WILLIAM. – FIRST CONCERT EVER

In this First Concert Ever segment, the alternative artist, WILLIAM., talks about his first concert ever. You can check out the feature, after the break.

The first real concert I went to was Metallica at Milton Keynes bowl when they headlined the Big Day Out, I think in 1999.

I was a huge fan of the band at the time, the black album was the first album I ever owned and I wore the tape out because I listened to it so much.

None of my friends were as into Metallica as I was and they didn’t want to come so my Mum took me for the day, bless her heart because I was so obsessed with seeing them live. My friends’ older brother had given me a couple of t-shirts from the last time they had been in the UK at the legendary Donnington Monsters of Rock (i still have them), so my Mum and I were sporting these vintage Metallica tee’s.. imagine.

I was so young I only have fleeting memories, I remember getting there early and it being really hot. Placebo and Marilyn Manson were also on the bill along with what must have been a young Queens Of The Stone Age, and Terrorvision, who I knew at the time because they had that song out about tequila! Random song to think of. We sat at the back of the bowl and I fell asleep on the bank in the afternoon. I remember being amazed at how many people were there and that people were actually crowd surfing and throwing beer over each other.

Marilyn Manson’s show was standout, i remember all the band were wearing these weird costumes and Manson had this strange stage presence of which the image has stuck with me to this day. By the time Metallica came on it was probably way past my bedtime. The lights and production on stage were mind blowing, there were pyrotechnics, flames and all kinds of trickery. They played for what seemed like forever and when they finally went off i remember thinking ‘i can’t believe they haven’t played Enter Sandman..’, rest assured they came back on to a sea of heavy metal horn signs and stormed through a rendition of that and a few other’s i can’t quite remember. I do remember what an awesome energy i felt from the crowd as everyone was as into it as i was. The sound those four dudes created on stage was a like a jet plane.. thunderous, and i left with an overwhelming understanding of the power of music.

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(Photo credit: Richard Arnold)