…was fucking amazing. Getting into the Palladium turned out to be surprisingly difficult for me, though. First, they noticed a small pocket knife I always carry with me. I’ve brought it to the Palladium twice and on four air planes and no one has said anything about it until now. Even after I got rid of it, I came back and they started questioning my pill case and arguing with me over whether it was allowed in or not. What do I look like, someone who is going to shiv a guy at the concert? Seriously, they have better people to be concerned about than me.

Anyway, we arrived just on time for Children of Bodom. I recognized a bunch of their songs but not as many as I would have liked. The set was short because they weren’t the main attraction, but still really solid. Next up was In Flames. Dale and I pushed our way to the front between sets and were two bodies away from the railing for most of their set. They started with Cloud Connected, and the crowd was really, really into it. Other notables included Clayman, Come Clarity and The Mirror’s Truth. Overall, fucking great.

Oh yeah, and then there was Megadeth. Ironically enough, I don’t really know any of their stuff, so I didn’t enjoy the set as much as the other two. Then again, that may have also been because I was drenched in sweat. Sweet.