SAVATAGE Guitarist CHRIS CAFFERY Looks Back On Opening For METALLICA And OVERKILL In 1984 - "They Always Say Follow Your Dreams; My Dreams Seemed To Follow Me"

Savatage / Trans-Siberian Orchestra guitarist Chris Caffery has shared the photo and message below via social media:

"Saw this little piece of Metal Monday history an actual ticket shared on a page by my metal brothers in the band Overkill.
 
My band at this time was called Anti. I was just 16 years old and a senior in high school. I had multiple high school classes in the 8th grade, so I was able to graduate at 16! I made that choice to exit my life as a kid to hopefully my life as a professional guitarist.
 
This was one of Metallica’s very first shows on the east coast. My band had already opened a show with Overkill the year before in this same theater. We had a pretty big following and were going over very well at these shows. 

There are some classic stories attached to this show. 

Metallica didn’t have huge budget at the time and they were having trouble finding them affordable hotels. I was called by my good friends from the Megaforce Records / Metallica camp, Harold and Shari Risch, and they asked me for help. They asked if Metallica could stay at my house that night. My mother said no! My life and career could have possibly been a lot different if we had said yes! 

At the show that evening my extremely obnoxious lead singer decided to plant pyro on the stage to use in our set. Metallica didn’t know this. A few songs into our set the pyro went off. Shortly after I saw a huge guy on the side of the stage with a sign that said 'This is your last song.' We were going over extremely well; that didn’t help. I’m guessing, however, if they were staying at my house we could have finished the set!
 
How many kids do you know whose band would open for Metallica and Overkill, then go to high school days later? Pretty crazy! By the end of the next summer I had gotten the gig playing guitar in CBS Recording artists, Heaven, who were managed and produced by none other than Paul Oneill. All this before I was even 18 years old! This led to me going on the road with Savatage opening for Dio and Megadeth when I was 19! 

They always say follow your dreams. My dreams seemed to follow me! I was pretty fortunate that my cards all lined up in the right places. I did have the talent to push me forward but I definitely had a decent amount of good luck and timing as well!"