Open letter from an angry Metallica fan

Dear Metallica,

I'm writing to you because I get the sense that you really have no idea where all our rage is coming from and you just don't get it.

You may have been let down by the organizers but once upon a time you performed in s****y venues and the fans still loved you. You let your fans down. And we're really mad at you.

For a lot of us growing up you represented a spirit of personal integrity, of focusing on the important s**t, and of accessing personal rage and using that to hold onto who we were despite having to work crappy jobs and sacrifice all kinds of personal freedom to survive. At the end of the day we could put on our headphones and tear s**t up.

A lot of us were waiting for you for a long long time. We were looking forward to this show and the tickets were probably more than we could afford but we made it happen because we respected you enough to make that exception. Some of us had to buy plane tickets to get the venue and figure out how to save up and figure out accommodation. We took time off from work that we cannot get back.

When we got there we were packed in like sardines and one of your roadies called us b*******s and told us to step back from the barrier. It was not easy to take a step back when there was no space and people on all sides pressing in against you. It's not our fault that your organizers made a crappy barrier. If it got broken it was because your fans wanted to get closer to you. We weren't gonna tear your clothes off. We just wanted to see you up close. We expected you to stage dive, break guitars, and f*****g appreciate the opportunity to connect to 25,000 fans.

We do not get a lot of opportunities to hear bands like you play over here. Also, we work on Saturdays, so expecting us to give up another work day at the drop of a hat was insulting after waiting five hours for you to play.

You were not there so you did not see the so called "riot." It involved a bunch of angry college kids getting up on the stage, pouring water, dry humping the air while giving you and the organisers the finger, setting fire to the organiser's banner, and making a mess of equipment. We've seen you break stuff when you were angry. Are you saying you expect less from your fans? Toward the end of the "riot" people were just tossing stuff around and one kid got up on the stage because cigarettes were banned, lit one up and went "mmmm"... "ahhh..."

We didn't even get to hear an opening band after all of this? Where were they?

I just don't believe you are getting an accurate picture of the event from the news and your crew so, as a once loyal fan, I wanted to set the record straight for you.

Your tech crew did not represent you well. To our minds they behaved like smug, rude, and inflexible douche bags. Maybe you're not used to performing in India but you know what... that's not our fault. We made big compromises to see you... and we do not feel you even tried to meet us half way. If any of you had come out in person and had said a few words that would have made a difference.

All your Indian organiser did was say "Please not to panic. No tension." And the next thing, you know, we were getting pushed toward an exit that was closed so we were all getting squashed in the middle. If you were 20 years old, Metallica... tell me what you would have done?

No one was injured. We were all standing around kind of cheering and most people were filming the thing on their phones.

See... you shouldn't toy with the affection of people who love your music... they will react like homicidal lovers. They will set you on fire.

You get most angry at the people you love, when they let you down. So, if you are still down to earth enough to understand what I'm saying, let me just provide a genuine, straight forward suggestion: Do Bangalore and make sure your crew is happy with the set up well in advance. In India we expect things to go wrong so we double and triple check to be sure. Then guys, please come back to Delhi, and give us a show. We don't want our money back. That's insulting. We want an apology. We want to be reassured that we weren't wrong to care about you as a band. And your organisers can throw in free Metallica t-shirts they should buy from you for each one of us to make up for their bad behaviour.

Heavy metal is supposed to represent a spirit of rebellion and independent expression but it seems like you expect less from your fans. Personally, if I was you, I'd respect the Delhi fans more than ever for not taking this crap. Come back and we'll be able to respect you guys again. We really want to. This really sucks for us. I mean... we're on the verge of just deleting you from our playlists... and with it a whole hell of a lot of memories that connect us to stuff that really matters to us.

I think you just don't get how big a letdown this is for us. It's massive. So fix it. Nothing else matters. Otherwise you guys will have proven you are rock and roll sell outs. I don't want to believe that is true.

Yours,
A reluctantly-soon-to-be-ex-fan
Tara Chowdhry

(Blog courtesy: Inkinn.com)