The boy now has his own festival to raise awareness of the disease
Richard McDeid is a devoted father. He has taken his son, Mason, who has cerebral palsy, to approximately 1,200 metal concerts in recent years. This is all because, as a child, Mason would only stop crying when he heard Metallica.
“He just wouldn’t stop. So I put on the VHS Binge and Purge . A few minutes later I was washing the dishes when I noticed he had stopped crying. Then it started happening in the car every time Metallica played. He would calm down and relax. At first, it was just with Metallica, and then it was with other bands as he learned to recognize them; he would respond immediately and grow from that.”
According to the father, the first concert he saw was Rage Against the Machine in 2008. He's seen Metallica more than eight times and now has his own festival. Mason Metalfest II took place for the second time in March of this year to help raise awareness of the disease. See the lineup below.
