I believe the year was 1986, the month was January and METALLICA was touring in support of their great Thrash achievement, “Master of Puppets”. I was enamored by METALLICA, no, absorbed is more like it. Nothing else in the world meant more to me back then than this band, my girlfriend at that time was even second fiddle to them. So, when I heard that METALLICA was going to be doing a gig at the West Hartford Ballroom, in good old West Hartford Connecticut, I was there like a fly on cow dung. Make no mistake about it, no Connecticut winter storm was going to prevent me and my buddy from getting to this show! With road conditions being black ice and temperatures hovering around 20 degrees F., we arrived early enough to party in the lot and make it inside, just in time for METAL CHURCH. (I believe METAL CHURCH was supporting their release “The Dark”).
METAL CHURCH was cool, they were just what a Metalhead needed as a warm up to METALLICA. Once METALLICA hit the stage, it was like pandemonium. Check that, it was as if my life was forever altered, I now knew what it meant to feel euphoria, Thrash euphoria that is. Seeing James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett, Lars Ulrich and the late Cliff Burton, live, up close, wow. Please note, that this was really, really, up close, I was against the stage, only feet away! Look, I was being punished, bullied, and pounded by the frenzied fans in the pit, being pushed against the metal railing of the cheap fence against the stage. I LOVED IT. Cliff Burton, with his head & hair swirling around at hyper speed to the Thrash music, sent trails of sweat against my face. I LOVED IT. I took an elbow directly to my temple, from a fan very much bigger and stronger than I, it hurt like the dickens, I LOVED IT. I was then useless to the crowd in the mosh pit, being raised into the air and carried above the crowd, only to then be dropped onto the hard, beer soaked floor at the entrance to the bar. I LOVED IT.
As for the music itself, this was METALLICA! Hearing “For Whom The Bell Tolls” and “Battery” up close, live, in a small club setting by what would eventually become the world’s greatest Thrash band ever, well, I can never forget it. As for my buddy who came along with me that night, well, I lost him once METALLICA hit the stage. We later found each other in the parking lot, my buddy no longer had his winter jacket, nor had any shirt at all. We both were bruised up pretty good, tired and having trouble hearing. Upon starting up the car to leave this historic night behind us, we both agreed, WE LOVED IT.
Metal Odyssey > Heavy Metal Music Blog 
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