Hall of Fame

Grande noite!

Podia escrever qualquer coisa sobre o que aconteceu no passado sábado mas Steffan Chirazi sabe melhor o que diz. (está tudo disponível no youtube) É de louvar o fair play e a boa onda!

..a weekend of uniqueness. Proper uniqueness. The sort that can NEVER be repeated.
We got our invitations to the family reunion a while ago now, and leading up to last night's festivities and tonight's induction ceremony, there was a lot of excitement and the odd ripple of trepidation.

Managers, tour managers, record labels, A&R men, promoters, old OLD skool metalheads from the underground fanzines and media, close friend and family, the relationships between everyone stretched well over two decades in most cases, and it was most certainly emotional. A tremendous thing. Old faces suddenly became new ones again, long lost friends found each other making contact again and vowing to stay in touch, some people had teenage children since the last time they saw their fellow Metallifamily members, and others had just lived through different lives and arrived at a new one. There'd certainly been no need for it. The unifying factor amongst the roughly 150 people who congregated at the House Of Blues on friday night? Metallica. And who else would actually have the magnitude to bring so many members of their family together like this? No-one. It's what this band has always been about, doing the right thing as THEY know it and not as someone tells them it should be.

Metallica.
A unifying force.
An expression.
A family.
A lifestyle.
For us all.

Yeah, you know I'm right when I tell you that we're all family members, that Metallica is about us all (and if you don't believe me, you know you heard Lars Ulrich TELL you that tonight, right). I wasn't sure that Flea was the right man to do the actual induction (I love the man, his work and his band, but I didn't 'get' it when I first heard about it...) halfway through his quite brilliant, ultra-personal and very heartfelt speech, I was screaming YEEAAH and applauding like an Energizer bunny.

He nailed it.

He spoke so well, so fucking ACCURATELY, of the band's power and emotion ('a magical, holy fucking thing'). He conveyed his feelings on first hearing Metallica, their blistering outpourage, their total uniqueness. He stone-cold captured Cliff's aura and spirit and contribution. He spoke truly truly from the heart...I promise you, I'm going to find that speech and reprint it in So What! because it was every bit as definitive as you'd hope a moment like that would be, but the man used phrases like 'cosmic chemistry', and a 'beautiful, violent thing' when referring to first hearing the band.

And to see Ray Burton speak, to see the sparkle still in this man's eyes despite the sadness he has learned to manage, to hear the cheerful dignity and gratitude, it was extremely emotional. He thanked Jan. Cliff's Mum. And he smiled so widely as he did so. Tremendous.

Jason Newsted was about as happy as I'd seen him for many many years at the bash on Friday, and once again as he gave a speech his enthusiasm, his sheer raw enthusiasm and pride at being part of the Metallifamily, at being part of their 'heavy metal ambassadorship' was (for many people) both a tremendous relief and the official end of years riddled with rumored recriminations and anger. Whatever. Not so anymore. Any pettiness of the past was blasted away with water cannons by Jason's presence, by the obvious happiness between all the band members, and by Jason's wonderful speech.


And Lars, James, Kirk and Rob all gave thanks to their loved ones, their friends and their families, but most of all to you. The fans. The large large family which are the reason Metallica were even here. James did reserve his final thank you for the man who called him up and asked him to be in a band, for Lars, his brother, his yin or his yang depending on your perspective, his creative soulmate; the bearhug he gave Lars was long and sweet, emotional, a physical outpouring which really did say more than words ever will.

And then they laid into 'Master Of Puppets' with two bass players before crushing 'Enter Sandman', still with two bass players, and with a balcony going crazy and some suited and booted VIPs standing and playing air guitars...Jason and Rob SHARING A MIKE to bark vocals together...beautiful.

And you see, as I keep on fucking saying, that's what this was all about, it was about YOU, it was about the fact that millions of you have helped keep the family so big and strong that finally, FINALLY, "they" had to take notice. And they had to let them in, to recognize them, to honor them for the overwhelming influence Metallica has had over rock culture and various generations. Bobby Womack and Metallica. Wanda Jackson and Metallica. Jeff Beck and Metallica. To name a few, but the point is that this felt like 1988 all over again, like a band crashing through into a world that previously wouldn't have felt like looking but which could no longer deny the power of their music and it's meaning for it's people.

Ha ha ha, suited and booted, Metallica kicked their way into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with their unique combination of power, love and inclusion.

The jam ('Train Kept A Rollin') after their performance bordered on spectacular if you just consider that Metallica were onstage with Jason, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Joe Perry, Ron Wood and Flea, but for me, the sheer POWER of their own twin-bass induction performance was the most special of all moments, another milestone, another pinnacle and another 'world' conquered (that of LEGITIMATE rock legendary) all on Metallica's motherfucking terms.

It's real late now, 4.15 am, and I'm still trying to wrap my head around everything (it will probably be a few days, and then I'll wanna ask Jeff to let me tweak and nip and tuck and contextualize things more coherently - I hope he tells me to either fuck off or wait and do it in SW!) but it's been quite a weekend. And whether you were there in the auditorium or watching on TV, this one was for YOU TOO BABY!

Indeed, it's been emotional...