by Jacqueline Dodd

Created on: October 19, 2009   Last Updated: October 20, 2009

A few years back, I was a loud, proud, full blown metalhead. My taste in music has changed as I've gotten older and I now prefer calmer, quieter genres, but back then I lived and breathed metal. One of my favourite subgenres was black metal and I'd gone from listening to the more well known "gateway" bands, as I called them, to the lesser known bands that I discovered along the way as I delved into the history of the genre. That said, when I heard that my "gateway" into black metal, Cradle Of Filth, would be coming to Toronto to play a show, I was determined to get tickets.

Originally a friend said that since he was also planning to attend, he'd bring my sister, my boyfriend and myself down with him in his car. That way we could all go together and not have to go through the hassle of switching buses, getting on the subway and riding streetcars in a city none of us were too familiar with. Closer to the day of the concert he backed out on us, saying that there was something wrong with the car and he didn't want to risk doing the long drive to the city. Fine, we said, completely understanding where he was coming from. We'll take the bus there, no problem. And it wasn't a problem. At least not the bus and train rides themselves. When we got to the stop we were supposed to get off at, we ended up wandering around the train station looking for the exit to the street we were supposed to be on. Eventually we found our starting point, but not before my sister - who, funnily enough, split her time between our city and Toronto - lead us in the wrong direction twice.

Once we got our bearings we were able to make our way to the venue and join the lineup. We'd already been standing there for forty minutes in the numbingly freezing mid-January night air when my boyfriend pointed out our friend's car turning into the parking lot across the street. Bear in mind that this is the same car that was supposed to be broken down, therefore incapable of making it such a long way. When he got out of the car with his girlfriend, sister and brother-in-law, we got the message. He hadn't wanted to tell us that he was driving three other people, so he lied instead.

Thankfully, the show itself was amazing and more than made up for getting lost and seeing our ride to the concert arrive with a car load of people who weren't us. We stood outside afterward waiting for a friend - who had been so kind as to offer to come get us so we wouldn't have to leave early - to arrive for what seemed like

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