Anyway so here is a picture of it finished.
But, this is not the end of the story. It didn't simply get stuffed in a drawer never to see the light of day again.
It's gone on to a new home with lovely new owners.
It's gone to Metallica. Hand delivered.
I had my Soundwave ticket for an eternity, but the meet and greet only opened a little over a fortnight before the show. I entered the competition and spent a fortnight swinging between highs of "Yes! I'll get it!" and lows of "not a flippin chance!"
So on the morning that it closed I woke up (after a night of not sleeping) and checked my e-mail. Nothing. That was it, it was all over finished, and I may have cried just a little bit. I opened up the Meet and Greet section of the Metclub website and clicked on Brisbane.
Congratulations. You have won the competition....
SQUEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The next few days were a whirlwind. Finding out my friend Nicole was going to the meet and greet too was even more exciting. Together! TOGETHER!
Well the day came...
First met up with Nic and that was really cool. I was really happy to be able to spend the day with her. We swapped books and got in. We bummed around and did some shopping, I bought my 3 year old a Rust In Peace shirt
and then we headed off to see Anthrax. They were cool. I enjoyed them more than I thought I would. They played TNT which just went off and their tribute to Dio and Dimebag was very cool.Then we went and chilled out for a bit, constantly looking at our watches getting nervous. There was a moment during Anthrax where I made the Metallica/Anthrax 1983 living on each others couches, fuck these guys would have known Cliff connection and teared up.
Started heading out of the festival and saw some drunk guy getting pulled out by the cops in a Metallica shirt, idiot.
We meet at the gate and there are some others there waiting for the meet and greet. Motor mouth me was getting nervous and chatted up a storm with the other fans. It was cool. I was wearing the shirt a friend from the States designed for me, St Anger fist with Yes, I Liked It and we had a great chat about St Anger.
So we get checked off and head in, line up and wait. Everyone that walks passed through the little gap we were like "who was that, who was that." I felt like a total creeper peeking through the bushes. After about an hour of waiting I looked up and though the gap I saw, black and silver curly hair and FREAKED OUT! Total squeal moment. It was my KIRKY!!!
A few more minutes and Rob came out, and started making his way down the line. What a cool guy! I told him how cool I think he is and how incredibly talented he is. Talked about how cool his wife is and how she is lovely to chat to on Instagram. I then told him he has awesome hair, because he absolutely does. He signed my CDs (one for my sister who didn't win a pass, and my copy of The Unnamed Feeling EP) and got a photo.
Usually Kirk comes out next and Nic was giving me a ribbing about it, because I was a bit excited. Look up and who's walking down... Hetfield.
So James starts at one end and is really chatting. He's taking so long all of a sudden Kirk walks out. So they're both coming at me, Nic and I trade spots and before I know it Kirk is at the person next to me. And then in front of me.
I gave him the knit and he asked if I made it, I said yes and he said it was really cool and I'm very talented. I froze at that point. And then he turned to his assistant and said, this is going straight to HQ!!!! Even just to say that, what an honour. We chatted about St Anger and how it's my favourite and he was saying he really enjoyed it and did an interview recently saying that. Chatted some more. And he hugged me. WOW! Signed my stuff, got a picture. So cool.
Then James. That was an intense experience. Telling him all this personal stuff about how much his music has made a difference in my life and how thankful I am for what he does. He also shared some pretty heavy, personal stuff. It was so amazing. He signed my stuff and I told him about buying the EP because the full album was more than what I could afford at the time and he smiled, he got it. He listened and I felt heard. It was amazing.
Then Lars and he was instantly up in my face and I found that really intimidating. I'm a real personal space freak. I told him about how much my daughter loves him and he really dug it. We were talking about how she is back home with my husband and her brother and he said next time bring her. He also checked out the knit and said it was really cool, but he didn't want to share it lol then he said, "let's give it to Rob" (it has Jason on it) and we both laughed. Signing and photo. He actually had to bend down a little.
Someone yelled out "Dyer's Eve" and Lars replied, "yeah and only that!"
And then it was over and we headed out. I was on absolute cloud 9. I had expected a "hi thanks for coming *sign sign* enjoy the show" next but they really spoke to us and gave us their time. It was an hour and a half for just 15 or so of us. It was so so cool. Went and dropped our stuff at the cloak room.
Then it was time to head out and the whole area in front of the main stage was PACKED! Linkin Park were playing and they were pretty good. We needed something to eat and drink and settled with a fruit crush thing and headed for the grand stand. Heard a snippet of Garbage. They lived up to their name and were terrible. Sat down at the grand stand and listened to some more Linkin Park. Spotted my siser and her boyfriends glow sticks and made our way over and we got a great GREAT spot.
What a show from Metallica! 5 from Justice, plenty from Lighting/Puppets, Cyanide, Fuel, some TBA, and to finish with Seek and Destroy! Hit the Lights WENT OFF! I was on my feet the entire 2 hours 15 minutes. Teared up at Fade to Black. Cried to NEM. Lost my freakin mind to everything else. They played Harvester! The first song I ever learnt to play on guitar! The pyro was amazing and we got 3 guitar doodles. And Kirk looked so good. Rob and Kirk have really picked up the back up vocals. They were supberb. James seemed to be in a cheeky mood and his banter with the crowd was great. They zoomed in on his pick on the big screen, he turned it around to reveal the Australian flag and the crowd WENT WILD!
Kirk's back up vocals during Nothing Else Matters were absolutely beautiful. I had goosebumps. Chills. Amazing. And whammy and the wah peddle. His solos were right on the ball.
James was wearing a bullet belt
Wow. When it was finished we joined the crowd to go to the cloak room, it was packed. Headed out and found my mum. Saying good bye to Nic was rough, she's someone I've come to consider a very good friend and I was so glad to have spent the day with her. I still can't believe it happened!
What a day! I am still all fuzzy. I will never forget it. The only thing I didn't like was the weird look on my face in the picture of me and James.
And here are some pictures of Kirk with the knit. I still can't believe I was considering not giving it them. I'm so glad I did.
Best. Day. Ever.
