Metal Mom

To begin with, let me make it clear that I hadn't really thought things through when I expressed my enthusiasm for accompanying my son (Ridge grad, '07) and some of his friends to the "Mayhem Festival," with the metal band Megadeth as the headliner, in Camden on Sunday.

I immediately backpedaled. I would only go if tickets weren't too expensive, or if he couldn't get enough of his friends (also Ridge grads from the same year) to join in on the trip.

I even made age-appropriate plans with another adult to spend some rare open hours on a Sunday to visit a winery in New York's Hudson Valley. A cool, calm, sophisticated way to spend an afternoon.

But yet, I DID want to see Megadeth. I'm no dyed-in-wool metal fan, but over the years, my son has regaled me with enough Dave Mustaine tales that I feel like I almost know the guitarist who is the heart and soul of Megadeth.

My favorite — and one of the most memorable stories — was about when Dave was a part of Metallica, and all the California guys (Dave is a Southern California dude) rented some sort of closed van or truck to head east to spread their career.

Supposedly, after three days shut in with Dave, the band arrived in the east only to inform the intrepid guitarist that he was fired!

Okay, if this reporter had a chance to ask Dave one question, it obviously would be, "What really happened in the back of that truck?"

Anyway, since high school, my son has spent many an hour talking about Dave Mustaine on say, drives to Connecticut to visit my parents, and during other tender mother-son moments.

Not to mention, at the Courier-News, one of my colleagues had been a manager of heavy metal bands in a previous life. From him, I got to hear some FIRSTHAND stories about Dave Mustaine.

So, I wasn't totally sorry when the winery plans fell through, and one of my son's friends backed out from buying the fourth ticket in the bargain bundle he'd purchased for the trip at the Susquehanna Bank Center on the Camden waterfront.

But then, when I realized that the stars were aligned for this really to happen, there were other things to consider. I didn't want to scorch sitting in the sun on a Camden "lawn," so I packed a sun hat, sunblock, drinks and snacks, towel to sit on and even some reading so I wouldn't bother the guys too much. After all, I was sure I might not be interested in all of the "Mayhem Festival" bands.

I even for one brief moment thought about bringing an umbrella to shield either from sun or rain, but restrained myself. Was I going to a metal concert, or a day on the beach at Spring Lake?

"But if I go, you have to stick with me much of the time," I told my son, who wanted reimbursement for that prepaid ticket. 

He agreed he wouldn't abandon me totally in an (anticipated) mosh pit. "You might get stabbed," he cheerfully informed me.

Lovely. Actually, when we finally arrived later than even planned — since we had to turn around to retrieve forgotten tickets after about 25 minutes down the road — I didn't really need a sun hat. And the crowd wasn't overly wild. In fact, a sizeable minority were my age, or older.

Except — most of those women, especially those obviously over 30, sported tattoos somewhere. I was particularly impressed by a tattoo of a bloodied meat cleaver on one female leg calf. I guess she plans to wear pants to work for the rest of her life!

One woman dressed in relatively restrained clothing brushed up against me early in the evening, and I couldn't help but comment that she and I seemed to be the only women in our relative age category without a tattoo.

She tapped on her shoulder, covered by a tee shirt. "I have one here," she said.

My son did note that he did not feel I was dressed properly for a metal concert. I had a black skirt, and black shiny flip-flops, but it was the rosy shirt that really failed his metal fashion detector standards. Except that finally after about an hour of watching others who seemed to be potential moms and also metal fans, my son agreed that maybe it was okay if his own mother was NOT wearing the typical garb of a heavy metal mama.

We arrived to hear Trivium, a band with heavy thrash metal influences — a bit much! But I bet Jake that the 50ish Mustaine might be happy to play earlier in the evening so he wouldn't have to stay out all night. I was right, and the band came on stage at about 7 p.m.

And how was Megadeth after all this planning and waiting? The band, and Dave, were GREAT! 

Mustaine and bandmates played hot, tight guitar licks and really got the crowd moving. (But no mosh pits!) He still has that rock-star blond hair and lots of energy now that he reportedly has abandoned some of his wilder ways.

I can't promise I won't be tempted to see Megadeth again someday, but I don't think I'll become a regular on the metal music circuit. For one thing, I think I'll leave my son to private time with his friends, while I go back to doing things with my own.

Unless, of course, I get invited to the next metal concert by Robert Downey, Jr.