On 30th August 2011, a gentleman called James Hetfield sang "Fortune Fame, Mirror vain, Gone insane..."and then Bangalore erupted and screamed “But the memory remains"
This was a time when the Gods in flesh sweat and blood descended on Bangalore! Metallica - Gods whose music and fan following exude the kind of passion that made people stand in queues for hours and that were at times least 2 kms long!!
This was the night where 30,000 fans landed up at Palace grounds to live an experience they would never forget. Ok - This post is not to state what is known about Metallica, but to tell you why and how far passion can take you. For now I will skip my attempt of trying to put in words the craze for this band and their prowess! Me trying to give words to the passion that the band can exude is an exercise in vain. This time it’s about me and my little journey.
I was in Delhi, for the Metallica concert, waited patiently for hours at leisure valley to listen to 'my' band. Was excited and wanted to see James Hetfield scream and Kirk go bizarre with his solos. But alas, as everyone is aware, Delhi just can't host a concert especially Rock concerts. Delhi deserves guys like Akon, Daler Mehendi, confused NRI identity crisis inflicted rap artists.
So like thousands of others at the grounds, was disappointed, was almost shattered in ways that just can’t be expressed. "You came all the way, spent xyz amounts on air tickets, living expenses to listen to this band". An inexplicable heavy feeling that just swept you. Metallica’s concert was important for me. In fact if I had to draw a list of things I would like to do, amongst the top 10 would be to “Attend a Metallica concert and scream my heart out”. But that didn’t happen. They said that the concert would postpone to Saturday. Some relief, however, late night the news broke of the concert being cancelled. And that’s it, the entire trip seemed purposeless.
So checked what could be done next morning. Had checked for the tickets to Bangalore and maybe I could attend that one. Called up individuals from the admin team and asked how good was it for me to come in such quick time to Bangalore and attend the venue, stuff like where do I stay and how far the venue is. All this just seemed a pain. The thought of travelling for two hours/45 kms from the airport to the nearest hotel and then to the venue and then back to the hotel given that each journey is at least an hour long, ensuring that someone buys the ticket there, really expensive air tickets to bangalore given that it was a day’s notice and then coming back to Mumbai from Bangalore for just a 3 hour concert?? Why all this pain? What’s the point?
But something hit me Saturday evening and I started asking myself – Five years down the line when I am 32, would I look back at life and regret not having attended Metallica’s concert when I had the chance? Would the high ticket price look expensive? Would the pain in ensuring that I travel from one corner of the city to another seem worth it?
This is the band I would always wanna attend, heard their music every day and I won’t be attending it? Would I look back at life and say that I didn’t follow something I was passionate about?
Don’t know what happened – Just thought I better do it now or this will never happen. Lest I regret how great the concert would have been, I gave it a shot. Booked the earliest tickets and never bothered to check the price, got the hotel done, and that’s it – Sunday Morning I was in Bangalore – To live my dream!
Landed up at the venue and that’s it – Metallica came on stage and rocked the venue. No Introduction, no nothing – Straight down to the music and they launched into Creeping death, sang ‘for whom the bells toll’ and then the cult classic ‘Fuel’. This song was accompanied by some good fireworks and man! I enjoyed every moment of it. Song after song was belted in the quintessential Metallica signature style and I loved it. Loved every bit of it!
And more so I was happy not because I enjoyed the concert which I would have as well had the Delhi leg taken off, I was happier that I did something without worrying about the money, the effort and just followed something my heart said was right. I know when I am 35 I might find the over the top passion crazy. But surely I would look back and say - "Thank God I lived like a 27 yr. old and enjoyed the moments deservedly– Thank god my heart won over the head. I will live life happily and say – I followed my Heart and fulfilled a small albeit expensive wish I had. And something which I will look back and never regret! I am happy I did something which I could look back and say – Good, You lived once at least.
So Metallica - Thank you for existing!
