Syracuse, NY 2025: The Good, The Bad, The Show
The Good
Metallica just kicked off their North American tour on Saturday, April 19th in Syracuse, NY and it was amazing as always! One of my favorite things about being an I Disappear pass holder is getting to the stadium early (usually between 10:00 and 10:30am) and seeing everyone from the Metallica family. I’ve met some of the coolest, nicest, most amazing people in this family and I love to see them and catch up with them. After nearly seven months since the shows in Mexico, this show was truly a family reunion.
This was a one day show, a first for the M72 tour. I live just outside of Pittsburgh so Syracuse is drivable for me. I picked up one of my MetFam friends at the Pittsburgh airport-it was cheaper for him to fly into Pittsburgh than to any of the airports in NY. Gotta save money any way you can when following the band. The less money you spend on travel expenses, the more shows you can go to. After picking him up at 7:00pm, I drove us to Syracuse. We arrived at our hotel at 1:15am and immediately crashed.
We arrived at the stadium at around 10:40am and the MetFam reunion transpired with hugs all around. We all chatted and caught up, I sold some friendship bracelets, I did an interview with a really cool old school MetFam guy in the Frantic line, and it poured down rain for about ten minutes which resulted in the ever well-prepared I Disappear gang breaking out the rain ponchos in unison. After getting into the stadium where we waited in line to be taken down to the stage, I learned that the posters and t-shirts were misprinted. Instead of saying “JMA” they said “JVA” for the stadium name. They sold the posters as is with instructions to email them to make arrangements to send the misprint back and to receive a corrected poster. I wonder how many people are actually going to do that. The t-shirts, however, were not sold with the misprint. The reprints did not arrive until later to be gotten after the show.
This stadium had an East side and a West side on the floor with color coded wrist bands. We were wondering how it would work. I Disappear were to be on the East side. As I scoped out the wrist bands in the Frantic line, many of them appeared to be the West side. When we all got to the floor, everyone scattered to whatever side they wanted, meaning West side came to East side and vice versa. Basically, it was no different than any other show. It honestly made no sense why they split it in the first place.
I stuck with my friend Jesus who got the rail on the dip (for those who are unfamiliar with the stage, the dip is the lowest point in the stage where it dips down below the highest points. The view from the dip allows you to see the entire stage). People were spread out on the rail, as usual when the show starts, so I was behind Jesus, in between him and the guy next to him on the left. However, that spot was where the rail pieces meet so it was an awkward standing position. The only way to explain it is to actually show you (that rail floor is an extra two inches (at least) higher than the floor):
Jesus told me that once everyone gets settled in and people started shifting, he would make room for me to stand next to him. Why am I explaining all of this? It will matter later…
Next to me was an amazing woman that I befriended and discovered that I’ll be with her in the snake pit in Landover. Her name is April, she’s new to the I Disappear family, and she’s slightly older than me but looks decades younger. We chatted the whole two hours before the show and I interviewed her for my ethnographic research. We shared stories and teared up over how Metallica has impacted our lives and what they mean to us. THIS is what is so special about going to a Metallica show. Nowhere else can you meet a total stranger, talk about some of the deepest, darkest, most emotional parts of your life with total vulnerability, and know that you’re accepted and not judged-you’re accepted before you even began to speak. She considered herself just an ordinary, everyday person, no one special, but she is special, as we all are. We’re all special because we are able to share this sort of bond that the rest of the ordinary people in the world don’t get to share. I look forward to seeing April at the future shows and for my other I Disappear family, keep an eye out for her and welcome her to the fold (She’s the one on the left)!
I got to talk to the guy behind me (with the long beard and glasses) a little throughout the show. He’s seen Metallica many times but he told me that this was his, “first time seeing them this close.” He had an absolute blast during Pantera’s set, headbanging, fist pumping, and singing every lyric. I am a people watcher and the type of person who absolutely loves to see other people experience joy as they get lost in things they are passionate about so, seeing him in his own little Pantera world while most others around us just stood and stared warmed my heart. When Ecstacy of Gold started playing, he got emotional. Tears welled in his eyes and he said, “I can’t believe I’m here” as April and I both patted him on the back and shared the moment with him. We both told him that it’s an emotional moment to hear that song before they come on because of the anticipation it builds. I told him that no matter how many times I see them, I tear up every single time I hear it. THIS is what is so special about Metallica. It was a beautiful moment! I was so incredibly happy for him, seeing the joy and gratitude in this very moment of his life, seeing them so close to the stage. He will remember this show for the rest of his life. The first time Kirk ran by us he proclaimed, “oh my God he’s so close!”
The Bad
Backing up a little, I’m going to talk now about how Metallica can sometimes bring out the worst in people-something I’ve learned defitely happens while following the band on this M72 tour.
First, there was another new I Disappear fan behind me from another country. He was drinking a lot. He was very friendly but once the show started, he kept trying to start a mosh pit, slamming into me and others around us, jamming his elbows into us as he did. It was obnoxious. Jesus was aware and told me that he was going to try to make room for me on the rail-in person and through messages to each other. During the break between Pantera and Metallica, people were pretty situated in thier spots and Jesus made room for me on the rail next to him, on his left side. He told me to go ahead and come up. I stepped over that awkward part of the rail floor and onto the rail next to him. There was a teenager on his right side. Within about a minute after I took my spot on the rail, the teenager’s father (who was standing behind him) tapped on Jesus’s shoulder and said, “You told me you wouldn’t push my son off of his spot. You’re pushing him off of his spot.” Jesus ensured the man that he wasn’t. There was no pushing, the kid had plenty of room, we were just all shoulder to shoulder, which is what it’s like on the rail. The kid’s father kept arguing with Jesus and not in a friendly way, to put it mildly. Jesus finally gave in and squished in closer to me, which is fine because I’m short, petite, and after experiencing the rail in Mexico, I learned that I can handle being squished far more than this. This left a gap large enough for two people to fit into on the other side of the teenager. The father used this gap to rest his hand on the rail as he remained standing behind his kid. During Metallica he actually took that spot on the rail for himself.
A few minutes later another incident occurred with a father and son behind me. The father told his son (who was behind Jesus, in the spot between Jesus and the teen on the rail the entire show so far), “Make sure you don’t move away from your spot or someone will take it, just like she just did,” talking about me. I didn’t take anyone’s spot. Neither of them were on the rail. People shifted around as people do on the rail (sometimes you even wind up three whole feet away from where you originally took the rail), and my friend made room for me to join him. The guy continued to run his mouth about me. I finally turned around and told him, “I’m sorry, I was not trying to take anyone’s spot. This is my friend, we came in together.” I told him that Jesus had told me that he was going to make room on the rail for me because the guy behind me kept slamming into me with his elbows. This father proceeded to call me a liar, repeatedly saying, “no he did not,” “no one is slamming into you, I saw it, you just snuck right in there.” Then he tells me, “you just took a thirteen year old kid’s spot, you should be proud of yourself.” I did not take his kid’s spot. His kid was behind the other kid on the right of Jesus, I was on the rail on the left. His kid was never on the rail. Not only that, I would never take a kid’s spot at a show in the first place. I would never take anyone’s spot. Metallica family just doesn’t do that. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen this guy at other shows with his kid, yet his kid had a bunch of pieces of paper taped together with, “It’s my thirteenth birthday and this is my first Metallica show” written on it. More on that later…
In the meantime, a fifteen year old girl had moved into the awkward footing spot that I had been in and April was able to get onto the rail next to Christina. At one point during the break I noticed the fifteen year old girl having a full on panic attack, waving and shaking her hands, beginning to hyperventilate, and looking as though she was about to cry. I asked her if she was ok and she explained that the mosher guy kept slamming into her and that she’s got sensory sensitivities and doesn’t like to be touched. I tried to help calm her down and told her he was doing the same thing to me. Seeing her so distraught and hearing the guy behind me continue to trash talk me to his son, I decided to move off of the rail and take her spot (my old spot), putting myself between her and the mosher in order to help her. She thanked me for doing so and I told both her and April (who was aware of the mosher guy) that I don’t need to be on the rail, that I’ve been on the rail plenty of times and will get to be on the rail at other shows, and that being behind someone on the rail is just as good of a view. She and I chatted for a bit. This was her first ever Metallica show. I gave her one of my duplicate picks from last year’s tour. Her face lit up and her jaw dropped. This is the very reason I carry my duplicates around. Whenever I meet a kid or just someone who is super cool and has good conversation, I give them a pick. Throughout the rest of the show she headbanged and screamed her heart out. Again, it was such a beautiful thing to see. I would tell her whenever I saw that one of the band members was coming over so she could get her camera ready. I don’t know her name, but if she’s reading this-thanks for being so cool!
Back to the guy and the kid with the birtday sign. The kid was jumping up and down during Suicidal Tendencies a little and a little during Pantera but not long after I moved off of the rail, the kid started complaining to his dad that he wanted to leave, repeatedly. His dad repeatedly told him no, that they’re not going to go home. The kid looked pretty unhappy. He didn’t pull out the birthday sign until Metallica came on. During Metallica, his father stood in his kid’s original spot-the gap between Jesus and the teen on Jesus’s right, giving him the same view as the rail. This man trash talked me to my face and accused me of taking his son’s spot only to take it himself. He moved his son behind Jesus where he couldn’t see much at all.
Naturally, every crew member that walked by gave him a pick and even Rob told him happy birthday. Like I said, I’m pretty sure I’ve seen them at other shows. This is a sore spot with me and with many others (who won’t often admit it openly). I’ve gotten slammed for having a problem with kids at shows whenever I talk about this sort of thing. I love seeing kids at shows. I’m all for it. If I had a kid, I’d take them, but only if they actually wanted to go and liked Metallica; only if they understood that they’d have to stand for 14 hours straight, wouldn’t be able to go to the bathroom, and wouldn’t be able to eat or drink for hours on end. Many kids at the shows are Metallica fans, which is awesome! Bring on the next generation! But there are people out there who use their kids to get picks, drum sticks, and attention from the band. That’s an absolute fact. Their kids don’t care about Metallica, they aren’t enjoying themselves, and they just want to make their parents happy. I’ve seen it many times. I’ve seen kids sit on the floor and play with their shoe strings because they’re so bored. I’ve seen kids beg their parents to leave. I’ve seen kids just stand and stare as though they don’t understand what’s going on. I’ve been shoved aside by a kid so that he could grab a handful of picks for his parent-hearing his parent tell him to go get picks, ask him if he got any, and tell him, “give them to me.” I find it disgusting for a parent to use their kid to get picks, drumsticks, and attention from celebrities. While I can never say for sure, this kid with the birthday sign and his dad appeared to be the type.
All of that said, I’ve seen and met some amazing kids on the tour. I hung out with an uncle and nephew in the snake pit, jumped up and down during Enter Sandman with a cool teenage girl who was seeing them for the first time in Foxborough, been two over from a super cool kid of about 9 years of age in the snake pit and absolutely loved seeing the joy in his face as he watched the show, and chatted with several other teenagers throughout the tour. I’ve given several of them guitar picks. I love sharing my Metallica experience as an ’80s Metallica generation with newer generations and hearing about why they love Metallica. I’m writing a friggin’ book about all of this, after all. A big part of the Metallica family is generational. My ethnographic research covers that. But the simple truth that you just cannot deny is that there are bad seeds out there who use their kids at these shows as props because they see the attention they can get by doing so plastered all over social media.
The Show
I was pretty excited to see Suicidal Tendencies. I listened to them as a teenager, saw them in concert and met them once back then. I was a bit disappointed in the show, though. The sound was pretty awful. It was muffled and echoed so much that I had a difficult time making out anything at all. I was only able to recognize a couple of songs when I heard the crowd singing the lyrics. I was on the opposite side of the stage that they were set up on. It was pretty cool to see Mike Muir running and dancing around just as hard as he did back in the day and Ty is always a beast on stage. I was just disappointed in the sound quality. I’m hoping it improves during the tour.
Pantera put on a great show, as always. I don’t know if it was the echoing nature of the closed stadium or if it was just an enthusiastic crowd but hearing the lyrics shouted during songs like Walk, This Love, and Becoming was a vibe in and of itself. I was disappointed that they didn’t do Cowboys From Hell, as that’s the song that turned me on to Pantera in the first place so, it holds a special place in my heavy metal heart. I was also disappointed that they finished ten minutes early. They had time to do another song. Crossing my fingers to hear it at future shows.
Metallica always kills it but you could truly see the joy these guys had in getting back onstage. James was all smiles. For Whom the Bell Tolls, Orion, and One were the highlights of the night. Hearing the crowd singing along with Bells and the energy of the band on stage was probably the best version of this song live on the M72 tour so far. They mopped the floor with that song!
I was on the side of the stage with drumkits three and four so I got to see Orion on my side. There was something about this performance that just stood out from the others. I can’t put my finger on what it was but it just seemed more ominous. The sound was amazing-the guitar harmonies in this song had a really beefy sound at this show. I even saw James headbang! He’s had surgery on his neck due to his headbanging in the earlier years so he usually doesn’t headbang nowadays but I couldn’t help but grin when I saw him standing in his signature wide stance headbanging away for a few moments with his familiar jaw-snarl. I tell myself that he got lost in the moment and forgot that he shouldn’t be headbanging. He probably felt that in his neck Sunday morning but I’m glad I got to see it!
I also can’t put my finger on what it was that was so special about One other than the sound was just beefier. The solos sounded amazing and the energy was just different than other shows. It was just a great performance all around.
I’ll note that Kirk was in the way of the pyro for the beginning of Fuel so they didn’t set the flames off. They only set the fireworks off. When I saw the Ross Halfin event in Seattle, Kirk told us about how he often gets so into the zone while playing that he often forgets to avoid the pyro so the pyro guys are always yelling in his ear to get away from the pyro. Apparently he didn’t listen this time around. Rob was in front of me, James was over the snake pit entrance as usual, and Kirk was over by Lars, where the flames were supposed to shoot out. Thank goodness the pyro guys were on point!
I was curious about what sort of set list we’d get at this show. I figured we’d get the standards, which we did, but it was cool to get the Broken, Beat & Scarred deep cut during Rob and Kirk’s doodle. There’s an Instagram post where the two of them are talking about their upcoming doodles and naming them but various animal stickers and sounds hide what they are saying. I’m wondering if we’re going to get a different deep cut during each doodle at all of the single shows in order to help make up for the type of set list a single show seems to require so that the deep cut fans get something special. We also got Hit the Lights, which I absolutely love to hear live! I love to hear James hit those high notes still and this song will always hold a special place in my heart because it’s the first Metallica song I ever heard. It’s the song that instantly hooked me into Metallica. It was unlike anything I’d ever heard before. During this tour and what is happening in my life right now, hearing this song has a bit of a special meaning but that’s an entirely different blog post topic, which will be written at some point (hopefully this summer after my current semester of classes is over). I was wondering if we were going to get Master of Puppets or Enter Sandman for a closer. When they turned the lights on after Puppets, I thought it was over but was surprised to get Sandman, too.
The show seemed like it was over so fast. I have to do a couple of last minute mentions but they’re by no means any less important. I have to thank Christina for giving me a city pick! She had extras and gave me one. I wouldn’t have one if she hadn’t. I also have to thank her for giving me the green Kirk pick I spotted on the floor below her feet. I pointed it out to her and she picked it up and gave it to me. I hope to pay her back one day for being so kind. Many people would not have done that, so I’m sending lots of love and appreciation out to her for that!
Another highlight of my night was to be able to take pictures of my MetFam friend, Racquel. She was directly across from me in the snake pit. I took some pictures and video of her when James, Rob, and Kirk were in front of her and sent them to her so she’d have them-pictures of her watching them standing right in front of her. I know that when TJ passed photos along to me of me with the guys in front of me while I was in the snake pit I was ecstatic to get them so I wanted to do the same for her.
I also have to mention the security guy in front of my little MetFam group. I don’t know his name but he was awesome! He was grinning, headbanging, and singing throughout the entire Pantera and Metallica sets. He was talking to us about metal bands, joking around with us, handing out water, making sure we were all ok and taken care of, and was on point with catching the crowd surfers. He made the night all the more enjoyable!
Set List
Farewell Syrcuse! Next up for me is Blacksburg!
