Metallica Causes Quake
My Time at WUVT and Metallica
Metallica is playing at Virginia Tech? Yeah, this was destined to be a bucket list moment. It was indeed!
Hard to believe I’m going to start another post with memories from the dark dank studios at Virginia Tech’s college radio station WUVT, but that’s where this story starts. I wrote last about my first year at VT when I discovered The Alarm during my first month as an Alt-Rock DJ on the school’s AM station. (Read about that journey here). The following fall, I moved up to the “big time” with a Friday night FM slot hosting Heavy Metal Night. During my first shift, I pulled out a cool looking album cover, Metallica’s Ride The Lightning which had just been released.
I had never heard of Metallica, and this, their second album was my first exposure. I scanned through the album in my headphones while another tune played across the airwaves. Probably Deep Purple – they were my “go to” at that time. As a DJ in the 80’s you sampled an album by lifting and placing the needle ten times and hearing the beginning of each song. The first one to catch my attention was “Trapped Under Ice.” Harder than most stuff I listened to, but it was fresh, aggressive, and damn good music. It became my theme song for that show, and eventually was my opening song every Friday night. It seemed the perfect segue from the guitar-laced classic rock played before my shift started.
Truth be told. I stole the 12” vinyl single promotional release when I left the station. Somehow, I let it slip through my fingers a few years back.
I played a lot of Judas Priest, Krokus, Def Leppard and Iron Maiden, but Metallica had a prominent spot as well. In the ensuing decades, I saw all of those other bands live in concert. Never Metallica.
As a Virginia Tech Alum, I was an always suffering sports fan. I love Hokie sports, and have lived with far too many disappointing season over those 4 decades. One of my favorite things to do (ever) is to attend home football games at Lane Stadium. Hokie fans are passionate, kind and knowledgeable. It’s a shared brotherhood/sisterhood that runs deep. And, for the last 25 years, every one of those games starts with the team taking the field to Metallica’s “Enter Sandman.”
It’s an electric moment that 247 Sports considers the best entrance in college football. Basically, every list of best entrances has VT’s Enter Sandman at, or near the top. Here’s a look if this is news to you.
Over the past 25 years, Metallica has shared some special videos with the Hokie football program and it seemed as though there was a real connection between VT and the band members. There have been rumors for a decade that they’d play a show at Virginia Tech, but nothing ever came to fruition. That all changed this month!
Metallica scheduled a show at Lane Stadium – the first concert ever scheduled there. The school had to make changes to the stadium infrastructure, but they did, and the band brought their full production show with them. It sold out quickly, the only college stadium venue on Metallica’s M72 Tour, and a group of eight of us were right in the middle of the action.
Suicidal Tendencies and Pantera warmed up the crowd as the anticipation grew. We got our first look at the stage in the center of the field. It was a round raceway, with a pit in the center, The Snake Pit, packed with fevered fans. The infield was also filled with fans on all sides, as were the bleachers on all four sides. The band had eight towers constructed on the infield with massive LED screens and copious speaker output. Impressive! Lane Stadium holds 66,000+ fans for football. For this show, we were looking at more than 75,000 eager fans.
The band always plays AC/DC’s “It’s a Long Way to the Top (If You Want To Rock ‘ Roll)” to get the crowd revved up, before taking the stage to Ennio Morricione’s “Ecstasy of Gold” as they take the stage. This night started like every other show, but halfway through “Ecstasy of Gold,” the screens flickered, the song staggered, and the opening notes to “Enter Sandman” played over the PA and the Virginia Tech logo appeared on all of the big screens. The crowd went crazy and the band took the stage in a fashion similar to the tradition the football team has made famous. We even got a few “Let’s Go Hokies” chants.
From there it was a typical Metallica show, kicked off with a killer version of “Creeping Death.” We were treated to a few classics, “For Whom the Bell Tolls” and “Ride the Lightning” before the band dug a little deeper for a few tunes. The band was sharp, the setlist was stacked, and the show was stellar. Guitarist Kirk Hammett and Rob Trujillo jammed for a bit in the middle of the show and dug deep for a rare version of “Hell and Back” (first time in over a decade) as well as a tiny “Enter Sandman” tease.
Throughout the night, multiple band members interacted with the crowd over the mic as they circled the stage. Frontman James Hetfield talked about Virginia Tech a handful of times, called out head coach Brent Pry and kept the crowd engaged. It’s an important point, too, because I’m sure many of those fans were there simply to hear the last song. At one point, Hetfield asked the crowd how many fans were at their first Metallica show – it was the vast majority.
Their closing set of songs was fantastic, and after a powerful version of “Master of Puppets.” Hetfield took the mic and led the crowd in a massive “Let’s Go Hokies” chant.
Check out that moment here:
After a couple of rounds of call and answer with the salivating fans, Hammet, played the opening chords to their closing song, and Lane Stadium went absolutely insane. The crown jumped in unison and made such a ruckus, that they actually triggered an earthquake reading on a nearby seismograph! There were a few sweet singalong moments and the crowd poured as much energy back onto the stage as they received from the band.
One more peek:
After the song closed, with the lights on, each band member took the mic and thanked the fans, with two of them commenting they were now Virginia Tech’s new house band. Fun stuff. It was a great end to a once-in-a-lifetime night.
There were a few goosebump moments, and believe it or not more than a few tears. Just one special night on a special campus for an awesome football community. “Let’s Go…”
