Monday, September 18, 2006

I woke up this Sunday and found myself at a Slayer's concert: The Director's Cut


ok, here's my story about what happened on sunday afternoon/night, when edilma and i went to the slayer concert. sorry for the length of this blog. i got carried away. AGAIN. stop it.
...
"wanna go to slayer? i can get you half-priced tickets". when a friend of mine said these words, i really wasn't sure if i wanted to go. i started analyzing my school days when i wore all black clothes (i still do, shut up), a black monster t-shirt with some unreadable logo from a band that growls because i guess they were angry at the world, and i was prettry pissed at everybody. first instinct was to say "no way, why would i wanna go there?", but then i thought, it could be fun. i'm old enough not to take it as seriously as i did back then and, let's be honest, in their thrash/speed metal genre, slayer are gods... they are important. so... sure, let's go. but... who with?


of course, i wans't going to go alone. i'm scared of being alone in the middle of the typical (venezuelan) metal fans. so i started asking everyone if they'd give it a go, just for the heck of it. but nobody. everyone told me i was crazy. and then... i accidentally found a perfect concert-mate... our own beloved edilma. when i mentioned that i was looking for someone to go to slayer with, the word "interesting" flipped from her mouth (or rather her fingers). this shocked and surprised me, and then of course i asked her if she'd be willing to go, and she agreed.
we decided to meet at a mall, right next to the donut seller. it was inevitable that we sealed our concert day with a donut each, chocolate frosting with colored chips for her, just frosting chocolate for me. what's more metal than donuts? beats me. we took a taxi to the venue, and were a little excited/scared of the experience. well no, we weren't scared, but we were curious of how it would all be. when we arrived, a sea (ok, a river) of black long haired, angry looking people were arriving at the place, and edilma and i felt a little out of place, especially since our t-shirts were red and burgundy, respectively. my friend hadn't arrived, so we just had to stand there and wait. suddenly, it started to rain and we had to go under the umbrella of a snack seller. edilma bought some gum and we just waited for the rain to stop. one of the most bizarre moments of the day happened when one of the seller's friend told her "but are you f*cking that guy? you're f*cking him, ain't cha?"... ed and i just looked at each other and tried to act as if we hadn't heard anything. "so, you ARE fucking him, aren't you?"... and the seller answered "no, i'm not". "swear it... swear it on your seven children." "i swear it on my TEN children". ed and i just had to turn around and look at some building, trying to hide the laugh and trying to move our minds away from that awkward moment. just beautiful. after the rain stopped, we got out of there, and just talked and talked about the most bizarre things you could talk about in a metal concert (like my science thesis .... duh!)


ok, night fell upon us, and my friend still hadn't arrived, but then i received that call. he was there. thank g-d. we met with him, and he gave us the tickets. we were happy. i think. no, just kidding. we were. we had tickets to see the concert from afar, but then our friend told us he had tickets for the arena. i asked him if there were seats in the arena zone, because we didn't feel like standing up in the moshpit. he told me there were. great. we got cheap arena tickets. everything looked sweet. we go in, and the venezuelan opening act was finishing its set, and there were no lines to get in. perfect. when we get inside. the arena zone didn't have seats. shoot. we had to stand in the posh pit. not great. the place was full of metalheads and there we were, stading almost with our backs to the wall. just in case the violent fans started to get... well, violent.


slayer's backdrop was funny. a badly drawn jesus christ with no arms, wounded, with the band members' severed head lying on the floor (next to mother theresa's head, nice touch, guys ;) and what looked like the capitol building in the back. it was funny. we enjoyed it. then, the lights went out... it was show time. before the band played the first note, a fan from the second floor, jumps to the arena, and the security people get him out quickly. nice one, no slayer for you, big guy. then another one falls, and he injured his ankle, he can't walk. security guys take him out. beautiful. this is like watching a vin diesel movie, but somehow i'm enjoying it. slayer start spitting out their music... really loud, really violent, i get those highschool gumps in my belly, starting to remember why i liked them. edilma's face had this weird smile, i still felt a little guilty for "dragging" her into that place. but hey, she dragged herself, no, no worries for me :P
ok, so we buy two beers, keep enjoying the show. the fans are really feeling the music. that makes us happy. they're enjoying it, they deserve to be there. not us, we're just at an amusement ride, trying to have a different sunday (oh, yes it was). but these guys are really feeling everything, singing the words to the songs, and it's just lovely. i liked that. we see a guy who was asking for money outside to buy a ticket, and yes, he's in... even better, he recognizes us, and thanks us with a big smile on his face for the money we gave him. yes, we're going to heaven.


ok, i admit it, i recognized some of the songs from my highschool days. i tried to give little useless trivia about the band and the songs so that little edilma would get soaked (even more) in the world of metal. also, not being super slayer fans, the chit chat between and during songs was necessary, so that we wouldn't get tired among all the monotony you can experience in this type of concerts.


among the songs the band played (and i recognized) were "war ensemble", "blood red", "dead skin mask" (about ed gein, hi uta :P), "south of heaven", "die by the sword", "raining blood" and "angel of death", all with their gloriously cheesy metal titles.
the concert finished, we walked out and tried to find a taxi. our ears had club disease, and we were yelling a lot, trying to understand what we were saying. it took around an hour and a half to find a taxi (ed tried to move her connections, and we were very close to being saved by some of her co-workers, but sadly, it didn't work). afterwards we went to grab a bite to eat at burger king. we were the last people to get in before they closed. when we finished we were going to get a taxi, but just decided to walk home, it was only like four blocks (big ones). we talked about david lynch on the way and .... i can't remember what else :P . we got to edilma's street, said good bye, and edilma told me to send her a message when i got home. cute. i walked one more big block to the mall, grabbed yet another taxi to my house in the hills. i arrived, took a shower and fell asleep... listening to PULP. enough metal for one day :)


i don't think bono is thinking about a slayer concert when he says it's a beautiful day.... but for me, it was.


PS: oh, and sorry again edilma, for leaving your umbrella in the taxi :$ sssshhhhh
PSS: ed, any other weird experience that i might have left out, please spank me and share it with everyone.

11 comments:

Edilma said...

Well, that sounds about right ;)

Nilz said...

ok. i'm glad :)

Uta Refson said...

Well hell! Sorry I missed that!
I would have had the perfect thing to wear!
Ah Slayer.........the memories.....
so young, so angry......
Thnaks for the brilliant tale dear Nilz. Let me know if you are taking in a metal show again. ;)

Edilma said...

P.S. You forgot "Mandatory Suicide"

Nilz said...

oh edilma, that is so true :o how could i forget that. remember the chorus? no? ok, me neither :)

Nilz said...

uta... i hope i don't go to a metal concert any time soon. i need at least three, four days to rest :D ssshhhhh

Anonymous said...

What a great post about your concert experience! Now I'm hungry for donuts....

Anonymous said...

Wow Nilz I wonder were your mind was when you wrote this tale!? So much for a Punk dark concert in Caracas, I don't even think they know of this group,lol and David Lynch, jeje. Nah don't think people there are that violent, they'd just chill and enjoy the music. Best concerts I've been to have been there (btw), best vibes ever. As for taxis, what hills do you live in? Caracas is not as bad as people picture it, and people are so so nice I hear.
Cool reading though.

Nilz said...

luckystar - actually slayer is very well known here. venezuelan has a very big metal fanbase. and about where i live... it's a nice zone, no question about it, but believe me, it's uphill ;) i wouldn't walk up if my life depended on it :)

cheers.

Anonymous said...

Good morning Nilz, what? No excercise? That's not good, walk. So I guess you never climb El Avila, everyone does in Caracas, shame on you!

Always joking Nilz, have a nice day!

Nilz said...

luckystar - hahahaha, no way. El Avila and I respect each other very much ;) I don't go up, he doesn't crumble all over me ;)