Metallica 2009 - Tattoo Trip, Chicago, Indiana | Death Magnetic Tour

Well, I’ve been promising a story about this for a year or two now… Well, better late than never I guess… Thanx to the prodding and encouragement of my friends at Big Rig Media, we have a beautiful new site that is finally user friendly, and I get to share some of my fun stories…So back in 2009 I was invited to tag along and tattoo James Hetfeild on Metallicas Death Magnetic Tour. I’ve known James quite a while and have tattooed him before and have done a couple of art projects for him as well. Yes I know… that’s not normal… Very kool though…Started with a flight to Chicago… First thing I did was go get myself a nice camera. I have never had a real good one and I thought this might finally be a good time for it… I was right… I ended up taking some pretty amazing pics at show.. But first stop, James room. Not sure how high up we were but it was kool tattooing off the window seal, looking down on the city…Next morning was pretty damn kool… I had no idea that we would be taking another trip to Indiana. Met up in lobby and saw the other guys in the band lurking around, then the caravan of black suburbans pull up in front of the hotel. We jumped in and zoomed off to a private gate onto runway and off to the show… Gotta say , that plane ride was one of the most bizarre moments in my life… Pretty kool…We landed In Indiana and went straight to the show… It’s amazing to see how hands on that band is with every aspect of the show. I watched them set up the stage and pyro stuff… Incredible the amount of planning that goes on. I got to cruise around and check it all out… Got a lil sound check in too…Then the show… Got to break in my camera alright. Right there at end of stage. Rotating with full access. I think I must have taken over 300 pics. In between dippin back stage to grab a little snack. I gotta say, the food was one of the most memorable parts of the trip. Pretty amazing to say the least.Like always, Metallica played their guts out. Song after song, they played a blistering 2 hr set.You cant fake this shit… I’ve seen Metallica numerous times over the years. It amazes me how the do it… And the fans…I watched Lars toss his sticks to a fan… These guys must live for those moments…Like James had told me when I got there, Meet up at car at end of show , I did. You don’t want to get “OIL SPOTTED” That’s when you get left behind… And it was back to Chicago..So it wasn’t over yet. We got up next day and did some more tattooing. Busted a kool Rock of Ages piece on James… Couldn’t be more appropriate…I never would have dreamed to take a trip like that… And I’ll never forget it. Been wanting to share for awhile now… Hope you enjoyed my trip too…

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