Here Comes the Rain | Day 19

Needless to say I woke up later this morning. Had such a blast last night and not going to sleep until 2 doesn’t promote and early wake up. It was about 11:30 when I woke up and wanted to venture out and just walk around a bit to explore. By the time I got myself together it was about 12:30 and when I opened the window I found it was just pouring rain. That derailed me a bit haha. The rain was coming down sideways out of the window and people were holding on as tight as they could to their umbrellas. I couldn’t argue with a bit more rest but it wasn’t what I had in and certainly not what I had hoped for for the concert. I had played the rain game at the show in Munich and lost. You would have thought since that show I would have bought some type of rain coat but you would be wrong. I laid back down and opened up the computer and checked the radar. It showed that the rain would pass in about an hour or two so figure I will work until then.

Sure enough an hour and a half went by the the rain had stopped. It was still overcast but at least it wasn’t raining, I was ready for some lunch and decided to head towards the market for another sandwich. It was cold outside and the app said it was mid 50s. The wind blew which made it feel even colder. I headed across the street and there was a pizza place I had seen the day before called Luigi’s and seem to have a nice little crowd. I threw over the market and headed for pizza. It was a small restaurant that had maybe 7 tables. A few were filled with adults and kids and I found one in the corner. Either he was the owner, or a long time employee, a man got off of his seat in the kitchen and came to the small counter. You ordered from the counter and I went with the standard Salami and Mushroom pizza with a soda. The price wasn’t to bad. $15 for a pizza and $3 for a soda. I sat in my seat clicking around my phone waiting for the pizza. About 10 minutes went by and the man came out with the pizza. I have had a lot of pizza throughout my life and I have to say this was one of the best pizzas I have had. The cheese, salami, and mushrooms were cooked perfectly but the crust wasn’t burned. It was the right amount of gooey without being undercooked. A+ my friend. I killed that pizza and was extremely satisfied in my decision to get that over a market sandwich. With the pizza consumed I headed to the market to grab and afternoon Redbull before going to the show.

With my pass safely secured to my belt loop I set off for the show. I headed to the bus stop but this time found no one standing at it. Was a bit odd and I didn’t think I was leaving that late but yet there was no one else at the bus stop. Right before the bus showed up one other lady showed up. The bus door opened and she produced a ticket. Back on Friday I just got on with all of the others and possibly because there was just so many people heading to the stadium that no one checked tickets. I didn’t have a ticket so I bailed on that plan and headed to the metro platform where I knew that was free. I must have rode that route 10 times before the stay in Helsinki was over haha. Back on the 3 train and off to the stadium. I hopped off by the ice arena and naturally the 2 train was in front of the 3 and was just leaving. The enhanced experience tent was back on the other side so decided to hang out and wait for the next one. Well, 10 minutes went by with no train in sight and the map schedule said it would come for another 10 minutes. I could have walked to where I needed to be by then so just called it and started to walk. With that road leading to a ticket entrance there were tons of people and the line to get in was extensive. I took the hill path that I had walked up yesterday and made my way to the main stadium entrance. Come down the little hill it was clear that there was more people tonight than on Friday. The ticket entrance line was out almost to the street where the beer garden was. Trying to make my way through 8 lines of people was a test of patience. No one was really willing to part to let me through so was just a series of excuse me, pardon me, sorry, and thank you’s, Finally through I walked up with the tent and produced my pass. The girl produced a hard ticket and gave me my wristband. Ice Nine Kills was just starting and decided to walk to the beer garden and wait for the line to die down a bit. The same girl that had sold me a beer on Friday was working again but they had her on trash duty which I’m sure was not as welcome as selling beer. I got another one of the Blanc beers and stood at one of the high tops. Everyone was with a group or friend so just stood by myself watching people come in and out. Enough time had gone by and I didn’t want to get another beer from the garden so I headed to the stadium. The line was much shorter now and made it in quickly. Like Friday the lady at the entrance handed me another band. I tried to tell her I already had one but she just handed it to me and moved on to the next person. I wasn’t sure how it worked out with Sam and Anthony and the guest tickets but sent Sam a message inquiring.

I made my way down to the floor and around the stage to where I stood Friday. I had messaged the other kids from Friday to see if they had made it back to where we stood previously. When I got to that side of the stage it was clear that there were a lot more people tonight than the last show. There wasn’t much chance of getting as close as the previous shows. At that moment Sam had responded with a photo saying they were in the front row of the seats on the side of the stage I was on. I headed to where they were to say hello. Their previous seats had been on the sunny side and much higher up so this was a nice upgrade. We chatted as best we could and I told him I had an extra floor band if he wanted it. He looked at his dad and I told him either way here is the band and come down if you choose or if not no worries at all. He gladly accepted the band and I told him where I would generally be. Didn’t take but 5 minutes and Sam tapped me on the shoulder. He said that he wanted to see both Five Finger Death Punch and Metallica walk by and then he would rejoin his dad. We were a good 30 people from the stage and as FFDP’s set was coming to a close the security started filling in and bringing out the barricade. They pushed the crowd back and of course no one went easily. Between us and the stage to our right was one of the large monitor towers and at the base is a seated area for people that have a good amount of money to spend. When the barricade came out the people that were between us, the stage, and the side of the tower got pushed back towards the back on the floor so that they could seal that edge. Sam and I got a bit displaced but we managed to stay 1 person back from the barricade. FFDP finished and started to walk down the exit. It is always cool to see band members up close even if it is just for a few seconds. Sam was amped and hoped the guitar player would see him and say hello but he happened to be on the other side of the walkway when he passed us. The road crews went to work changing over the equipment from FFDP to Metallica. They have roughly an hour to breakdown and setup all the new equipment so no pressure at all. The time between always goes by slowly for fans but at least there was something to watch while we waited. As the time got closer we started seeing some movement inside where the band was. I of course have seen Metallica before but this was a new experience for Sam. The speakers rumbled and It’s A Long Way To The Top started playing. The band appeared and came walking out of the dressing room on to the main floor. Everyone roared and people reached for high fives or some acknowledgment from the band. After they had walked by Sam had the biggest smile on his face and I could see him texting his dad and friends photos and video of how close he was. Right as the first song started the security removed the barricade and a whole new amount of space was opened for fans to rush in to. We bolted in to the openings and found ourselves about 5 people from the front. I can only imagine how cool it was for Sam to be at his first show, scoop a floor band, and be feet from the band. I am so glad I was able to give him that extra band and make his first Metallica show special.

After the first few songs the band started to work their way around the stage. Sam said he was off to go sit with his dad and would let me know if he ventured back to the floor. This night’s setlist was pretty cool. My thoughts that Europe would get some different setlists was spot on. We heard a song that they don’t play that often which was Until It Sleeps. We also got to hear The Unforgiven which is a personal favorite of mine. The show was awesome as always and for some reason it seemed a bit shorter than the others. Maybe is just how things feel when you enjoy them so much. This experience has happened to me more than a few times at these Metallica shows. I can’t figure out why it happens to people. With the age of the crowd I don’t see a lot of people going balls to the wall with beer or drugs. I know medical emergencies happen but that is rare. Likewise, I understand if its 105 out like in Palm Springs people can get dehydration or heat stroke but with it being 60 degrees out that certainly shouldn’t be. I had turned around due to a commotion to find a middle aged man laying on the ground. His friends were all calling for medics or just anyone that could help. His friends finally got him to his feet and his eyes were open but clearly he was out of it. They tried giving him some water and he leaned again the tower railing. 30 seconds later he collapsed again. Finally medics made their way through the crowd to help him. They got him to his feet and assisted him out. I just can’t understand why this keeps happening to people. The one lady in St. Louis had a seizure which is a medical event but these other people don’t seem to have a situation like that. Maybe like some Dead Head middle aged people go ape shit and do some drugs and it doesn’t work out but it is a scary experience to watch someone just collapse. You can’t tell if they just fainted or if they are having some like threatening emergency. Hopefully next week I won’t run in to this same situation.

The show finished and as I was walking out sure enough on the floor was a pick that people failed to see. I quickly put my foot on it and bent down and picked it up. I have more than a few of the picks they throw out at the end but its always fun to get another one. Instead of finding a pub after the show I made my way to the metro stop. As anticipated there were a ton of people waiting. I had thought to walk down to where I switch trains but when a different train came by I recognized that not many of the people were standing where the front of the train ends up. I walked around the crowd to the front as the 2 train arrived. I hopped on no problem and found a seat. I rode the train the 2 stops, got off, switched trains, and rode the rails back to the hotel stop. I thought about running in to the market but abandoned the idea and just walked back to the hotel. Man, how the day started I thought this was going to be another Munich cold rain show but how lucky that the skies cleared and was brilliant weather for the show. Tomorrow I have an overnight cruise ship from Helsinki to Stockholm Sweden. Will take the day tomorrow to pack and sort out rest of travel and the sail the high seas to Sweden. So glad to have made it to Helsinki and on to the next country!