METALLICA ----> Cebu

The majority of this blog post will be dedicated to one of the hoffest bands in the world, METALLICA. I've been a huge fan of theirs since about 2000, have every CD on my Itunes and have very fond memories seeing them live @ Big Day Out 2004; where they came on in the middle of a hectic storm complete with (Ride the) lightning! So understandably I was stoked when I got tickets earlier in the year, and got more and more keen as the date approached, fueled by trip reports from other people I know and coupled with the amazing reviews the shows were getting.

Thursday night rolls around and Casey, Wayne "Malleebull" Dever and I were off to Acer Arena. We sat through the lead up band 'Lamb of God' who were way too heavy for my taste - I ran bad as Fear Factory supported some of the earlier shows, would have been great to see them again. Anyway the stage is set up as a massive rectangle shape, and the whole of Acer Arena is filled with 360 degrees of fans. Then after all the waiting, the arena goes black, 'The Ecstasy of Gold' starts pumping through the speakers, and the crowd goes skitz. The setlist that they played was:

*That Was Just Your Life
*Cyanide
*Creeping Death
*Harvester Of Sorrow
*Fade To Black
*The Memory Remains
*No Remorse
*Sad But True
*No Leaf Clover
*Orion
*One
*Master Of Puppets
*Battery
*Nothing Else Matters
*Enter Sandman
Encore:
*Stone Cold Crazy
(Queen cover)
*Whiplash
*Seek & Destroy

All in all, you couldn't really ask for much more from a show, although I was a touch disappointed they didn't play my favourite song 'Blackened'. Highlights were definetely 'Orion' 'Sad but True' 'Master of Puppets' and 'Whiplash'. It was an Amazing show from an amazing band. The sick thing is they could play a completely different setlist and still leave the crown screaming for more.

Some vids:
Master of Puppets Live (should give you a fair idea of how the stage was set up)


Orion Live


One


In other news, I'm currently in Cebu with the one and only Wennie Shhhhteeel, took a mammoth flight to get here: 9.5 hrs Sydney ---> Hong Kong then 2.5hrs ---> Cebu. Had an awesome time at the players party which was held at the beach with a shitload of food and free beers which I very much indulged in. The following day I busted last level of Day 1, I never got much going all day being pretty card dead, then raise/called pocket Tens for 20ish bbs vs one of the more active players at the table, and lost a big flip to his AQ. Then bustoed shoving 14bbs in the CO with A5o with the Ace of Clubs, called by AJ flop T86ccc and brick out.

Yesterday all the boys decided they were going to stack off during the course of Day 2, and as a result they are all available to go paintballing this afternoon which should be hof. My future victims include Lolgate, Jackovich and Weygang - Rennie is being a cat and piking. TR to come.