My good friend Harry and I attended the Rock Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony last night at Public Hall in Cleveland. We scored a pair of free tickets from his friends: fifth row balcony, one section away from the left side of the stage, directly overlooking the two front tables where Metallica and their families were seated. We could see Joe Perry, Jimmy Page, and Jeff Beck seated three tables over. Everyone at the floor tables had gifts bags with the Gibson guitar logo printed on them--I saw a couple of guests dig through their bags but couldn't tell what was in them.
The show ran like clockwork, and it was fascinating to see all of the behind-the-scenes stage activity. We could see Wanda Jackson and her husband waiting in the wings as Roseanne Cash gave her induction speech. As the montage films were shown, we could see the stagehands changing the giant album covers behind the two podium areas. Harry pointed out the Marshall half-stacks waiting backstage to be rolled out later for Metallica's performance. We both chuckled as we watched one of Lars Ulrich's sons air-drum to the music on the PA during dinner.
All of the performances were excellent, but my favorites were Jeff Beck and Metallica, by far. As I had hoped, Jason Newsted joined his old bandmates onstage, playing alongside current bassist Robert Trujillo. The five of them cranked out killer versions of Master of Puppets and Enter Sandman. I felt like I was fifteen again, the age I was when I first saw Metallica live at the Variety Theater in Lakewood on the Ride the Lightning tour with WASP and Armored Saint.
Thank you, Suzanne and Rob, for the tickets, and thank you, Harry, for bringing me along for the ride. Awesome night.
2 comments:
That is freaking awesome!
Of course you know how ridiculously jealous I am ... soooo incredibly cool.
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