Not Exactly a Traditional Irish Music Sesson.

We thought we could get a few more rocks laid before Brandon and I had to hit the road but it was raining all morning long. I got a load of wash done so I could travel with some clean clothes. Something I haven’t known for a while. I think Ian was very sad that we were leaving. After all of our time with him on the well and little field trips, he wasn’t going to have anyone to play with no more. I was sad too. Donegal now has a special place in my heart. From trad sessions to birthday parties with Polish Anna, I will never forget the great times we had. Helen was so helpful as well. She made sure Lindsey and Ramsey were getting all set up for the start of the hitching adventure in Dunfanaghy. She even took some group photos of us in front of the caravan jumping into the air. Before I knew it, we were on our way to Strabane to catch the 247 bus to Dublin. Brandon and I gave everyone hugs and then boarded our bus. After a quick wave out of the window they were out of sight and we were on our way to see the greatest band on earth!

It took about 3 and one half hours to get to Dublin. Once we arrived, we only had to walk a couple of blocks to our hostel which was a good deal. I was in no mood to haul that pack around. The best part about getting there was the shower. OH MY GOD the shower! Finally! We had hot water! Something we had not been accustomed to for quite some time now. I couldn’t believe how great it felt. Brandon was speechless as well.

I slept pretty well for how excited I was to see Avenged Sevenfold. We got out of the hostel around 9:30 in the a.m. and had 3 hours to kill before we could catch the first bus to Marlay Park at 12:30. We went on a mission to find a cheap iPod cable since I had left mine at Feddyglass. My iPod was dead and needed to be charged very badly. It took a while but I eventually settled at €10.00 for one. We then went to a liquor store so I could get a couple small bottles of Jameson to sneak into the concert. Perfect boot size pint bottles. We then shot over to Georges Quay to get our bus passes and were on our way to Marlay Park in no time. They were playing Metallica the entire ride over although I was playing Alice in Chains and Avenged. The bus dropped us off near the entrance and near a Lidl store which was a good thing because we needed to chow down before going through the gates. There was no way I was going to blow a ton of money on concert food. We got some sammies and brewskies and hit up a lawn with a ton of others to have some lunch and get a buzz on before going into the grounds.

We got caught with a 2 liter bottle of water and had it confiscated from us but they never found the boozeJ. Suck on that Guarda! We found a spot in the grass to chill out on for a while until the Glider came out and then we got up as far as we could. They had a separate section for the mosh pit area that only the first 250 people in the grounds got wristbands for. I was not happy. We were still close but I wanted to be right up front for Avenged!

Glider was actually really good but I was not impressed with Mastodon. Not my kind of band. I was really looking forward to Alice in Chains. I couldn’t wait to hear the new lead singer who ended up blowing my mind. He was amazing. He sounded almost identical to the original but more soulful. I was so glad I got to see them. It turned out Thin Lizzy couldn’t make it for some reason so Avenged was next in line. Of course, they came out with Critical Acclaim which I was able to get on camera! One of the best intro songs ever! They were UNBELIEVABLE! I still can’t believe that I got to see them in Dublin. They even played Eternal Rest. I had never heard this song live before. The coolest part was when they had a fan come on stage to sing Pantera’s “Walk” with the band. He was actually really good. Even Avenged was blown away. I tried to record it, and I thought that I did, but my camera ran out of memory. The rest of the performance was simply spectacular. I was surprised that there were no ballads performed though. Metallica rocked the house of course with some new stuff and plenty of old stuff. The fireworks were a great touch too. I have never really been impressed with Metallica until I saw them live. Well done boys.

After two pints of Jameson and one sweet ass concert, I was stumbling with Brandon back to the bus. We boarded and headed back to the center of Dublin. We made a visit to the BK lounge before calling it a night and then went to our hostels. Brandon had booked a different hostel for this night because the one we stayed at the night before was all booked up when Brandon was making reservations. I got to stay at the same place as he went down the street to his new hostel and went to sleep. I was exhausted. I looked at all of the pictures and watched the videos I took before going to bed and wished I could go back for seconds. I was asleep in moments and ready for my venture to Sligo to begin the hitchhiking extravaganza.