The Sphere as a Metaphor for America
Last night, videos of Metallica started to flood my Facebook Reelz feed. Not from the band itself, but from entities like Visit Las Vegas and The Venetian.
When I went to bed, I whined to my wife, "I wish I wasn't deaf, I would've like to see Metallica at the Sphere." Then I paused, "even if I could hear, I wish I had $10,000 laying around the house to go see them."
Editor's Note: Metallica Tickets at the Sphere START at $1,500. Since I live in Cleveland, the rest of the estimate was airfare and motel.
When I woke up this morning, I had mostly shook the self-pity from the cobwebs of my mind.
Then I went back to Facebook and the first dozen or so Reelz were from celebrities with iPhones posting their videos of their favorite Metallica songs..... at the Sphere.
My favorite band? It's well documented that it's from the Second Wave of American Punk, the vastly underrated Alice Donut.
And everyone always tells me the same thing "if they're so great, how come I never heard of them?"
Because you had to FIND Alice Donut, no one ever sold them to you.
But I'm not here to bash Metallica, I LIKE Metallica. Back in the day, you had to FIND Metallica too, not unlike an obsessed collector. They weren't played on the radio, there was a certain stigma associated with Metal Bands at the inception of the genre.
Around the time of the Black Album though, someone figured out how to market Metallica to the masses, just like the Rolling Stones were sold to the Boomers.
Last month, Alice Donut played a rare live show at a small club for a Remembrance of Life celebration. Cost to see them? You had to be a friend of the band.
Yesterday, Metallica played the hits at a 2 billion dollar concert venue with state-of-the-art visual effects coupled with the live sound of one of metal's most historic acts.
And I realized what part of America I lived in.....
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