Once upon a time, there lived a chick called thepopgoddess. Quite a pop music lover she was. She lived and breathed music. One day she was calling a radio station, trying to win a contest for katy perry tickets. She had to be caller 12 to win. She tried and tried again, but kept getting the busy tone on the phone. But at one point, it started to ring. However she got so used to hanging up right away, that she accidentally hung up the phone while it was ringing! She set the phone down and started crying and wiping tears awa------- *awkward record scratching sound* WOAH WOAH WOAH! That's all wrong man! Hell no!! XD
theMETALHEAD here was trying to win Metallica tickets. When I made that stupid mistake of hanging up, I literally just yelled "FUCK!!" and threw the phone into a chair. That was also one of the last tries of winning Metallica tickets too. I was very bummed out. I really wanted to see them so bad. However, my dad told me about Anthrax coming to town, not long after my birthday. At first I said "yeah, but Metallica! I mean come on man!" My mom said how awesome Anthrax is live. That she knows I would really love it. I gave in.
At the time, I already knew some Anthrax stuff. I thought it was awesome, but I didn't have a huge love for them. Time passed, my birthday came. In a card was some tickets for the Anthrax show.
At the day of the show, which happened toward the end of the month, I was so freakin excited about going. I wanted the time to pass so fast so the concert would come faster. When it was time to get ready to go, I ran to my closet to dig for some clothes that would be good to wear there. Really I tend to always look like I crawled out of a tour bus anyway, but still. I found my comfort in my dark clothes and denim battle vest and sneakers.
My parents dressed pretty bad ass too, haha XD We left the house, but the traffic was awful. For anyone who's been in Atlanta, they know what I'm talking about. We ended up stopping to eat, then continued on. The show was going to be held at a little venue called The Tabernacle, which used to be an OLD church. Really the building was super big but the area where the concert would be was small.
We got there and paid for parking. Really we were already missing the first band that was playing, Devil Wears Prada. To be honest we mainly came for Anthrax so it didn't bother us as much to miss the other bands. As we went in, I can already hear and feel the music blasting. Before going to the stage area, I went to the merch spot and bought an Anthrax shirt (pics of the shirt are on another take here https://www.girlsaskguys.com/entertainment-arts/a50389-the-problems-of-being-a-female-metalhead ) and I put it on over my original Anthrax shirt. really the original had a homemade logo lol.
We came into the crowd, and I already realized a problem. I was too damn short!! I stood on my toes near the back, watching the concert. I was never into Devil Wears Prada, but I do have to say that they do have a great stage presence. Found a few riffs to be pretty kick ass as well.
Over time I found my way toward the middle of the crowd, inching closer to the stage. Killswitch Engage got on the stage and rocked out. To those KSE and DWP fans reading this, sorry that I never said the songs they played. They are bands I'm not overly familiar with.
KSE I think was a little better than DWP. I especially admired the guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz, he reminded me a lot of Angus Young (of AC/DC) on stage.
At one point, the last song they played was a cover of Dio's "Holy Diver". That was pretty much the only song I really got into. At first I didn't notice, but I ended up realizing "HOLY SHIT! JOEY BELLADONNA!!" The singer of Anthrax was singing "Holy Diver" with the band. Whenever he sang, he sounded like Ronny James Dio. It was so cool.
The lights went down, roadies got on the stage to change things up. It took nearly an hour. I creeped up close to the stage, waiting. People talked, Metallica's "Motorbreath" and AC/DC's "Shoot To Thrill" and others blared over the speakers as we all waited. It felt like an eternity.
But then, we all saw Charlie Benante run onto the stage and hop up behind his drums. The crowd screamed in excitement as all the other guys came running to join in. They started off with the song "Among the Living". The rest were:
"Caught in a Mosh"
"Madhouse"
"Fight 'Em 'Til You Can't"
"I Am the Law"
"Breathing Lightning"
"Efilnikufesin (N.F.L.)"
"Evil Twin"
"March of the S.O.D." (Stormtroopers of Death cover)
"Blood Eagle Wings"
"Antisocial" (Trust cover)
"Indians"
At first, when they would get us all to sing, I was too shy XD But then I felt bad for being like that, and sang along. I remember once putting my hand up in the devil horns symbol, but I was surrounded by a bunch of tall people. My hand could barely be seen at first. Belladonna saw me, he pointed at me and motioned me to try and get my hand higher. I grinned and tried to get it up way higher. I even stood on my toes. He smiled and gave me a thumbs up.
By the time "Caught In A Mosh" started playing, the crowd got INSANE. I had moved close to the mosh pit. Grizzly bear sized dudes were flinging themselves all in the pit. A few got pushed out of the pit and almost on top of me. Me and my dad would push them back into the pit. Once, a beer went flying out of the pit and splashed all over me and a girl beside me. I laughed it off though.
Singing along was awesome, but I got kinda tongue-twisted with "Fight em Till You Can't". For those who know the song, you should know exactly why I couldn't sing some parts.
"Indians" was another insane one. I mean yeah the whole concert was chaotic fun but when this song came on, everyone got animalistic! One guy kept jumping around behind me, I kept feeling the floor bounce under me because of him. From all the jumping, he accidentally gave me the atomic elbow to the head. Ouchhh.. but again I didn't care. I was headbanging like crazy for most of the show anyway. But the guy did apologize though at least.
At the end of everything, ugh I wished it didn't end. When we walked out of the place, me and my parents were pretty much screaming at each other cause all we could hear was ringing in our ears. We didn't bring any earplugs at the time. I walked out of that place smelling like sweat and beer, sore and barely being able to hear. That night, I went to sleep in my smelly Anthrax shirt. Really I didn't want to take it off for days after but I had to because I didn't want people to assume I was drinking, lol XD
So how was Anthrax? Fucking AMAZING! After that I became a much bigger Anthrax fan. I thought the bassist (Frank Bello is his name, right? I could be wrong) was pretty funny. Anthrax had a show that had wild energy to it for sure. This year they are touring with Slayer, along with Testament, Behemoth, and Lamb of God. I'm hoping I can have the opportunity to see them again. That literally felt like that was the best time of my life. That was the most headbanging I ever done lol. When my dad asked what I thought about the show, I said "I think I was baptized by metal.. and witness the metal gods in all their glory". It took 3 days for my hearing to come back completely, though in complete silence I still hear a little ringing.
So there's my story, of the best birthday present ever \m/ glad to share it. And so, following that concert, themetalhead has lived happily ever after, in metal.
Some vids from the concert are below. Sorry, some aren't in the best quality. Me and my parents didn't have phones with us so these videos are from others in Anthrax family who rocked with the band.
\m/ Stay metal!! \m/
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