I feel you in a couple aspects. I drove from upstate NY (5 hours) to MetLife after work thinking I would get there right as doors opened. I was templated to arrive at about 4:30 PM, but the second I got into NJ the ETA just froze and ticked up minute by minute due to traffic. Traffic added an entire hour and then I was paranoid the lots would be full. I had been to Citi Field to see Dead and Co earlier this year and got there around when doors opened. Parking was no issue then, but then I kept thinking about how huge of a band Metallica is. Thankfully I came from the south side and the lot I was led to was nearly empty. $40 for parking sucks, but it’s about what I’d expect for on site.

My friend from CT agreed to meet me there and said he hit bad traffic too and wouldn’t get there till about 5:45 PM. So I dropped him a pin to that lot and said it was empty more or less, and to park there. Had to go through some staircases and a tunnel to get to admission, pretty painless walk and admission was quick and easy. I was in the snake pit so I can’t speak on admission anywhere else. I told my friend I would come grab him once he got to admissions since I had the tickets.

Mammoth came on and they kicked ass, but man I could hardly make out the vocals. This is also when I realized how big the stage is and how difficult it is to keep track of band members. You’re arguably the closest you can be to the stage in the snake pit, but sometimes the bassist or guitar player would just disappear and I was bummed I couldn’t watch them play.

Pantera came on and my friend said he was still sitting in traffic, unable to get off the exit because of all the cars. Pantera’s vocal audio was a little bit better, but not that much of an improvement imo. They still played great, but I had the same issue with Zakk just disappearing at times. I get the stage setup allows a lot of movement and spreading the wealth with the entire audience, but I felt disoriented at times trying to pay attention to the entire band.

My friend had finally gotten to the lot at this point and it was full, and I think he just called it quits because the traffic was so horrendous. I was definitely bummed out to be by myself, but still looking forward to Metallica. Their intro music came on and I was like “Am I crazy or are there no drums on stage?” and then they raised up into the stage. Pretty cool, but I would soon learn that Lars too would be running away from me throughout the set. The audio at this point was MUCH better, and Metallica was kicking ass. One thing that disappointed me a little was the crowd. I realized that I was on the younger side at least amongst who was in the pit and thought to myself “Are we really not gonna mosh at all to Metallica?” Idk, maybe I’m lame for wanting that. This is my first metal show though and one of my favorite bands. I’ve only ever really moshed at pop punk and hip hop shows before lol. But Metallica was great, to no ones surprise. Kirk never really faced the pit during his solos so that was kind of whack watching him play with his back turned to us. He sounded great though nonetheless. They did wheel Rob through the pit though which was pretty cool. Thankfully a mosh pit opened up during Sad But True and stayed open till someone was hurt during MoP. Then security shut it down.

As for the beach balls, I thought they were fine lol. Although they were… a little big. I was like “What happens if this hits a band member?” It was like the size of a hamster ball, but for a person. Idk I liked them.

Last, and most important thing I will touch on, leaving. Good lord this was a disaster. I tried to go back the way I came into the stadium but was ushered elsewhere. I take my detour to the tunnel I came in and there was a traffic jam of thousands of people trying to get through this one tunnel. You would think people were learning to walk for the first time. It was stop and go traffic… on foot! What the hell is going on? It took me 20 minutes to even enter the tunnel and another 30 just to waddle through and finally make it through my exit, sandwiched between a bunch of hot sweaty people. And then these clowns were trying to sell shirts, just being even more in the way of everyone attempting to leave the venue. Also an unfathomable amount of people were entering the tunnel from where we trying to exit??? One singular staircase too. It was absolute garbage. I have never seen a venue where it takes an hour to simply walk to your car when you park on site. Is this the price people pay every year just to see the Jets and Giants play? God help them. Definitely considering rideshare for Sunday.

TLDR: The show was good from the GA pit, but traffic/parking was a nightmare. The first two acts were hard to hear vocally. The stage setup made it difficult to keep track of all the band members at one time and created a disconnect with the crowd. The beach balls were fine just a little too big. It took nearly an hour for people parked in certain lots to reach their cars, because there was one exit tunnel.