boston Taproom, and a handful of other breweries. Did I mention Pooch likes his breweries?

One of the many breweries on Pooch’s spreadsheet

Saturday was a standout day on my Metallica M72 World Tour journey. On some of my trips, Saturday was full of sightseeing and moving around from place to place. This time, I got to spend a relaxing day with like-minded friends, enjoying our trip to a city we would not have gone to had it not been for Metallica.

The plan for the evening was to find a sports bar that was showing WWE SummerSlam. Pooch and I are huge WWE fans and did not want to miss the biggest show of the summer. Pooch contacted Banners at TD Garden and was told they were going to show it on the big screen, so we went there for dinner. We arrived and comedy ensued.

We checked in at the hostess stand, and asked to be seated with a view of the screen that would air SummerSlam. The hostess had no idea what we were talking about. Pooch told her that he had emailed a gentleman who told him they would show SummerSlam and that was why we were there.

Pooch told her that the email came from a gentleman named Sam. The guy standing next to the hostess said, “I’m Sam!”. Then he denied sending that email and said maybe we talked to a different Sam.

This led to somewhat of a tense argument, and even Joe who is not a WWE fan complained loud enough that they decided to seat us and put SummerSlam on the big screen after all.

Pooch and I were happy we got to watch the show. It was the best WWE show since WrestleMania 40 earlier in the year. Even Ed got into it, he liked the pants that Seth Rollins wore. We stayed through the end when Roman Reigns made his surprise return to WWE at the conclusion of the main event. It was cool that I found a way to combine WWE with one of my Metallica trips.

We had some post-show drinks and then headed back to the hotel. It was a long day, and we had to get up for the big day on Sunday. One more Metallica show to go.

August 4, 2024

We had one more round of sightseeing before it was time to head to the concert. We started with a historical ferry tour of Boston Harbor. The tour guide was knowledgeable and kept us engaged with the tour. One bit of Boston history that I learned from him was that Boston was mostly filled in over time and that it was not entirely natural land.

Next up was a trip to the New England Aquarium which was a block away from the ferry. We were greeted near the entrance by a somewhat randy pair of penguins.

Next, we wandered over to the tropical fish tank. Much to my surprise, Pooch was a tropical fish expert. He used to own a tank and had a wealth of knowledge about tropical fish and was able to point out several species without having to check the guide.

We toured the whole aquarium, including the four-story ocean tank, and the sea lion show.

After the aquarium, we stopped for a barbecue lunch (refer to my earlier comments about Pooch and barbecue) and went back to the hotel to get ready to head out to Metallica.

That afternoon, we made a bad tactical mistake. We decided to drive to Foxborough rather than take the train, assuming that there would be no rush hour traffic to get there on a Sunday. Erin was going to join us for the Sunday concert, so we grabbed her and headed to the stadium.

The forecast was awful for Sunday night, and it proved to be correct. We arrived at the stadium parking lot, and it was raining heavily. We walked towards the stadium through the Patriots Way pavilion and upon arrival, a sign said the stadium was closed and we should seek shelter. This was problematic as we wanted to get there and find a good spot on the floor.

We ducked into a nearby bar and ordered some food and waited out the rain. It started to drag on and I started to get nervous there would be a weather delay or a cancellation of the whole show. I kept an eye on the Gillette Stadium X account, and after a significant wait, it posted an update that they were reopening the stadium. We hurried inside and found a spot near where we were on Friday. We were a bit further back, having lost some positions due to the stadium entry discombobulation.

I watched the Metallica X account feed, too. They announced that there would not be enough time for Ice Nine Kills to perform (no big deal) but Five Finger Death Punch would be able to play an abbreviated set. This would push the end of the show back until after 11 PM, likely costing the promoters and the band a nice chunk of change in overtime wages for the facility staff. At about 7:45 PM, Ivan Moody ran on stage and FFDP kicked off their set.

Better late than never, the show got started with Five Finger Death Punch

At this point in the tour, I felt like I had seen FFDP one too many times. I guess I could start to appreciate their live act, but I was never a fan to begin with and I did not see myself changing my opinion of the band after seeing them live.

As promised, FFDP kept their set short and for my final time in 2024, the wait for Metallica began.

Highly sophisticated method of keeping that microphone dry

This would be my fifteenth show on the M72 World Tour and the anticipation for their set remained constant. It is always the longest hour of my life. I get anxious, nervous, excited, and when the lights go out, I get overjoyed.

Metallica hit the stage and Lars pounded on the drums. James Hetfield shredded the opening riff and shouted “Whiplash!” into the microphone and Gillette Stadium went ballistic. The rain delay was a thing of the past and the show was on.

We were a little further away than I’d like, but we could still see the whole thing pretty well

“Whiplash” quickly transitioned into “For Whom the Bell Tolls” and our excitement continued to skyrocket. We knew this song was coming and were ready to sing along and bang our heads to it. The band transitioned into the title track from their sophomore album “Ride the Lightning”, which just happens to be Ed’s favorite Metallica song. It was a delightful start to the show for everybody.

The rest of the career-spanning set was pure bliss. The crowd was electric, and the band fed off it. The song selection filled in the gaps from what they played on Friday night. We were treated to an epic performance of “Inamorata” before the ending sequence of songs that culminated with “Enter Sandman”. Before they played it, James made a joke about their beach balls not being deflated, a reference to one of the many New England Patriots cheating scandals that occurred in Gillette Stadium.

As excited as I was for the show, it was a huge bummer for me when it ended, knowing it would be the end of my M72 World Tour run. I had a great run, but I didn’t know if or when Metallica would hit the road again and what the tour would look like when they did.

I visited two European cities that I probably would not have seen otherwise and had many adventures with friends and family in the North American cities. I got to see the best band in the world perform 11 times. I am very grateful that I had the opportunity to do all of that.

I had plenty of time to reflect on it all as we attempted to drive home. The traffic situation leaving Gillette Stadium is an unmitigated disaster. We were already running late because of the rain and then sat in the lot forever waiting for it to even move. Unfortunately for Erin, she had to work the next morning, so it really threw her schedule off. If I ever visit Gillette Stadium again, I will take the train no matter what.

August 5, 2024

My last planned day off work for the M72 World Tour. I woke up, loaded up the bike, and split. I wanted to once again avoid the traffic on the Interstates and take a unique route, so I headed west on route 2 and took that to US 202 which goes all the way back to New Jersey.

Those who know me would tell you that thinking isn’t something I’m known for. But being on the bike is an isolating experience that traps you in your own thoughts. It gives me the opportunity to recognize the few thoughts I do have.

As I meandered southwest through Massachusetts and Connecticut, I thought about my entire tour itinerary and how much of a dream come true it was. Two European trips, four motorcycle trips, five cities visited, eleven Metallica concerts, and most importantly time spent with family and friends. I really couldn’t have asked for anything more.

The members of the band started to turn 60 on this tour. They are playing the fewest number of concerts per year than they ever have in their past. They shortened the set from 16 songs to 15 songs. Time is catching up to them. They are not going to tour forever and opportunities like this are running out. Knowing this, the best thing I could do to honor the experience was to live in the moment and enjoy the final ride of the tour.

I stopped for gas late in the afternoon. My phone had been ringing but I didn’t see it. My boss was trying to call me. The stock market went haywire that day. The trading system I’m responsible for had a technical issue causing it to fail and we missed an opportunity to trade in advantageous conditions. It was a big snap back to reality for me and it was time to get back to work.

Epilogue

For the first time in two years, I wasn’t holding tickets for a Metallica concert, nor did I have any travel plans. I had toyed with the idea of going to one of the remaining cities after Foxborough but when it was done, I felt like I had done enough for one two-year tour cycle.

The band headed west and then south to Mexico City to round out the remaining stops on the tour. I procrastinated writing my final blog entry. Things had returned to normal.

I assumed that Metallica would announce 2025 and potentially 2026 tour dates at some point in the fall. I was hoping somewhat for somewhere in South America because I have never been there. I was on a business trip to Fort Lauderdale and woke up to a barrage of text messages and social media updates from Metallica. They were going to tour the US again in 2025.

I quickly surveyed the cities and settled on Philadelphia and Denver as the two stops that would best suit me. I attempted to buy a Lux Æterna platform in Denver and Snake Pit passes for Philadelphia and got skunked on both. But I did manage to get good tickets for each. So, with much excitement, I can declare that I am not done with the M72 World Tour! Stay tuned for two more updates in 2025.

My M72 Would Tour Itinerary

	Show #	Date	Venue	City
Complete	1	5/17/2023	Stade de France	Saint-Denis, France
	2	5/19/2023	Stade de France	Saint-Denis, France
	3	8/4/2023	MetLife Stadium	East Rutherford, NJ
	4	8/6/2023	MetLife Stadium	East Rutherford, NJ
	5	8/11/2023	Stade Olympique	Montreal, Quebec, Canada
	6	8/13/2023	Stade Olympique	Montreal, Quebec, Canada
	7	9/1/2023	State Farm Stadium	Glendale, AZ
	8	7/12/2024	Estadio Cívitas Metropolitano	Madrid, Spain
	9	7/14/2024	Estadio Cívitas Metropolitano	Madrid, Spain
	10	8/2/2024	Gilette Stadium	Foxborough, MA
	11	8/4/2024	Gilette Stadium	Foxborough, MA
Upcoming	12	5/23/2025	Lincoln Financial Field	Philadelphia, PA
	13	5/25/2025	Lincoln Financial Field	Philadelphia, PA
	14	6/27/2027	Empower Field at Mile High	Denver, CO
	15	6/29/2027	Empower Field at Mile High	Denver, CO

My lifetime Metallica concert history

Show #	ShowDate	VenueDescription	City	Tour/Event
1	4/8/1992	Brendan Byrne Arena	East Rutherford, NJ	Wherever We May Roam
2	7/17/1998	Giants Stadium	East Rutherford, NJ	Poor Retouring Me
3	11/24/1998	Roseland Ballroom	New York, NY	Garage Barrage
4	11/23/1999	Madison Square Garden	New York, NY	S&M
5	7/20/2000	Giants Stadium	East Rutherford, NJ	Summer Sanitarium
6	7/8/2003	Giants Stadium	East Rutherford, NJ	Summer Sanitarium 2003
7	4/20/2004	Nassau Coliseum	Uniondale, NY	Madly In Anger With The World
8	10/22/2004	Continental Airlines Arena	East Rutherford, NJ	Madly In Anger With The World
9	1/17/2009	Wachovia Center	Philadelphia, PA	World Magnetic
10	1/31/2009	Prudential Center	Newark, NJ	World Magnetic
11	2/1/2009	Prudential Center	Newark, NJ	World Magnetic
12	11/14/2009	Madison Square Garden	New York, NY	World Magnetic
13	11/15/2009	Madison Square Garden	New York, NY	World Magnetic
14	9/14/2011	Yankee Stadium	New York, NY	The Big 4
15	6/23/2012	Bader Field	Atlantic City, NJ	Orion Music + More
16	6/24/2012	Bader Field	Atlantic City, NJ	Orion Music + More
17	5/12/2017	Lincoln Financial Field	Philadelphia, PA	Worldwired
18	5/14/2017	MetLife Stadium	East Rutherford, NJ	Worldwired
19	5/17/2017	The New Coliseum Presented by NYCV	Uniondale, NY	Worldwired
20	7/19/2017	Parc Jean-Drapeau	Montreal, QC	Worldwired
21	10/20/2018	Bryce Jordan Center	State College, PA	Worldwired
22	10/25/2018	Wells Fargo Center	Philadelphia, PA	Worldwired
23	9/6/2019	Chase Center	San Francisco, CA	S&M2
24	9/24/2021	Highland Festival Grounds at KY Expo Center	Louisville, KY	Louder Than Life
25	9/25/2021	Highland Festival Grounds at KY Expo Center	Louisville, KY	Louder Than Life
26	5/29/2022	Harvard Athletic Complex	Boston, MA	Boston Calling
27	8/11/2022	Highmark Stadium	Buffalo, NY	(none)
28	5/17/2023	Stade de France	Saint-Dennis, FR	M72 World Tour
29	5/19/2023	Stade de France	Saint-Dennis, FR	M72 World Tour
30	8/4/2023	MetLife Stadium	East Rutherford, NJ	M72 World Tour
31	8/6/2023	MetLife Stadium	East Rutherford, NJ	M72 World Tour
32	8/11/2023	Stade Olympique	Montreal, QC	M72 World Tour
33	8/13/2023	Stade Olympique	Montreal, QC	M72 World Tour
34	9/1/2023	State Farm Stadium	Glendale, AZ	M72 World Tour
35	7/12/2024	Estadio Cívitas Metropolitano	Madrid, ES	M72 World Tour
36	7/14/2024	Estadio Cívitas Metropolitano	Madrid, ES	M72 World Tour
37	8/2/2024	Gillette Stadium	Foxborough, MA	M72 World Tour
38	8/4/2024	Gillette Stadium	Foxborough, MA	M72 World Tour

Link to YouTube playlist of all official Metallica concert videos I have been present for.

Metallica songs I have seen performed on the M72 World Tour

Song	Times Seen
Creeping Death	6
Fuel	6
Harvester Of Sorrow	6
Lux Æterna	6
Nothing Else Matters	6
Orion	6
Sad But True	6
Seek and Destroy	6
72 Seasons	5
Enter Sandman	5
For Whom The Bell Tolls	5
If Darkness Had A Son	5
King Nothing	5
Master of Puppets	5
Moth Into Flame	5
One	5
Ride The Lightning	5
Shadows Follow	5
The Call of Ktulu	5
The Day That Never Comes	5
Welcome Home (Sanitarium)	5
Wherever I May Roam	5
Battery	4
Fade To Black	4
The Unforgiven	4
Too Far Gone?	4
Whiplash	4
Blackened	3
Hardwired	3
Holier Than Thou	3
Whiskey In The Jar	3
You Must Burn!	3
Cyanide	2
Inamorata	2
Leper Messiah	2
Screaming Suicide	2
The Memory Remains	2
Until It Sleeps	2
Dirty Window	1
Fight Fire With Fire	1
I Disappear	1
No Leaf Clover	1
Sleepwalk My Life Away	1
Unique:	43
Total:	170

All Metallica songs I have seen performed live

Song	Times Seen
Nothing Else Matters	31
Enter Sandman	30
One	30
Sad But True	30
Master of Puppets	29
Seek and Destroy	27
For Whom The Bell Tolls	24
Creeping Death	22
Fade To Black	19
Fuel	18
Wherever I May Roam	16
Battery	14
Blackened	14
Moth Into Flame	14
Ride The Lightning	13
The Unforgiven	13
Harvester Of Sorrow	12
The Day That Never Comes	12
Welcome Home (Sanitarium)	12
Whiplash	12
Hardwired	10
The Memory Remains	10
Holier Than Thou	9
Cyanide	8
King Nothing	8
The Call of Ktulu	8
Fight Fire With Fire	7
Now That We’re Dead	7
Orion	7
Whiskey In The Jar	7
Atlas, Rise!	6
Lux Æterna	6
No Leaf Clover	6
The Four Horsemen	6
72 Seasons	5
All Nightmare Long	5
Broken, Beat And Scarred	5
Halo On Fire	5
If Darkness Had A Son	5
Of Wolf and Man	5
Shadows Follow	5
That Was Just Your Life	5
The End Of The Line	5
Breadfan	4
Hit The Lights	4
Last Caress	4
Too Far Gone?	4
Until It Sleeps	4
I Disappear	3
St. Anger	3
The God That Failed	3
Through the Never	3
Turn The Page	3
You Must Burn!	3
Am I Evil?	2
Bleeding Me	2
Blitzkrieg	2
Die, Die My Darling	2
Dirty Window	2
Don’t Tread On Me	2
Frantic	2
Inamorata	2
Last Caress/Green Hell	2
Leper Messiah	2
Motorbreath	2
My Friend Of Misery	2
Overkill	2
Screaming Suicide	2
The Outlaw Torn	2
The Shortest Straw	2
The Struggle Within	2
The Thing That Should Not Be	2
Trapped Under Ice	2
– Human	1
(Anesthesia) – Pulling Teeth	1
…And Justice For All	1
All Within My Hands	1
Confusion	1
Damage Inc.	1
Devil’s Dance	1
Disposable Heroes	1
Dyers Eve	1
Escape	1
Hell And Back	1
Helpless	1
Hero of the Day	1
Iron Foundry	1
Jump In The Fire	1
Justice Medley	1
Killing Time	1
Last Caress/So What/Die, Die My Darling	1
Low Man’s Lyric	1
Mastertarium	1
Mercyful Fate	1
Metal Militia	1
My Apocalypse	1
No Remorse	1
Phantom Lord	1
Sabbra Cadabra	1
Sleepwalk My Life Away	1
Small Hours	1
So What	1
Spit Out The Bone	1
Stone Cold Crazy	1
The Ecstasy of Gold	1
The Judas Kiss	1
The Prince	1
The Unforgiven III	1
The Wait	1
Unique:	109
Total:	654

Filed Under: Metallica, Riding Tagged With: 72 Seasons, Boston, Foxborough, James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett, Lars Ulrich, M72, M72 World Tour, M72Foxborough, Metallica, Robert Trujillo, Travel

Welcome, Won’t You Come Inside

August 22, 2024 by njnonconformist 1 Comment

A diary of my trip to Spain to see Metallica on the M72 World Tour in July, 2024.

It was a long wait, but it was finally time to get back on the road to see the Metallica M72 World Tour in a new city. This time, it was Madrid. I had never been to Spain before, and there was no better excuse to go than to see two Metallica shows.

Things have been hectic for me since the Phoenix stop on the M72 Tour in 2023. I found out prior to the trip that I had busted up my rotator cuff in my dominant arm and that it would not heal without elective surgery. I was told the recovery would be difficult and that I would have no or limited use of my arm for a while.

I had to put off the operation until after the Phoenix trip, but it needed to be soon thereafter so I would be ready to rock for the Madrid trip in 2024. I had them cut me up in October and started physical therapy a few weeks later. That plan worked out very nicely. I was semi-functional a few months later, and I graduated from therapy a week before the Madrid trip.

While I was dealing with the injury, I got started on a construction project at my house because I like making things complicated and difficult for myself. My entire backyard needed to be replaced and I wanted to get it done for 2024. Everything went relatively smoothly with the project, but dealing with the contractor and making design decisions was very time intensive.

Between the shoulder rehab, the backyard project, and holding down a full-time job, I had a lot on my mind. Therefore, I did not do as much planning for the Madrid trip as I had done for Paris, Montreal, and Phoenix last year. But my number one travel companion on the tour, Susan, took care of the basic outline of the trip for us. We were going to forego the motorcycle rental this time, and instead spend a few days getting crazy in Ibiza after the Metallica shows were done in Madrid. I was happy with that plan and showed up in Madrid fired up and ready to watch The Greatest Band of All Time from the Snake Pit!

Metallica wrapped up the North American leg of the 2023 tour in Detroit in November and did a one-off show in Saudi Arabia in December. They resumed the 2024 tour in May in Munich for two nights. They played 16 songs each night as they had done on all the other dates in 2023. At the next show in Milan, they only played 15 songs. Each night after that, they stuck to the new 15 song format. The reasons are not publicly known why the shows got shorter, but I guess shrinkflation in this economy is to blame.

I was a bit bummed that I would get to see two fewer songs than I had expected in Madrid, and I had done no research or real planning for the trip. But Susan and I got on the redeye from Newark on July 10, and we landed in Madrid the next day on time.

July 11, 2024

Things were off to a good start; the first leg of travel got us to Madrid without issue. But the red-eye and the jetlag hit me hard, and I started the trip exhausted.

We hopped a cab from the airport, and I noticed right away that the terrain indicated we were going to be in a warmer climate. There was also a lot of graffiti on the highway. I noticed the same thing when we got to Paris, I guess it is a European thing.

We made it to Hotel Francisco I and Susan had to stop to do some work. She was under an unfortunately timed work deadline for most of the vacation, so she had to do a few hours of work every day. I went for a walk nearby to keep busy until she was done.

I was not sure what I was looking at, but realized right away that I was in an historic section of town. It was a neighborhood that was clearly much older than anywhere I have been in America. My phone told me that I was in a town square called Plaza Mayor.

I was hungry so I sat down and ordered my favorite Spanish delicacy, Jamón Ibérico.

Susan told me she was ready to go so we met up and walked around the area together. We were in an interesting neighborhood that was a seemingly endless maze of old buildings with cool shops and restaurants. We would enjoy walking around town for the rest of our stay.

We headed out to our first planned destination, Museo Nacional del Prado. Prado is an historic art museum in Madrid known for its European art. It features 48 pieces by Diego Velázquez.

I got yelled at for trying to take pictures (there did not appear to be a sign saying it was not allowed). I thought that the collections were interesting, especially given how old some of them were. The overwhelming majority of them were inspired by religion.

We went to dinner at Vi Cool and finished the night with drinks at a bar in the basement of Caluana. The food was underwhelming at the restaurant, and the neighborhood seemed to close early. That was fine with me, I was wiped out by then and wanted to get to bed to get into the time zone.

July 12, 2024

Today was going to be a big day! Susan had to work in the morning, so I walked to the Metallica pop-up store. I only bought four T-shirts this time. I returned to the hotel, and we walked to Plaza Mayor for lunch. We ordered paella for the first time on the trip.

We walked to Real Jardín Botánico (a botanical garden) and went inside for a visit. I think we were there a little late in the season because not much was in bloom. I was jealous of their vegetable garden; they are better at growing tomatoes than I am. They had some good-looking grape vines and fig trees, too.

I think this guy was a king or something

Everything we did that day was nice, but it was time for the big event. We hopped on the Metro, asked for directions, and headed towards Estadio Cívitas Metropolitano for the first of two Metallica concerts of the weekend!

The first order of business was for me to figure out how to pick up our Snake Pit passes. The instructions I got in Spanish were not very helpful even after I translated them to English. But after walking back and forth and asking for help outside the stadium, I found the window that had our magic wristbands, and we went inside.

The soccer stadium in Madrid that would be Metallica’s home for the weekend

The setup was huge, but we were going to be in the middle of the stage!

We descended the stairs from the first level and headed to the Snake Pit entrance. I dreamed about that moment ever since I bought the tickets in November 2022. We flashed our wristbands, and they waved us in.

I didn’t know what to do with myself once I got inside. This was going to be much different than jockeying for position at a regular general admission concert. Instead of just trying to get as close to the stage as possible, we were going to be literally surrounded by Metallica inside a donut-shaped stage. I noticed that one of the lower portions of the stage to my left was not terribly crowded and we walked up to it.

The Architects had just started playing when we walked in. They are a boring and uninspiring band and trudged their way through a desultory set. At least we were able to conserve energy for Metallica.

The wait in between sets seemed to last a lifetime. But when “It’s a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock ‘N’ Roll)” blasted throughout the stadium, I was fired up! Metallica hit the stage and Lars Ulrich counted off the first song. Before he was even done, I recognized it and shouted, “Creeping Death!”. It was on!

Lars was playing drums to our right. Before I knew it, James Hetfield was singing and playing guitar right in front of us! I was so close that I could look right up his nostrils!

Robert Trujillo and Kirk Hammett crossed in front of us with regularity. We were literally surrounded by Metallica. The third song of the night was the deep cut “Cyanide” that I had not seen live in years. I could barely keep up with everything happening around me. After “King Nothing” finished they switched to the second drum kit, this time to our left.

This was the point in the show that required some decision making based on our prior M72 World Tour experience. There were always four drum kits used throughout the show, each one placed about 90 degrees apart from the other and popped up in a counterclockwise direction. The band tended to stick to the drumkit, and we wanted to be as close to them as possible.

I was a bit reticent as to what to do. Should we stick to our spot close to the stage and wait for them to wander close to us? Or should we follow the drums? Susan told me that I needed to man-up and take the risk of losing our spot so we could follow the drums. I needed that bit of encouragement.

While “Shadows Follow” was playing, we walked through the crowd and found a spot near where we thought the drum kit would pop up. The crowd let us through because they were looking in the other direction towards James and Lars.

This turned out to be a fortuitous decision. We were standing right by the inside of the wall where the third drum kit popped out. The band ripped into the instrumental “Orion”, and we were right there to watch all four of them jam! We were so close that Lars’ drums overpowered the sound from the main PA system.

I don’t recall ever being this close to the whole band

The rest of the show was pure pleasure. We made the move to the fourth drum kit with four songs to go. The band blasted through “Battery”, “Fuel”, “Seek and Destroy”, and “Master of Puppets” to finish the night off. I was amazed and spent. This was one of the best Metallica experiences of my life.

Susan was right, we needed to get close to Lars!

July 13, 2024

I felt like I was still on a high from the amazing Metallica show from the previous night. The weather was beautiful, so I wanted to get out and play tourist for the day. Susan found a highly rated brunch spot called EatMyTrip so we stopped there for something to eat.

We went for a somewhat aimless walk to see what we could find. We wandered into the Real Basilica de San Francisco el Grande. As the name would imply, it was a big old church. It was almost a combination of an art museum and a church with hallways lined with old paintings.

Long, painting-lined hallway at the church

One of the many ornate paintings in the church

We concluded that we had seen enough ancient religious art for the trip, so we moved on. Susan read about the Museo de San Isidro, so we made that our next stop. It was a cool museum, and we learned a lot about the history of Madrid.

Apparently, Madrid is an archeologically significant city and fossils found there told the story of the evolution of many species, including humans. The museum had a timeline of Madrid’s history from the neanderthals to the beginnings of society, to the current day.

There were no “good old days” in Madrid. Throughout its history, there were bloody religious conflicts, invasions by rival empires, and civil wars. I was amazed that the city was still standing after reading all about it.

We then walked to the nearby Mercado del la Cebada; a two-floor space filled with an eclectic mix of shops. The produce looked so good that I bought myself an heirloom tomato to eat later. We sampled some tapas there, too.

After all of that exploring, it was time to find a rooftop bar for a few afternoon cocktails. Instagram randomly suggested that I visit El Cielo de Chicote at the top of Hotel Montera Madrid, so off we went.

The bar had a good vibe, great views, and even better drinks. We weren’t in many tall buildings in Madrid, it was neat to see what the city looks like from on high. We stayed for a few drinks before heading back to the hotel to get gussied up for the evening.

Susan wanted to see a traditional flamenco show while we were in Spain, so she got us tickets for the Saturday show at Teatro Flamenco Madrid. We arrived at the theater just as the show was about to start.

The performers were three dancers (two female, one male), a guitar player, and two male singers. The show was a unique combination of song, percussion, and dance. The three dancers worked in tandem, and each took a solo. They were all very athletic and very expressive. The singers kept the beat by clapping and stomping their feet. The guitar player was no James Hetfield, but he did a serviceable job.

This was quite the departure from Metallica the previous night, but I thought it was a great cultural experience. It felt like there was a lot of history behind the style of flamenco, and there was a lot of effort put into the show itself.

We capped off the day with dinner at ZARA and a few drinks at a nearby bar. It felt like we checked a lot of the tourist boxes off, and I slept like a rock when we called it a night.

July 14, 2024

Since I was not going to rent a Harley for this stop on the M72 World Tour, I decided we should do a bike tour of Madrid because that’s like the next best thing. Susan is an avid bicyclist, so she was a willing participant.

The tour guide was very knowledgeable, and the tour moved very quickly. I would be hard pressed to remember every detail of what he told us. He explained a lot about the history of the area that we had walked through during our stay.

We rode through En Retiro Park and my biggest takeaway was the statue of the archangel that was exactly 666 meters above sea level. What a perfect landmark to see during the day before we were going to see Metallica.

A statue of Satan exactly 666 meters above sea level

He took us through town, and we made a stop at the Royal Palace of Madrid where we stopped for a few pictures and a quick history lesson of the opulence of the Spanish Monarchy.

He took us through Plaza Mayor and told us that it was a black market used by merchants to dodge taxes until the king found out what was going on. They also used it for public executions which the locals found entertaining. Things were certainly different in those days.

The bike trip wrapped up and we needed something to eat so we wen to the Mercado de San Miguel. This place was very cool, it had an array of tapas selections. We sampled a bite at several tapas stands and that was good enough for lunch.

We went back to the hotel to relax a bit before it was time to head back to the stadium for our second Metallica concert from Snake Pit. We knew the metro lines to take this time so getting there was a breeze.

The walk into the Snake Pit was another surreal experience. I still could not believe I got so lucky when buying tickets. We started off in the same spot we were in at the previous show. Five Finger Death Punch took the stage. They are the most okay opening band Metallica used on the tour. They certainly were livelier than The Architects.

The crowd looked like it was a bit thinner than it was on Friday. I attributed that to the fact that Spain was scheduled to play England in the Euro Cup finals at the same time Metallica would take the stage. I guess Metallica’s management did not take that possibility into consideration when they planned the tour in 2022.

As usual, I was impatient for Metallica to come on and I could not stand still. AC/DC hit the speakers after what seemed like forever, and I was ready to go again. The band took the stage and Lars pounded on the drums for the unmistakable intro to “Whiplash”. The crowd went berserk, and James had all of us in the palm of his hand when he started singing. The band segued quickly into “For Whom the Bell Tolls” and kept the fierce energy in the stadium at fever pitch.

We decided to use the same strategy from Friday night. One song before the third drumkit was going to emerge, we found a spot near where it was going to pop up. Just like on Friday, we got right underneath the band for their instrumental number. This time it was “The Call of Ktulu”. We stayed until halfway through “Inamorata” and got as close to the fourth drumkit as we could get.

Right behind The Greatest Drummer of All Time

The best way to experience Metallica is from very close!

The finish was very strong with a deep cut of “Fight Fire With Fire” and dazzling pyrotechnics during “Moth Into Flame”.

The crowd randomly started cheering during “One”. I looked at my phone to see that Spain had just scored the go-ahead goal against England in stoppage time. They were going to win the Euro Cup.

Finally, the beach balls dropped from the lighting towers and the Metallica finished the night off with “Enter Sandman”.

It was tough for me to accept that it was over. I had these Snake Pit tickets for a year and a half. They were going to be my only shows on the M72 World Tour from within the stage, so I was looking forward to Madrid the most out of any cities I visited.

But we still had plenty of vacation ahead of us. We took the cramped Metro back to our hotel so we could get up early and catch our flight to Ibiza.

July 15, 2024

We had an early flight to Ibiza. We got to the hotel lobby and asked for a cab before the sun came up. People were still celebrating the Spanish Euro Cup win in the streets. I slept through the entire flight.

We checked into our hotel and Susan overheard an American couple say that they were there to see David Guetta perform that day. She looked it up and saw that he was playing at a club called Ushuaïa, and Afrojack was one of the opening acts. I figured that since I had brought her to seven Metallica concerts in the last year, the least I could do was let her pick our next line of entertainment. Suddenly, we had a plan for the evening.

Our hotel was right on the beach, and it had a pool with a nice view. After all the rushing around in Madrid, this was a nice change of pace.

After a relaxing poolside afternoon, we got dressed for the evening and went to Ushuaïa. The openers went on at five, so we arrived early to check out the club. It was a spread-out outdoor venue with a pool in the middle. We walked around a bit, bought some insanely expensive drinks, and found a spot in front of the guardrail in time to get a good view of Afrojack.

The crowd started to get thicker by the stage, so we dipped out towards the back to get some space. David Guetta hit the stage, so we decided to walk back to our original spot. It was much harder to get there this time now that the crowd was at capacity, so we had to utilize our Metallica Snake Pit skills to force our way to a good spot.

The venue is very close to the airport at Ibiza and planes buzzed the stage all night. The crowd would cheer for each one as if they were part of the show.

I’ll hand it to these DJ’s. They put on an elaborate show. Dance music is not my cup of tea, but they incorporated plenty of pyrotechnics, on-stage dancers, and even an aerialist suspended by helium balloons into the show.

David Guetta is somewhere behind all those flames

An aerialist suspended by helium balloons

This show was a big departure from Metallica the previous evening, but we still had a lot of fun. We had a few drinks and grabbed some fast food in the area and called it a night.

July 16, 2024

Once again, we were in search of relaxation in Ibiza, so we headed south to Experimental Beach. It was a restaurant on the beach outside of town. We grabbed a few day beds and ordered some cocktails. The view was nice, but the beach was full of rocks so getting in and out of the water was an ordeal.

Susan translated that sign for me: “Don’t fall ass-first down the cliff”

We stayed for lunch and through the afternoon before returning to the hotel to change for the evening. This time we went north for dinner at The Standard Ibiza. I spent a lot of time at The Standard High Line in Manhattan, so it was cool to visit one in another country.

The Standard is in a lively section of town near a port. There were a lot of restaurants, bars, and shops nearby. We walked through it before and after dinner.

The view from the top of The Standard Hotel

We had a big day planned for the next day so we decided against an all-night clubbing trip so we could get up and go hard the next morning.

July 17, 2024

We wanted to get on the water while we were in town, so we decided to rent jet skis and go on an hour-long tour. The rental company was a short walk from our hotel, and they took us out right away.

The first two times I rented a jet ski, I struggled to control them. I assumed either I was unlucky with faulty equipment, or that I had picked up some habits from the motorcycle that made it difficult for me to operate a jet ski.

Our guide was in a boat ahead of us. He instructed us to sail in a straight line and to follow him. He took off full throttle and we followed behind him. Much to my delight, I was able to control the jet ski this time and had no issues following him. I guess it wasn’t my fault the first two times.

The ride was wild, our guide never slowed down the whole time, and the waves were very choppy. I used my newly found confidence to keep pace. It was a fast and rough ride, and I really enjoyed it. If I wasn’t going to rent a Harley on this Metallica trip, a jet ski would have to do.

We walked along the beach and found a restaurant that had day beds for rent. We passed the time there on the beach, ordering cocktails, swimming in the sea, and keeping a close eye on the bag that our passports were in.

After a beautiful day on the Mediterranean Sea, we headed to dinner in the same neighborhood as The Standard. While we waited for our table, we bought tickets for Hï Ibiza. According to multiple sources, Hï Ibiza is the best club in the world.

Best dressed guy at the Best Club in the World

Hï opened at 11:30 and we arrived around that time to familiarize ourselves with the venue. There was one main room, and a few others with different DJ’s playing. We hung out in the smaller rooms at first, and then went into the main room to watch Fisher play at about 2 AM. The crowd at Hï packed the main room like a can of sardines. We barely made it inside, but we were fine standing towards the back.

Partying like we did in Ibiza was a very cool experience. Susan and I enjoy the nightlife near home in New York City and the Jersey Shore. The scene in Ibiza is next level. These people party all day and all night all over the city.

We had to call it at 4 AM and couldn’t stay until they closed at 6 AM, we had a flight to catch back to Madrid the next day.

July 18, 2024

On the flight back, Susan was seated next to some dude wearing a Red Sox jersey and a Yankees hat without a hint of irony. That was going to be my last impression of the Ibiza crowd.

We returned to Madrid completely exhausted. Susan had her mother fly in and the two of them were going to stay in Spain while I returned to New Jersey the next day.

We went to Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía. This museum was much more modern than the rest we had seen in Madrid. Instead of ancient religious art, this museum had works by Picasso and Dali. My favorite was the Dali’s Face of the Great Masturbator.

Dali’s “Great Masturbator”. That’s what I call art.

When we were done at the Museum, we checked with a local tourism guide and realized that we had done eight of the top ten things to do in Madrid. All three of us were exhausted from our various travels so we settled in for one final meal in Madrid before turning in for the evening.

July 19, 2024

I headed back to the airport by myself for my flight back to New Jersey. I had plans for dinner at the Jersey Shore with friends that evening. When I was waiting on the passport control line, I saw an alert on my phone that all United flights globally were grounded. There was a problem with Windows computers all over the world because of an issue with Crowdstrike software. It caused my flight to have a four-hour delay taking off. I was going to miss dinner at the Jersey Shore!

I was completely spent at the end of this trip. Madrid was not a city I likely would have visited if it was not for Metallica. But I immersed myself in its culture, history, nightlife, and cuisine. I felt like I used every day to its fullest. Not only did I have one of the best Metallica experiences of my life from the Snake Pit (twice!) but Spain far exceeded my expectations. I am going to need to return in the not-too-distant future.

In the meantime, I had one more city to visit on the M72 World Tour. In two weeks, I was going to make the trip to Boston to see them in Foxborough, MA.

My M72 World Tour Itinerary

	Show #	Date	Venue	City
Complete	1	5/17/2023	Stade de France	Saint-Denis, France
	2	5/19/2023	Stade de France	Saint-Denis, France
	3	8/4/2023	MetLife Stadium	East Rutherford, NJ
	4	8/6/2023	MetLife Stadium	East Rutherford, NJ
	5	8/11/2023	Stade Olympique	Montreal, Quebec, Canada
	6	8/13/2023	Stade Olympique	Montreal, Quebec, Canada
	7	9/1/2023	State Farm Stadium	Glendale, AZ
	8	7/12/2024	Estadio Cívitas Metropolitano	Madrid, Spain
	9	7/14/2024	Estadio Cívitas Metropolitano	Madrid, Spain
Upcoming	10	8/2/2024	Gilette Stadium	Foxborough, MA
Upcoming	11	8/4/2024	Gilette Stadium	Foxborough, MA

My lifetime Metallica concert history

Show #	ShowDate	VenueDescription	City	Tour/Event
1	4/8/1992	Brendan Byrne Arena	East Rutherford, NJ	Wherever We May Roam
2	7/17/1998	Giants Stadium	East Rutherford, NJ	Poor Retouring Me
3	11/24/1998	Roseland Ballroom	New York, NY	Garage Barrage
4	11/23/1999	Madison Square Garden	New York, NY	S&M
5	7/20/2000	Giants Stadium	East Rutherford, NJ	Summer Sanitarium
6	7/8/2003	Giants Stadium	East Rutherford, NJ	Summer Sanitarium 2003
7	4/20/2004	Nassau Coliseum	Uniondale, NY	Madly In Anger With The World
8	10/22/2004	Continental Airlines Arena	East Rutherford, NJ	Madly In Anger With The World
9	1/17/2009	Wachovia Center	Philadelphia, PA	World Magnetic
10	1/31/2009	Prudential Center	Newark, NJ	World Magnetic
11	2/1/2009	Prudential Center	Newark, NJ	World Magnetic
12	11/14/2009	Madison Square Garden	New York, NY	World Magnetic
13	11/15/2009	Madison Square Garden	New York, NY	World Magnetic
14	9/14/2011	Yankee Stadium	New York, NY	The Big 4
15	6/23/2012	Bader Field	Atlantic City, NJ	Orion Music + More
16	6/24/2012	Bader Field	Atlantic City, NJ	Orion Music + More
17	5/12/2017	Lincoln Financial Field	Philadelphia, PA	Worldwired
18	5/14/2017	MetLife Stadium	East Rutherford, NJ	Worldwired
19	5/17/2017	The New Coliseum Presented by NYCV	Uniondale, NY	Worldwired
20	7/19/2017	Parc Jean-Drapeau	Montreal, QC	Worldwired
21	10/20/2018	Bryce Jordan Center	State College, PA	Worldwired
22	10/25/2018	Wells Fargo Center	Philadelphia, PA	Worldwired
23	9/6/2019	Chase Center	San Francisco, CA	S&M2
24	9/24/2021	Highland Festival Grounds at KY Expo Center	Louisville, KY	Louder Than Life
25	9/25/2021	Highland Festival Grounds at KY Expo Center	Louisville, KY	Louder Than Life
26	5/29/2022	Harvard Athletic Complex	Boston, MA	Boston Calling
27	8/11/2022	Highmark Stadium	Buffalo, NY	(none)
28	5/17/2023	Stade de France	Saint-Dennis, FR	M72 World Tour
29	5/19/2023	Stade de France	Saint-Dennis, FR	M72 World Tour
30	8/4/2023	MetLife Stadium	East Rutherford, NJ	M72 World Tour
31	8/6/2023	MetLife Stadium	East Rutherford, NJ	M72 World Tour
32	8/11/2023	Stade Olympique	Montreal, QC	M72 World Tour
33	8/13/2023	Stade Olympique	Montreal, QC	M72 World Tour
34	9/1/2023	State Farm Stadium	Glendale, AZ	M72 World Tour
35	7/12/2024	Estadio Cívitas Metropolitano	Madrid, ES	M72 World Tour
36	7/14/2024	Estadio Cívitas Metropolitano	Madrid, ES	M72 World Tour

Link to YouTube playlist of all official Metallica concert videos I have been present for.

Metallica songs I have seen performed on the M72 World Tour

Song	Times Seen
Creeping Death	5
Fuel	5
Harvester Of Sorrow	5
Lux Æterna	5
Nothing Else Matters	5
Orion	5
Sad But True	5
Seek and Destroy	5
72 Seasons	4
Battery	4
Enter Sandman	4
Fade To Black	4
For Whom The Bell Tolls	4
If Darkness Had A Son	4
King Nothing	4
Master of Puppets	4
Moth Into Flame	4
One	4
Ride The Lightning	4
Shadows Follow	4
The Call of Ktulu	4
The Day That Never Comes	4
Too Far Gone?	4
Welcome Home (Sanitarium)	4
Wherever I May Roam	4
Holier Than Thou	3
The Unforgiven	3
Whiplash	3
Whiskey In The Jar	3
You Must Burn!	3
Blackened	2
Cyanide	2
Hardwired	2
The Memory Remains	2
Dirty Window	1
Fight Fire With Fire	1
I Disappear	1
Inamorata	1
Leper Messiah	1
No Leaf Clover	1
Screaming Suicide	1
Sleepwalk My Life Away	1
Until It Sleeps	1
Unique:	43
Total:	140

All Metallica songs I have seen performed live

Song	Times Seen
Nothing Else Matters	30
Enter Sandman	29
One	29
Sad But True	29
Master of Puppets	28
Seek and Destroy	26
For Whom The Bell Tolls	23
Creeping Death	21
Fade To Black	19
Fuel	17
Wherever I May Roam	15
Battery	14
Blackened	13
Moth Into Flame	13
Ride The Lightning	12
The Unforgiven	12
Harvester Of Sorrow	11
The Day That Never Comes	11
Welcome Home (Sanitarium)	11
Whiplash	11
The Memory Remains	10
Hardwired	9
Holier Than Thou	9
Cyanide	8
Fight Fire With Fire	7
King Nothing	7
Now That We’re Dead	7
The Call of Ktulu	7
Whiskey In The Jar	7
Atlas, Rise!	6
No Leaf Clover	6
Orion	6
The Four Horsemen	6
All Nightmare Long	5
Broken, Beat And Scarred	5
Halo On Fire	5
Lux Æterna	5
Of Wolf and Man	5
That Was Just Your Life	5
The End Of The Line	5
72 Seasons	4
Breadfan	4
Hit The Lights	4
If Darkness Had A Son	4
Last Caress	4
Shadows Follow	4
Too Far Gone?	4
I Disappear	3
St. Anger	3
The God That Failed	3
Through the Never	3
Turn The Page	3
Until It Sleeps	3
You Must Burn!	3
Am I Evil?	2
Bleeding Me	2
Blitzkrieg	2
Die, Die My Darling	2
Dirty Window	2
Don’t Tread On Me	2
Frantic	2
Last Caress/Green Hell	2
Motorbreath	2
My Friend Of Misery	2
Overkill	2
The Outlaw Torn	2
The Shortest Straw	2
The Struggle Within	2
The Thing That Should Not Be	2
Trapped Under Ice	2
– Human	1
(Anesthesia) – Pulling Teeth	1
…And Justice For All	1
All Within My Hands	1
Confusion	1
Damage Inc.	1
Devil’s Dance	1
Disposable Heroes	1
Dyers Eve	1
Escape	1
Hell And Back	1
Helpless	1
Hero of the Day	1
Inamorata	1
Iron Foundry	1
Jump In The Fire	1
Justice Medley	1
Killing Time	1
Last Caress/So What/Die, Die My Darling	1
Leper Messiah	1
Low Man’s Lyric	1
Mastertarium	1
Mercyful Fate	1
Metal Militia	1
My Apocalypse	1
No Remorse	1
Phantom Lord	1
Sabbra Cadabra	1
Screaming Suicide	1
Sleepwalk My Life Away	1
Small Hours	1
So What	1
Spit Out The Bone	1
Stone Cold Crazy	1
The Ecstasy of Gold	1
The Judas Kiss	1
The Prince	1
The Unforgiven III	1
The Wait	1
Unique:	109
Total:	624

Filed Under: Metallica Tagged With: Ibiza, James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett, Lars Ulrich, M72 World Tour, M72Madrid, Madrid, Metallica, Robert Trujillo, Spain, Travel

Exhibit A – Catching an MLB Baseball

Exhibit B – Always believing in your team.

Exhibit C – Don’t anger the sports gods

June 13, 2025

June 14, 2025

My M72 Would Tour Itinerary

My lifetime Metallica concert history

Metallica songs I have seen performed on the M72 World Tour

All Metallica songs I have seen performed live

May 23, 2025

May 24, 2025

May 25, 2025

Losers

Winners

WrestleMania Saturday

WrestleMania Sunday

#10: Triple H Breaks up D-Generation X at WrestleMania XV

#9: Bret Hart and Stone Cold Steve Austin double-turn at WrestleMania 13

#8: Roman Reigns returns to the WWE at SummerSlam 2020

#7: Steve Austin makes a deal with the devil at WrestleMania X-Seven

#6: Seth Rollins turns on The Shield: There’s always a plan B

#5: Shawn Michaels attacks Marty Jannetty on The Barber Shop

#4: Andre the Giant challenges Hulk Hogan for the WWF Championship

#3: Vince McMahon: Bret Screwed Bret

#2: John Cena turns on Cody Rhodes

#1: Hulk Hogan joins The Outsiders to form the nWo

August 1, 2024

August 2, 2024

August 3, 2024

August 4, 2024

August 5, 2024

Epilogue

July 11, 2024

July 12, 2024

July 13, 2024

July 14, 2024

July 15, 2024

July 16, 2024

July 17, 2024

July 18, 2024

July 19, 2024

WrestleMania 42