Review: Metallica @ Slane Castle, Slane 8/6/19 by Graveyard

GOOD EXPERIENCE, BUT WHAT A BLOODY LONG DAY!

SLANE CASTLE
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Slane, IRE Entry time: 2pm Start time: 3pm | Beer Price: €6 / pint

Got their just after 12pm and spent about 40 mins at the first security checkpoint (A few impatient tits in the queue, new it was going to be a fun day then).

Once through we walked to the next checkpoint and then crossed the river – Were you could choose to head straight to the venue or the village. I chose the village. Bloody exhausting, at least a 5 minute walk up a frigging slope (I’m not as fit I was once, but I am not unfit and I felt it – don’t know how the (let’s say) larger people managed it – fair play to them!

(Met a sarcastic policeman – not an arsehole though). Funnily enough the beer prices were cheaper at the gig than in the village (Probably not surprising as places sometimes raise prices for events, but this being Ireland, out in the countryside, the prices were probably right!).

I left the village at 10 to 2 (Thinking it will it won’t take long seen as it’s downhill – WRONG!). Once down the hill the walk to the actual site was quite long and with more slopes (Not as bad as it level out at points) – with another checkpoint. Apparently, I got told you couldn’t bring a ‘GoPro’ in the event (Which was fine as mine was a cheap little Argos camera – I can be funny too!). I was allowed to bring it – nice security man. But what pissed me off later was how people where allowed to bring in drugs and yet I got cast aside for plastic camera (Didn’t actually need it, but I came prepared). It was another 400 yards from there to the venue – then down a steep bloody slope to the stage (Decent view though – Tiny castle!). So much for the rain – it was bloody scorching! (Spoiler, Famous last words!)

FANG CLUB
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Fang Club opened the gig – an Irish band. They started with ‘All Fall Down’, ‘Knife’, ‘Inside Joke’ and ‘Hesitations’. They were quite a decent band, had a Nirvana feel to them – Will be keeping an eye on them. They were the standout act of the night (Obviously, apart from Metallica).

BOKASSA
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Just before the next act ‘Black Cold Sun’ (They repeated the same songs and when this played again later on it rained!) played in the background and of course the rain started – this set the tone for the rest of the day – sun and rain on and off.

Bakassa were up next and they weren’t bad either – not as good as Fangclub though. I had never heard of them before, but they were entertaining (trying to be humorous, nice touch).

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Went to the relieve of some water waste (Not that, you dirty bastards!) and refuel (Get a drink) after this and as you can tell, I lost my view.

STIFF LITTLE FINGERS
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The only band I have heard of – excluding Metallica – and they were good (Would prefer to see them in a club rather than an outdoor gig. They played their classic songs, with a few new ones thrown in – ending with ‘Tin Soldier’s was good – wish I recorded that.

This was when the crowd started moving forward. Before Stiff Little Fingers, you could still see behind you but by the end if you moved you weren’t getting back. We were getting ever closer to Metallica!

Early recording of Stiff Little Fingers unfinished song “16 Shots”. This song has not yet been released yet.

GHOST
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Ghost – The first, but not last to have their performance screened with the cameras – were good. There was a sea of people for Ghost (For obvious reasons) – The Sun reckon there were 75,000 there. Being The Sun, it’s probably wrong but there were thousands!

It started raining during their act, but it was good – they sounded like an old-school 80’s rock/metal band!

This was when the arseholes came in. I had some high/drunk Irish tit (Deliberately) leaning back and (Trying) to push me out of the way – He tried but no one out muscles me. I’m a nice guy, but don’t be an arse around me.

Still had an okay view and they definitely had a lot of fans there. There was a bit of pushing going on, but kind of expect that. What pissed me off the most was the smoking! You want smoke, do it away from other people – WE DON’T ALL LIKE CIGARETTES/WEED!

I expected Ghost to be on for a good hour, but they weren’t on for that long (Well it seemed anyway) – about 40 mins (I’m probably wrong, they were probably on for over an hour). Anyway, they were still good live.

METALLICA
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The main event kicked off around 9.45pm (Maybe 10 to 10, but did over two hours) after about an hours wait. They started things off with a well-known soundtrack – I think it was from a western film (They kept us waiting for nearly an hour). More to the point it did stay dry for their turn!

I knew they would play my song – ‘Master Of Puppets” – just didn’t know if it would be first or last (As it turns out it wasn’t neither).

Metallica kicked things off with ‘Hard Wired’ (Some irritating nat decided she would try and stop me recording this – by sticking her hand in front of my phne (Sorry if she did, I saw her coming and did attempt to avoid it) this was followed by ‘The Memory Remains’ and ‘Ride The Lightning’ (A great song). After ‘Hard Wired’ (Still need to get a hard-copy of the album (May have missed the free copy – but it’s Metallica – They’re well worth paying for!) with the crowd getting more rowdy I decided to move further back (Just so I could get a good view for ‘Master Of Puppets’). Waited for a few more songs first.

They played ‘Whisky In The Jar’ next (Which caught me off guard – Was expecting this to be one of the last songs). Missed the start, but managed to get it on camera – Still 2nd time I’ve heard that this year, but the best version I’ve heard!

Next up was ‘The Unforgiven’, ‘Now That We’re Dead’ and ‘Moth Into Flame’ – Could feel the heat from the fire (From the top of the stage) from were I was!

‘Sad But True’ was next then ‘Halo On Fire’ – I started to move back after this song. This was followed by ‘Frantic’, ‘One’ and then finally the one I came for… ‘Master Of Puppets’!

‘Master Of Puppets’ was great live and they did the FULL song, the background video was good – showing the graves from the album cover. The bad thing was that my phone went off, with not long to go and I have missed part of the song – The one song I wanted a full, non-interrupted recorded song and that happened! #Bastard

They ‘For Whom The Bells Tolls’, ‘Creeping Death’ and then ‘Seek And Destroy’ – Glad I saw this live (Missed off the end of it on the video, though). (Wish they played ‘Enter Sandman’).

I think they did an encore, as they teased being finished before they played ‘Spit Out The Bone’ and ‘Nothing Else Matters’. I started my way back up to the top during ‘Spit Out The Bone’ – All those people would have made it a nightmare getting back to the coach. I could hear ‘Nothing Else Matters’ play as I made way through the exit (Would have stayed till the end, but I just wanted to get back on the the coach to Dublin). **Found out later they finished with ‘Enter Sandman’** Bastards!

SUMMARY
It was great experience and fantastic to see Metallica play live, but it was a long day. The bands were good, but I think you get a better atmosphere at the smaller clubs (Just too many people, security checkpoints – and I thought security was strict for Papa Roach – and the rain).

This has been an amazing year for gigs, so far, and it’s only going to get better on Thursday for Sumo Cyco. Metallica is one off the bucket list and I will be keeping an eye on Fang Club (They were quite good). It was good walking down the slope with the villagers selling water and merch (That wasn’t weird, but I just found the village to be like that of a Hammer Horror film, reacting to strangers – I was expecting a flying bus to appear (a High Spirits reference!)

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Thanks for reading. The next report will from the greatest gig of the year so far… Sumo Cyco live in Liverpool (For the second time).

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