TOUR ARCHIVE

Date: 2000-11-30
Location: Los Angeles, CA - United States [53 shows here]
Venue: Shrine Auditorium [5 shows here]
Fan reviews: 1 - Add yours!
Author: Phil
Setlist: Yes

My friend Tim and I ditched Philosophy lecture 15 minutes early to ensure punctuality. We walked across the street to the Shrine (it's great being a USC student: walking distance from both the Shrine and the LA Coliseum).

The tickets said to show up to lots 5 and 6 which are near the coliseum, not the Shrine. However, we saw signs saying "This way to the VH1 Preshow" pointing towards the shrine, so we followed. Once we followed the signs all the way around the Shrine we saw Michelle and Jenn, and Ian! They were in line, but they told us to go get wristbands from they guy with the bag. He told us to get on the bus going back to lots 5 and 6, were we could get wristbands, and then we could take the bus with the next lot of Metallica fans back. I repeated his instructions back to him to make sure that this was correct since it sounded stupid. They were correct.

So Tim and I get on the bus and go to lots 5 and 6 and wait around with several other Metallica fans. After a while they made two lines: MetClub and USC (free tickets were given out to some USC students). I had both tickets... but then they said "everyone will get in, but the band wants the Club Members to have precedence"... so off the the Club line I went! Thanks Metallica!

They gave us wrist bands after checking that our name was on the list and that we had a club ID. We waited in this line for about another hour. Finally they bussed us back to where we were originally, and put us in a line where we saw everyone earlier (although they were inside watching "Vertical Horizon"... no big loss). After another 30 minutes in line they let us in the gates and put us in another line behind another gate (this was getting really old really fast). After about 20 minutes they let us go, and we make a run for it... only to be stopped at one more gate about 30 feet from the stage, about 10 feet from the back of one of the cars.

While we were waiting in this last line Jason came over to sign autographs! As always Jason rules. He walked over and told us that he'd rather be with us then over there (pointing back over to people rushing around the stage). Being about 2 feet from the front of the line, he made his way to me fairly quickly. I haven't asked Jason for an autograph in quite a long time mostly because I feel bad since I have so many from him. But since I had no shirt or suvenier from this show, I figured I'd get one. As he walked over to me he was like "Oh hey again!" He remembered me (after all the "Do ya rememeber the time when..."s I gave him, he remembers me the time I don't ask!). "woah, you remember me!" I saw -- then I realize I'm doing the dumbfounded-fan-goofy-smiling-drooling-on-my-self thing that I hate, so I wipe the dumb grin off my face and realized he's handing me back the signed paper that I didn't realize I'd given him. Needing to recover from the ass I'd just made of myself, I knew I had to come up with a worthy question, and luckily I did. "Jason, I got a question... what are all the cars for?" (We'd all been wondering). He explained the idea was to make it look like they were at a keg party and they were a small band who decided to play and so their friends drove their cars up so they could use the headlights as stage lights. Thanks Jason!

We wait there another 20 minutes or so and then the producer takes the 20 "hottest" chicks to start filling in the stage and near the cars. Then more chicks, then 10 guys and 10 girls. Then another 10 guys and 10 girls. 20 at a time they filled us in. Finally we were all in and I was right behind the orange car!!

We wait there a while longer while the producer moved people until he was satisfied that everything looked perfect. Then the band came out!!! When Lars came out I it took me about 10 seconds to recognize him with his new beard. Oh well, sorry Lars. Then they jammed on "So What!" as a warm up and they were really into it!! Then we could vaguely hear Lars say "lets do the first few seconds," and they went into the first half of "Fade to Black." Then some guy (who we think was Howard Stern) started waving at us from the very top window of one of the towers of the Shrine and James had us all yell to him. The producer then told the band they were on in a few seconds... and the countdown began!

The band blasted into "Fade to Black," and it was awesome!! Then they let some guy come on stage and throw out picks and sticks. The band cleared off stage very quickly after that and we all yelled "encore" for about 10 minutes, but the producers started hearding us out. All in all a very cool, and very once-in-a-lifetime experience. Special thanks to the Metallica Club for taking the tickets away from seatfiller and giving the fans a very special show!