Call it timing or being lucky but two days after my arrival Sepultura and In flames, two of my favourite bands, held a gig at the Ambassador in Dublin. I couldn’t let an opportunity like this escape so I ordered tickets though ticketmaster from home.

Yesterday, being my first day at work I asked the boss to leave at 5 to catch the bus, only to realize that my PC's clock was 15 minutes late and it was already 5.10pm. Thinking that I had no chance to catch the URBus to the village but still hoping that it might be late I left the office just the same. Just as I passed the security pass through what looks like an airport scanner, I saw a normal Dublin bus outside. Cheering my good luck I sprinted to catch it without considering where the bus was going. Surprise, surprise, the bus didn't pass through my village and after an hour hearing two Italians discuss their evening together and kissing noisily, I ended up in the city center near the Ambassador theatre.

Outside the theatre were the gig was to be held, there was a long line of teenagers all rigorously dressed in black with chains, pentagrams and the usual attire. Guess how many light coloured sweaters I've got with me? One. Now guess what I was wearing? Yes, that's right I was wearing the off-white sweater today. Looking like a geek doesn't cut it well with a heavy metal crowd so I decided to risk going home to change.

The trip to the village and back to the center took me one and a half hours and at around 7.30, dressed in black and without a satchel I went to collect my preordered ticket at the box office. I was seated upstairs in the balcony of this not so big theatre away from the teenage crowd standing downstairs.

I arrived early enough to listen to Sepultura's sound check which was already enough to get me goose pimples. At 8 Sepultura kicked off as the guest band and they really kicked ass. I know there isn't Max and I would have gladly paid 3 times the ticket price to hear him, but it was still a great show. From the original line up there were only Andreas Kisser and Paolo Jr. because Igor Cavalera didn't tour with the band.

Sepultura played a lot of their classic songs like Refuse Resist, Arise, Beneath the Remains, Trooper of Doom, Altered State and Roots which was cool, although significantly different from the originals because of the vocals. It must be strange for Derrick Green to see the crowd rocking really hard at these songs and then turn speechless at the chorus of the newer stuff. I though that they weren't going got play any of Max's stuff but luckily I was wrong. I totally digged watching Andreas Kisser play the guitar and Roy Mayorga was also very good on the drums as the tour drummer.

In flames also gave a great show. They played several songs from different albums and even though they were coming from a long set of consecutive gigs they played a long set about 1 and ½ hours. Their lights were original and quite complex for a non mainstream heavy metal band. The crowd really liked the band and it's evident that the Swedish band grew a very large fan base in these last few years.

The organization of the event was impeccable and very effective. It was amazing watching a complete set being changed between bands in half an hour. The tiny gigs I've been to take that time to change the band members let alone a complete set.

Punchline: Gig kicked ass and was worth every cent.