Last night, we were seated up in the gods in the Odyssey Arena, Belfast – OK I’ll admit it … it was a corporate box, but we were paying for the drink. Usually this is not a particularly good vantage point, and the sound quality is lousy. Tonight however we are afforded a perfect view of the massive rectangular stage set up in the middle of the floor of the Arena. I would guess it is about the size of a basketball court with a low central drum riser. There are eight microphone stands, with one at each corner and one on each side of the stage.

As the lights go down there is a single deafening roar from the 8,000 strong crowd that is unlike anything I have heard before. An array of green and red lasers streak across the stage as the band launch into ‘That Was Your Life’. This is loud - louder than the Who; louder than bombs; louder than AC/DC wearing Timmy Mallet’s dungarees.

James Hetfield appears larger in real life, prowling around the stage visiting each microphone at random. The most amazing aspect of the show however is the crowd. Reacting as one they punch the air and bellow the lyrics. Three songs in and I want to get a tattoo. Ten songs in - during ‘One’ - and I have decided to invade Poland, or at very least storm Downing Street.

Down on the floor a group of around twenty guys, stripped to the waist, hurl themselves at each other. From the gallery I imagine I had a view similar to a Roman Emperor watching some gladiatorial contest. For all the violence there was no anger, no hate. After each song they hug and smile before returning to the fray as the band kick into the next onslaught.

What amazes me is how tight the playing is. Each man roams around the stage with minimal contact with his bandmates yet the playing is taut and the sound is perfect. A pyrotechnic display, the heat from which reaches even the boxes, accompanies ‘Enter Sandman’ and closes a spectacular main set. The walls of the Arena vibrate. The only disappointment was that ‘Harvester of Sorrows’ and ‘Whiskey In The Jar’ were missing from the setlist. Twenty minutes and a three song encore later - including a Budgie cover(!) - we stumble, deafened from the venue.

My head was still ringing this morning, so much so that I had some trouble dialling the Tattoo Removal Clinic.