A Heavy Metal Rib Stomp

Photo by Ana Grave on Unsplash

I knew the fucking thing was bad news as soon as I saw it. The Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, California was a little place tucked just outside of the Bay Area where major bands would hit bigger cities like San Francisco, San Jose, Oakland, and a little too the north, Sacramento. But if a band could put 10,000 butts in seats and another four or five thousand in the lawn it was worth a one night stop in this semi-backwater hinterland of northern California.

But on this night Metallica was in town to kick off their St. Anger tour, a little warm-up bout for the bigger venues to come later in the year. Metallica’s Bay Area shows had always been wild even back when they were playing small cubs. And this one looked to be no different. The Butthole Surfers were the opening act, another CA band that had a reputation for driving their audience into a violent frenzy.

One of the highlights though was supposed to be Alice in Chains as the second act. “Dirt” had just been released and was an enormous hit with the heavy metal and grunge fans all over the world. But Layne Stanley’s heroin addiction had taken a turn for the worse and the promoters had hastily replaced Alice with another Seattle band called Candle Box.

I was at the concert with two young women and three guys. I had driven since I never drove while intoxicated, but the guys at least, though…