It was a Monday in late September 2024 when this story starts. It was the day of the Metallica fan club presale for tickets to the recently announced additional leg of their M72 World Tour. Finally, after more than fifteen years of not having a concert locally, Metallica had included a no repeat weekend takeover in Tampa for two concerts and multiple events for the day in between the concerts. Not knowing the future held the story that is to unfold, I purchased great seats for the two night option for both Tampa shows. For this presale only the two night option was available as single show tickets would go on sale in January 2025. With the presale being at noon for local venue time, this allowed me to acquire Tampa tickets in the first wave of those in the waiting queues online, then I got back to work until it was local time in Denver and I was curious what tickets would be available in their time zone’s once I got past the waiting queue. Curiosity turned into an impulse buy once I saw that what were nearly the same seats I had in Tampa were available for the Denver weekend. That impulse buy turned into a painful hit to the bank account that day. With travel to and lodging in Denver to still plan, I remember thinking after that impulse buy how worth the expense was because how freaking awesome will it be to see Metallica four times in one month!
Fast forward to Friday, May 16th, 2025. While hanging out at Tampa Bay’s ROCK Station 98ROCK’s pre-show party for the AC/DC concert, I was chatting with some of the station’s staff. They asked if I would be available and interested in doing the photos for the station’s upcoming Metallica takeover weekend, which was just three weeks away. Having been denied every time I had previously applied for photo credentials with Metallica, I had followed this current leg of their M72 World Tour closely after seeing what seemed like more outlets were getting approved for media coverage. I had hopes, and before this conversation at the AC/DC event I had doubled down on my chances requesting each of the two Tampa shows from a different media outlet. 98Rock, being one of the main local sponsors of the weekend take over vastly increased the probability of approval to a near certainty. Yes, absolutely yes I am available!!!
After the life high from finally seeing AC/DC live wore off, and how absolutely kick ass that show was, that is when I knew I needed a longer lens for Metallica. All the posted outlet pictures of this leg I had seen were distance shots, some cropped in, but still, it was not from a photo pit just a few feet away from the band members. I purchased a 180-600mm monster zoom lens and had more than a week to practice with it and get used to its feel. A couple of days later I decided to dip into my savings and upgrade my camera body. With potential tariffs ahead and a decent sale price, it was a no-brainer, right? Potentially (what I considered) a once in a lifetime opportunity to achieve (again, what I consider) the freakin Holy Grail of my experiences behind the lens, I wanted to be ready, and well equipped.
That is when maximum anxiety started kicking in. I had more than a week to put hands on the new camera. It was the next model of the camera I have had for over two years so nearly everything was identical with the menus and in no time I had matched up my pre-sets between the two cameras. I was ready to go. The day before the Friday show, in an eleven minute span that afternoon I received the photo approval for both concerts AND I received an email saying that I had won Snake Pit tickets for the Friday show from entering the band’s online fan club contest! The Snake Pit is the coveted area inside of the band’s massive circular stage. It allows for the absolute closest access to band while they are up there kicking ass on stage. The Snake Pit ticket allotment sold by the band usually instantly sells out as soon as the tickets go on sale and the secondary market ticket are usually in the thousands of dollars per ticket so that was a BIG win even though I knew I was not going to be able to utilize that access for most of the night.
Thankfully, included in the media approval email was also a parking pass. Like the planner that I (normally) am, I had acquired Denver parking for both of those shows the day the stadium put the passes on sale. Somehow, I had overlooked parking for the local shows, and of course when I looked anything close to the stadium was sold out or obnoxiously overpriced on the secondary market. The day of was finally here and I was able to focus on literally nothing at work that day. I left work a little early and arrived and parked at the stadium at about 2:30 PM and immediately headed to one of the official merchandise trailers, the nearest being in between where I was parked and the stadium. There was hardly any line and I was able to get the Tampa event design shirt which was specific for that day’s show, then I headed over to the radio station’s preshow event.
98 ROCK’s pre Metallica event was fantastic. I got an iconic shot of local concert legend Medicine Man, I had several friends stop by to check out the event and say hi. There was a live performance by local band Invasion 66, which is made up of three teenagers who absolutely shredded playing Metallica covers. Soon the time arrived to head over to the stadium and get checked in and my credentials squared away. Several familiar faces were awaiting as I entered the designated media entrance and had no issues obtaining my pass. Soon our group was led deep into the labyrinth of hallways of the stadium to our prep area room and had about a half hour to gear up and chat amongst ourselves.
Ten minutes before showtime our group of five (eventually six) was led out of the stadium tunnels to our position near the soundboard and I could see that Ice Nine Kills were set up on the opposite side of the stage from where we were. Being ground level I could not even see their drummer. This is where having that monster zoom was worth the expense and I was able to get some decent shots of the band members and their cast of characters, minus their drummer darn it. Those first three songs always go by in the blink of an eye and soon we were ushered back into the stadium tunnels to await the next band. It felt like the night was already off to a rough start.
Limp Bizkit had better positioning in relation to where we were set up but still being ground level the increased amount of heads, hands and phones in the growing crowd on the field level did not help. After those three songs went by in a flash, a fellow photographer friend offered his extra stool which he had in his car’s trunk, in the same media lot I had parked in. Even with ample time before Metallica started, it was a mad dash back to the media parking lot to his car. Looking back after the show I realized if not for the chain of events of my friend’s neighbor putting a stool at the curb for the trash and him grabbing it as a backup, mindlessly putting it in his car’s trunk a few weeks ago and then offering it to me I would have had little to no usable Metallica content from the first night.
Ten minutes before Metallica would take the stage we were ushered back out to our same area. This is where I took a minute to take in the moment, to reflect back on the journey that led me to standing on this stool, monster zoom at the ready. I knew ‘Creeping Death’ was the opening song and after taking a few crowd shots I tried my best to relax. These next few minutes are where I somehow must have accidentally hit some touchscreen focus setting on my new camera and set the focus point to the bottom corner just as Metallica hit the stage. This could not have happened at a worse time as I could not figure out how to set it back quickly. This had never happened with my other camera and now I am losing precious seconds while Metallica is jamming away under fantastic lighting.
Talk about stress level rising. I switch to my other camera and realize I made the wrong decision on which to have as my second lens. I thought a 225mm lens reach would have reached far enough, but it just did not. Max stress level is in full effect and now I find myself back on my new camera struggling to find the band members across that big stage utilizing the absolute worst technique possible trying to focus from the bottom corner up. As what always happens, those first three songs are over in what feels like an instant. Now comes the mad dash to get back to the prep room and grab the rest of my gear for the even madder dash to get everything out to my car and get back into the stadium and find my way into the Snake Pit.
During that mad dash to the car, I for sure did not feel happy with my anticipated results of those photos. Everyone is most critical of their own work and for now I tried to just focus on the task at hand. Get back inside the stadium and find that Snake Pit entrance. This process turned into an incredibly frustrating experience getting down onto the general admission floor because my ticket was for a seat and the closest gate to my car did not have the necessary wristbands for floor access and no one working at the gate had any idea what the Snake Pit was. I finally found someone who understood my plight and she escorted me down to the field.
I must say, once I stepped foot inside that Snake Pit it was like I was in a whole different world. From this vantage point, the guys in the band are mere feet away from you, inches in some cases. When the band played ‘Fuel’ the heat from the flames was the most intense heat I had ever felt at a concert, we were that close to the fire mitting from the stage. Each note of each song was its own incredible rush in the Snake Pit for me. When I heard the intro to my favorite Metallica song, ‘Blackened’, start it was surreal and I tried my best to savor every moment of that song. With a view like no other, looking up and around at seventy thousand people, it truly was and is a memory I will cherish forever.
I knew that after the show the band members would circle the stage throwing out handfuls of guitar picks so it was a no-brainer to stay and just wait out the traffic. During the frenzy that accompanies the pick shower, I was able to get hands on one of the picks that had the show date printed on one side and a duck with a pirate eye patch on the other side. One of those times when I was under the handful of picks thrown out and I was able to get my foot down on one to pick up once the mayhem ended. I took a few minutes to wander around to see if possibly any picks on the ground had been missed and then security sectioned off the stadium forcing me out an exit on the opposite side of the stadium. I made the walk over to my car and got out my camera and sat on the back of my car doing a first look through the Metallica shots. Traffic went nowhere fast and it was literally an hour and fifteen minutes before I even tried to get out of the parking lot. About halfway home, something irritated my shoulder and I reached under my shirt to scratch the area and discovered a Metallica pick! Somehow it had landed on me and stuck to the sweaty mess that I was. The fact that it lasted that whole walk from the Snake Pit to my car and hour plus standing in the parking lot makes it that much more of a cherished item.
Saturday morning arrived and I went through the photos and sent in my best shots to 98ROCK then packed my gear up to head to the Hard Rock in Tampa where three different ticketed Metallica Weekend Takeover events were happening. I took photos of 98ROCK’s Program Director and Morning Drive host, AJ, interviewing Tony Squindo who was discussing his contributions to Metallica’s artwork over the years. It was a fascinating look into the mind and life of a very humble artist, and I saw afterwards that one of the pictures I submitted for this event and posted to 98ROCK’s social media was re-posted to Metallica’s Instagram page!
I return home to rest and prep for tomorrow after what has already been a whirlwind twenty seven hours after arriving at the stadium yesterday. In my preparations for tomorrow’s show, I made that second lens switch, resolved the corner focus issue on the new camera body and made a personal vow to knock it out of the park the next evening. There was no other option as I would probably never have this opportunity again! Arriving at the stadium even earlier than on Friday, again I went directly to the same merchandise trailer to acquire today’s event design shirt. Alas, I found my size of that shirt already sold out. I opted for a different design, but really…? It is 2PM in the afternoon and already sold out of the feature shirt design at the official merchandise trailer so early? I made my way over to the station’s pre-show event and started snapping away of the people having fun and getting ready. After seeing my pictures of the preshow event from Friday on the station’s social media pages a few more of my friends came and stopped by to say hi. While there was no live band for this event, there seemed to be more people than on Friday and just like two days before at the pre-show event, the electricity in the air was of excitement for what was to come.
When I was heading into the stadium for Metallica night two, I mentally walked myself through how I wanted the night to go. Once inside our prep room, I sent my fellow photographer friend from Friday another thank you message for the stool, as tonight I would be above the level ground with the general admission crowd and their outstretched arms from the start. For this evening, there were only four of us and I was the only repeat customer from the Friday group. Once we are escorted out for the first band, Suicidal Tendencies, we are directed to the same spot and my first test was confirming that the second lens I switched to was long enough. Then I took a minute to catch my breath and look around and notice that the band’s drum kit was right in front of us, but facing in towards the Snake Pit. At least tonight, I could see the drummer of the opening band. It does not matter who the band is, somehow time goes the fastest when I am behind the lens for three songs. Once we were escorted back inside and I had a chance to look at pictures, my confidence was much higher that my night’s overall result would be a much better effort than Friday.
Soon it was Pantera time and I was ready. Our group was led back to our spot and as set starts and for the three songs we were out there for they used too much stage smoke I thought. I do not think the smoke adds to the visual enhancement of the show either in the stands as a fan or behind the lens. Still, once back inside after my initial review of their photos, my mental image of the night I had hoped for was on track. That second lens switch made a big difference, going from a 35-150mm to 18-400mm, a lower light sacrifice to obtain the distance zoom . Soon it was time to head out for Metallica. One final time this weekend we were led out to our spot. I took those few minutes before Metallica started to look around and focus and enjoy the moments of what I consider to be my crowning achievement behind the lens, appreciating all the times I had wished and hoped for this opportunity…deep breaths, relax…here we go!
Lars started in the same position as he had in the Friday show in relation to our position so there was already some familiarity. The size of the stage did not seem as daunting that night at that moment. Metallica hit the stage without any focus or distance issues to contend with it was a much calmer three songs for me, which again went by in an instant. When we were led out for Metallica, we had all of our gear with us so it was a quicker, more direct exit once we finished up and a more relaxed mad dash to get my gear stowed in the car and head back into the stadium. I went back in the stadium and tried to find that day of event shirt at three different merchandise booths, to no avail. With this being a work night and wanting to get my pictures submitted I reluctantly made the adult decision to head out early knowing I still had the Denver shows later in the month to enjoy. I had my photos reviewed and submitted to 98ROCK before midnight and was on-time to work at 6:30AM the next morning.
I was and still am ecstatic over the results of my second night’s photos and received many on air props from the 98ROCK on-air personalities over the next few days for both the concert and the pre-show event photos. Realizing how fortunate I was to have that ‘do-over’ opportunity, I foresee nothing that could ever top that experience. I freaking got to photograph Metallica kicking ass! Twice! The physical media credentials I received and the picks I acquired over the weekend are now the prized possessions of my memorabilia collection.
See the Friday pre-show photos here.
See the Sunday pre-show photos here.
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