Metallica
In 1988 I was newly single and discovering glam rock and hair metal. I left country behind and fully embraced the genre. I had always loved “classic rock” but this was new to me at the time. Guns and Roses was my favorite but I loved Poison, Skid Row, Bon Jovi, Extreme but I did not like Metallica, Slayer and the heavier bands…..at first. Eventually Metallica grew on me. By the mid 90’s I was listening to all types of music again including Metallica. Skip ahead to now and Metallica is one of my favorites.
When my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer in early Spring 2022, I was on the road back and fourth to Columbus and music got me through it, this time instead of Bob Dylan I needed heavy music to keep my mind still (oxymoron, I know). I put on Amazon music and picked Savatage as my “station” and through this I discovered Accept, Diamond Head and others. The harder the drums and guitar the better! Seems the older I get the harder my music taste gets.
Metallica released a new album, 72 Seasons in 2023 with the release they had a film event. 72 Seasons Global Premiere April 13, 2023. Rob and I went to see it and I loved it! Every single song was great, we went right out and bought the CD and it is my favorite of theirs, If Darkness Had a Son is my very favorite Metallica song! I also love that the album cover is yellow and black, my two favorite colors.
They went on tour for the new album and didn’t have any dates that were close to us, the closest was in Arlington Texas and we just couldn’t swing it at the time, I really wanted to go! They did a live stream in theaters of that concert (two nights, two completely different sets) and we went to both, the theatre didn’t have it loud enough but that didn’t stop the headbanging from happening!
When they announced more dates in 2025 I was determined to find a venue and go! This time they were all around us, Atlanta, Nashville and Tampa were the closest. We picked Tampa, the Atlanta stop was only one night and Tampa was closer than Nashville. I got premium tickets to both nights back in September 2024 for June 2025, that was a long wait!
Finally it’s June 2025, we packed up the kids (our dogs, Rocky and Raven) and headed south. We stayed in a casita at the Grand Hyatt Tampa, it was the perfect choice for us. I love that Hyatt Hotels are so dog friendly, they had great areas to walk them and the casita was perfect as it it was easy access to the car and to the walk areas and I felt better about leaving them there in their crates as opposed to a normal hotel room where they would hear people in the halls. I didn’t want to stress them out any more that necessary. They stayed with us as much as possible, only leaving them for the concert/events and when we went to dinner on Thursday and Saturday.
The concerts were on Friday and Sunday. We got there Thursday late afternoon and got checked in and settled. We set the kids up in their crates so we could go grab dinner. We found a place close by, World of Beer, typical bar fare and full bar, we each had a cocktail and I had a flat bread and Rob had a Chicken sandwich, both were good, the cocktails were really good! We went back to the hotel and walked the grounds with the kids.
Friday was concert day, we got an email with concert info and I had known about a pop up shop for tour t-shirts and merch. So we got up and had breakfast at the hotel (meh) and then took the kids to Ybor City to go to the pop up, we found that we would have to park a little way from the shop and the line to get in was very long so we couldn’t leave the kids in the car, so I got in line and Rob took them back to the hotel. While in line there were chickens (or maybe roosters) in the street! They started chasing each other making a bunch of noise! It was a weird thing to see in a big city street. Rob made it back just as I was getting up to the door, so perfect timing. We were able to get in, Rob got a limited edition shirt ( I wanted the same one but decided to wait to get one from the venue) The lady working the shop said that the one at the venue was the same but had a different back, she lied or didn’t know what she was talking about because the ones at the concert were totally different! I did get a cool shirt but I really wanted one like Rob got. We left and went back to the room to hang out with the kids until time to go to the concert.
The traffic around Tampa is crazy, not the cars so much as the way the highways and streets are laid out. It is not obvious on how to get around, thank goodness for Waze and Google Maps! The concert was at Raymond James Stadium (the Tampa Buccaneers' football stadium) The parking entrances were confusing but we figured it out and got a great spot in lot 4 which was the best available for where we were to enter. We got there about 3:15, the gates were to open at 4, so we sat for about 15 minutes and then headed to the gate, our tickets included exclusive yeti rambler tumblers and we had to check in to get them first and then go to the gate to get into the stadium. We were 2nd in line to get checked in so that went well, we got the tumblers and decided to take them back to the jeep. On our way back I was checking my pockets to make sure I had my license and credit card and realized that my DL was missing, so I went back to where we checked in to see if maybe she didn’t give it back to me, she didn’t have it, I checked the info booth to see if it had been turned in, nope! Rob started back toward to the jeep to re trace our steps and thank goodness he found it! The info email that I got said no bags allowed to be brought in, ladies could have a 4” x6” clutch, I don’t even know if they make them that size! I had bought a clear bag that was “stadium approved” but decided to leave it at home after reading the email. I should have used it as I saw several women with similar bags.
We made it through the gate and rushed straight to the merch area. Each night has a limited special addition poster and image for the t-shirts. Their marketing folks are genius! We were able to get a poster and Rob got the shirt, I decided to wait until the next night to get a shirt still hoping for one that looked like the one that Rob got from the pop up shop. I did get a canvas tote bag mainly so I could put the poster and shirt in it. Now that we had our merch, it was time to find our seats and grab something to eat. It was HOT as hell and the humidity was terrible. We looked at our seats (they were awesome!) but the sun was still on them and we decided to go find a drink and food, the food prices were over the top high, I expected high prices but they were stupid high. We each got frozen lemonade (like the ones you get at six flags or other theme parks ) while they hit the spot the two small containers were over $20 after tip! I had the bright idea to add a shot of vodka to them so we headed to the bar and asked for two shots, they gave them to us in a plastic buccaneers’ souvenir cup and we poured them into our frozen lemonades. Well that was a stupid purchase! The shots were $20.00 each, TWENTY DOLLARS each! So we paid $60 for two drinks, live and learn I guess. We then went to get Rob a BBQ sandwich and I got an order of fries, $8.50 for the fires and I don’t even know how much the BBQ was. We took our food and went to the breezeway to our seats and stayed there to eat and cool off before heading to our seats. The concert opening acts were scheduled for 6 and they started right on the dot.
Friday night opening acts were Ice Nine Kills and Limp Bizkit, we had never heard of Ice Nine Kills and Limp Bizkit is not a band that we listen to. INK was more of a novelty act in my opinion, they came out looking like young business guys in black dress pants, white button downs and suspenders. There was a young woman on stage and then the idiocy insued….they had all sorts of horror characters on stage ripping each other apart, zombies, a clown, chainsaws, it was really dumb. No offence if you are a fan, but we did not like it at all! The actual music was ok, but the “singing” and show was just..well not our thing. The best part of Limp Bizkit was they brought a kid on stage, Ezra and they walked him around the stage and he got autographs from the members and the whole thing was cute and funny, the kid was smart!
Finally the sun went down and it was time for Metallica, the main event, the concert that I had been waiting 30 years for, both of our first time seeing them. I was so excited! Music started with AC/DC It’s a Long Way to The Top (If you want to Rock and Roll) then The Ecstasy of Gold as the lights went down and the spots lights were rolling……Our seats were on the best side of the stage, where they entered , so we saw them come out and go up on the stage, my heart was beating and my smile was so big! They came out swinging, first song was Creeping Death and it hit hard! Then it was Harvester of Sorrow, Leper Messiah, King Nothing, 72 Seasons, my favorite If Darkness Had a Son, a jam between Kirk Hammit (guitar) and Robert Trijo (Bass), The Day That Never Comes, Cyanide, Orion, Nothing Else Matters (another fav of mine), Sad But True, Blackend, Fuel (one of Rob’s fav’s and mine too), Seek and Destroy and last was Master of Puppets another fav of mine. As soon as the song was over we headed out to rush back to the kids. They don’t do encores on this tour so we knew we weren’t missing anything and we really wanted to get back to the kids, we both had been stressing about leaving them for long. The concert was as awesome as I had imagined and we were so excited for the Sunday show….I left thinking there is no way they could top this night!
Saturday we got up and went to meet up with an old friend who was in town for the concert as well. She and I shared an office in Venture Out at one time, she was a realtor when I was working for the rental agency. Tia was putting herself through college at the time to get a degree in engineering. She is a full blown working engineer for space! I am so proud of and for her, she is living her best life and she deserves all the good things! It was so good to see her in person and catch up on her incredible life. We hope to plan a trip together soon and maybe see another rock and roll show!
After breakfast we decided to head to clearwater and tarpon springs to check it out, we went to Honeymoon Island State Park and took a short walk with the kids (it was too hot for Raven) we explored all the driving areas and then headed toward Tarpon Springs, we stopped at a 7Eleven to gas up and get slurpees, I had not had a slurpee in years, it was just as I remembered. We just rode through Tarpon Springs, it wasn’t what we expected. Between the crazy roads and heat we decided to go back to the hotel and rest a little while before dinner. We rode back over to Ybor City to walk around go back to the pop up shop to see if they had any of the shirts that I wanted left (they didn’t) and find a place to eat, my anxiety kicked in and I just couldn’t find a place that felt safe to eat at (not as in personal safety, but as in clean, good food) so we left and wound up at a restaurant that I think was a chain and it was not good….oh well. Miller’s Ale house was just ok, I was not impressed but it was close to the hotel and stadium. We went back to the hotel and got the kids and walked to the Hotel lobby and grabbed drinks and sat out on the patio with the kids and relaxed until bed time.
Sunday was the 2nd concert night and the excitement was building again, We got up early, we left the kids in the room and went to find Rob a cinnamon roll but we never did, we wanted to go check out the Hard Rock Casino so went there and walked around to check out all the exhibits. I grabbed an iced latte to sip on while we checked out the shops. I got a t-shirt and Rob got a hat. The latte wound up making me sick and I spent the rest of the afternoon feeling yucky in the casita. We planned on doing the same thing as Friday, leave the Hotel at 3 get there and park in the same parking lot and go in as they opened the gates….best laid plans and all that, right? We got there and they wouldn’t let us in the parking lot, they said it was already sold out, there weren’t any cars there! Apparently people were able to pay ahead of time for this lot, I didn’t know this! So we went to the lot she suggested and found a spot, it was a lot farther from our entrance gate. We walked for what seemed like 3 miles (it wasn’t but damn it was far and HOT). There was a huge crowd at the corner to cross the road so we decided to walk down to cross closer to our gate, bad decision, we wound up having to go down to the next corner which was past the gate and then walk back down to the entrance, making our walk twice as long as it needed to be. We still got to the line to enter before the gates opened, there seemed to be a lot more people on Sunday. We waited longer in line to get in. We rushed straight to the merch booth but they had already sold out of the posters, we divided and went to different booths but they were all sold out. I got the day two t-shirt but I had to get a medium which would have fit but I prefer my t-shirts a little large so I wanted to get a large so we decided to go to the top tier to see if they had any posters and a large shirt, the walk up those stairs (after the LONG walk to get in ) about did us in! It’s a good thing I have been working out and am in better shape than a couple of years ago. Anyway I was able to swap the shirt for a large but still no poster. The view from up there of Tampa and the area was crazy! One of the pictures is of the parking area that we were in.
We didn’t buy any food or drinks this time, we learned our lesson from the first night. We sat on the floor of the breezeway to wait for the sun to go down enough that our seats were shaded (thank goodness we were on the side that we were, the other side of the stadium was in the sun for a lot longer than we were, that would have been brutal)! The breezeway was aptly named, there was a nice breeze that cooled us off. We got to our seats and Rob went and got us waters ($9 each, stupid!) and got ready for Suicidal Tendencies, they were first up and again, not our thing, although I did like their music, just not the singing. Next up was Pantera we both were looking forward to them, We saw them in 1992 opening for Skid Row but not since then and I have wanted to for years. They were awesome! Zakk Wylde was on guitar (he’s a hired gun guitar god) so that was an unexpected bonus! Then it was time for Metallica again, same opening leading up to them taking the stage.
Sunday night set list: Whiplash, For Whom the Bell Tolls ( a fav), Ride the Lightning, The Memory Remains, Luz Aeterna and Screaming Suicide ( new albums, I love both of these!), Rob and Kirk’s jam, Welcome Home, Wherever I May Roam (another fav), The Call if Ktulu, The Unforgiven, Whiskey in the Jar, Battery, Moth Into Flame, One and finally the finally, Enter Sandman, the place erupted and the whole place was throbbing! The whole night was amazing, all the heat and frustration was worth it, my favorite set list was Friday and Rob liked Sunday best, I love that they have two completely different sets. We stayed after they finished to see them say goodnight and pose for the group pic and exit the stage. I would do it all over again in a second! However, I would prefer November if it has to be in Tampa, did I mention that it was HOT? HA
A side note, during the 2nd night there was a small plane with a scrolling sign underneath that kept flying in circles around the stadium, it made me very nervous. In todays political environment and having lived during 9/11 it was very nerve racking and worrisome. Once we realized it was just an advertising plane we felt better but I kept my eye on it. I think a no fly zone over major events should be the norm with all the unrest in the country.
After the show, we rushed back to the car, we stayed with the crowd (that is hard for us, as we usually beat the crowds and go around them) but they had everything fenced off and we were corralled like cattle, it was so stupid, they could have had a much better plan on letting everyone out of there. We got to the Jeep as fast as we could and got out of there and back to the kids.
Monday was travel home day, we took interstates to get home as fast as possible opposed to our trip down which we took the scenic route. We did get off and go to O’Leno State park to take potty breaks and stretch our legs, it was a very nice park, I would like to go back when it’s not so hot and when we have more time, there were several trails that i would love to explore. We made it home in good time and were unpacked a ready for work the next day. Totally exhausted and totally satisfied! I was so proud of the kids, they were so good for the whole trip, they are great traveling companions! It was a great trip and Metallica was exactly how we expected them to be, perfect!! If you are a fan and can make it to a show (or two) DO IT!
