ACIDICA's Site: September 2024

Thursday, September 19, 2024

September 19th

On September 19th, 2005 I had front row seats for Robert Plant at Rexall Place in Edmonton. Plant was on tour for his album Mighty ReArranger. Opening the show was Nova Scotia band The Trews.

Wednesday, September 18, 2024

Monday, September 16, 2024

Sunday, September 15, 2024

On September 15th, 2022 I saw the Joel Plaskett Emergency in concert at the Starlite Room in Edmonton. This show was originally booked for the Myer Horowitz Theatre but was moved to the Starlite because of renovations.

Metallica Live in Edmonton August 25th 2024

So after a day of rest after the first night of the Metallica No Repeat Weekend, it was time for night two of Metallica at Commonwealth Stadium. Thank goodness for the day between, as an older guy I need a rest nowadays. And the weather was awful on Saturday. Man did we luck out with the weather for the two shows in Edmonton.

When Nazz and I finally got tickets for the pair of weekend shows, we had said we need to find a way to get Snake Pit Passes for one of the shows. Well, as luck would have it! On Thursday when i took the day off from work to do the pop up Metallica store thing, I got home from my adventure and was checking my emails, as I had entered 4 contests though the Metallica website, being a fifth member of the Metallica club, ya that's what they call you when you sign up for their newsletter. The four contetss were for a meet and greet with the band and a chance to win Snake Pit Passes for the two Edmonton shows. Well after three emails back from Metallica saying I was not a winner, imagine my surprise when on the last email I got this...

Holy fuck! I had won Snake Pit Passes for the Sunday show. To say I was excited would be an understatement. I was like a little kid on Christmas morning. I instantly texted my buddy and told him we had pulled it off, we were going to be in the Snake Pit for the Sunday show. Mission accomplished! If you don't know what Snake Pit Passes are, well, they are seats (ok not seats as there are none) but you are in the middle of the stage for the concert. That's as close as you are going to get to see Metallica and the opening acts.

The day of the show was another beautiful day for an outdoor show with it being in the high 20's Celsius. Nazz and I headed to the show early as we had to go to will call to pick up our passes and we wanted to make sure we didn't miss the openers and wanted to get familiar with the pit and such. Had no issues getting our passes or getting into the venue. And gave us lots of time for drinks and a get a feeling for the pit.

One of the first things we noticed outside the venue were people in the line up wearing weird make up, like zombie make up or something. Ok that's different, must have something to do with one of the opening acts. And we were right, I guess people dress up for the first act of the day, a band called Ice Nine Kills.

By the time the first band came on, which was Ice Nine Kills, there was a good crowd in the stadium already. Not as many as Friday night, but still a good crowd. I knew nothing about this band, had heard the name before but had never heard the music or anything (and for good reason). Ice Nine Kills is a metal band from Boston who's lyrics are horror inspired. Hence the zombie make up worn by their fans. Well this might be interesting, so we headed down to the snake pit to catch the openers. The first thing you will notice with this band was the theatrics, lead singer in a mask and a couple of guys running around the stage with fake chainsaws. Lots of cheap theatrics, chainsaws and a dummy that they cut the head off, with the lead singer walking around the stage with said cutoff head, it was all really kind of stupid and the theatrics really weren't very good. And the music, well let's just say it wasn't inspiring or very good. Didn't care for them, thankfully their set was only about a half hour or so.

Ice Nine Kills.

Next up was the Las Vegas band Five Finger Death Punch. Another band I knew little about, and again for good reason. Nazz and I both thought very little of this band and went for a smoke and get some beers. Those fans that did like them surely enjoyed themselves, but not for us. Just felt like very boring modern metal, Blah!

Five Finger Death Punch.

After seeing a bit of the two opening bands, it was now time for the mighty Metallica from the Snake Pit. This would be my 11th time seeing Metallica in concert and second time being in the Snake Pit. The first time being in 1992 at the Saddledome in Calgary. This time it was on a much bigger scale. Some cool to go from the upper deck at Commonwealth Stadium to being in the middle of the stage for Metallica. Nazz and I were some stoked to be so lucky as to witness these two shows from very different perspectives.

Again, by the time Metallica hit the stage the stadium was packed with 55-60,000 metal heads ready to lose their shit. And with the band opening with "Whiplash" from their debut album Kill em' All the crowd were thrashing all around and acting like maniacs. What an awesome opening song and so fucking cool to be that close to the band witnessing them ripping it up. The sound was awesome in the Snake Pit, as it was Friday night in the upper deck. Metallica know what the hell they are doing that's for sure. After the opening song they played two songs from their second album, starting with "For Whom The Bell Tolls" and then into the title song "Ride The Lightning". Just like night one, the first three songs kicked ass. Then came the lull of three songs one from Load "Until It Sleeps" and then a couple from their latest album 72 Seasons. Again the new stuff sounds good live and people were digging it.

Then bassist Rob Trujillo and guitarist Kirk Hammett did their little jam thing, this time playing some of the Rush song "Working Man" which really wasn't very good. After that it was back into the good shit with "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)" followed by "Wherever I May Roam", the band was sounding great with James Hetfield belting it out and Lars Ulrich on drums playing super well. I don't understand why Lars sometimes gets a bad rap as a drummer, but watching him up close, like we were, he was fucking awesome! Like night one, Metallica did another instrumental, this time from the Ride The Lightning album "The Call of Ktulu" dedicated to Cliff Burton. I love that Metallica still honour Cliff, and you can just tell from when James says "dedicated to Cliff" that this band really miss the man. Long live Cliff Burton!

After that it was the song I was really dreading, and with the band not playing it Friday night, I just knew they had to play in tonight, ughhhh "The Unforgiven", ok good time to take a piss, have a smoke and grab a beer. Now I was ready for the last third of the show. A few songs into the last third was "Fight Fire With Fire", yet another from Ride The Lightning, anyone keeping score, this was the fourth song from that album, which was fine by me. Closing out the show with "One" and "Enter Sandman", no encores either night. With Metallica playing in the round, it was awesome to see how the whole band can command the stage and know how to work it, spending equal time on each part of the stage and playing not only to the huge crowd in the stands but also playing to us in the Snake Pit. Metallica know what the hell they are doing, no backing tracks, actually playing live with mistakes and all.

At the end of the show the band walk around the stage throwing out cups full of guitar picks and thanking the audience. While, I'm a little slow and don't have the reflexes I used to, I didn't catch any picks. My buddy Nazz caught a few from Kirk Hammett, some actual used picks that Kirk had played with, in which he was nice enough to give me one. Thanks Nazz! But not only that, a younger kid beside me at the show asked me if I had got a pick. He had probably seen how slow and feeble I was at getting a pick. But this kid out of the kindness of his heart he gave me a Robert Trujillo bass pick. Whoever you were, thanks so much!

What an amazing weekend with my buddy Nazz and Metallica. Good fucking times!!!

Pics from The Pit.