LB |
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Chapter 7 |
| When the doors opened, Jennifer and I were going to run for the front. Theresa would buy the shirts and stuff.
She asked, "OK -- what do you want?" "Everything!" The doors opened and we were off. We ended
up in the front -- the very first row of people, between Malcolm and Chrissie. There was a large trench for security
between us and the stage. At that time, in our part of the country, you ran to the front and sat down on the floor
to wait. We had more than an hour until The Alarm came on. We were really excited because we loved The Alarm. When
the show finally started, the place went nuts. I guess everyone else loved The Alarm too. And if you didn't when
you came in, you did when you left. They finished up an incredible set and were gone. I thought the shoving was bad in '82 -- that was nothing! I've only been in worse one other time... more on that later. We pushed back and held our ground. I'd been saying nobody but nobody was going to get in front of me and I meant it. The Pretenders came out after an introduction by Nina Blackwood (from MTV's first set of VJs, for all you young'uns out there). We booed because we didn't want her. Those VJs had no business out there. She said, "I hope you don't treat Chrissie like that." Everyone yelled or booed at that point. I yelled back, "You're not Chrissie!" Such bad behaviour. Finally she went away and the Pretenders came out just a bit after. Wow. I had not seen the guys go in when I was outside (tearing a new path to the federal building?), so this was my first close-up of the entire new band. They were fabulous. Drumsticks were flying everywhere. Martin, lightning doesn't come out of the ends of your fingers, but I wouldn't be surprised if a drumstick did. It was one hot night. During "Middle of the Road" Chrissie put her hat on -- the one she wore in the video. She probably had fifty of them -- who knows? She was looking over at us. Maybe she remembered me from outside? Can you even see the audience when you're on-stage? She took the hat off and made like she was going to throw it. That got my attention pronto. She was looking at me, and she sailed that hat into the air towards me like a Frisbee. She had good aim, too -- hope she never throws anything at me. It came right to me and had I been the only person in the audience, I'd have nabbed it. Hell, even the people six human layers back dove for it. We all did. Someone should've called pass interference. Jennifer and I were as far forward as we could go without being on our faces. I couldn't even lunge for it -- I was as extended as I could be. But it was still a great toss by Hynde. My fingertips touched the hat, before someone next to me made a lame dive for it. He actually smacked it down. I guess if he couldn't have it, no one could. The hat went under the stage, but you could still see it. I screamed at the security guy -- "Give me the hat -- the hat -- give it to me!" He shook his head no. "I can't," he said, "we aren't allowed to." Goddamned lying piece of crap. He kicked it under the stage, probably got it out later. My hat was gone. I try not to think about it, but it creeps into my head sometimes when I hear that song and always when I see the video. Determined not to let anyone get in front of me, I continued fighting for my spot all evening. Their trick -- what these jerks do -- is they stand sideways at your shoulder, between you and the person next to you -- then throw themselves between the two of you like they were shoved, but then they hold onto the barrier and for the duration of the show you have some drunken idiot's armpit in your face. This bums me out because it takes your mind off watching the band. You go out to see a band and enjoy it, and end up getting a hyped-up aerobic workout -- one and two and shove! So tightly packed were we that breathing was a chore. And I wanted to be in the front row so badly I'd fight for it. Towards the end of the show I felt a pawing at my back. I turned my head, ready to introduce somebody's face to my elbow. I didn't see anyone new or anything unusual. Scratch scratch scratch. What the--? I leaned over to Jennifer and said, "Look behind me and tell me what you see." She did, but she looked down. She said, "There's a little kid back there." Now, I know how difficult it was for me to breathe with a barrier pressing into my ribcage, so there couldn't have been much air down where this kid was. I managed to get a foot up on the barrier and shove people back, including the child, to get the crowd moving. I told Jennifer I was going to push her, and did. She went to the right, away from me. I reached back and somehow latched onto this little kid who must've been about six or seven years old, pulled him between me and Jennifer, and put him in front of me. He had space to breathe (but I had to stand on one foot for the rest of the show or he'd have been smashed again) and he was in the front row -- in front of me. He mustn't have had a clue where in the crowd he was, because when I pulled him in front he was astonished -- front row! And plenty of room to move around! He looked up at me and said, "WOW! THANKS!" I smiled. Any child brave enough to go through that (and not even cry!) deserved to be in front more than I did. Jennifer leaned over smiling and said "Awww... you're so sweet." "Fuck you." What a wild night. After the show we drove around the city for hours. I finally got home after six in the morning. Since this was during the winter, it was still dark out. My dad had just left for work. Mom was, uh... not happy with me. Too bad... she had not been there to spoil my outing. I at least had met Chrissie. Maybe I didn't meet the entire band, but I was actually able to talk to Chrissie Hynde herself. And I was still flying off that, Jack. Said goodnight to Mom. She asked where I thought I was going. "To bed." "Oh no you don't... you're going to school. And work." "No. I'm going to bed." My guess was that since she couldn't ruin the previous day, she'd go for this one. "If you can't go to school and work, you can't go see the Pretenders tonight." I'd deal with that threat later. Stomped down the hall and slammed my door. I went through my shirts -- Theresa had bought all but one for me -- and chose to sleep in the black sweatshirt with green writing. Neat shirt, I thought, since my favourite colours are black and green. Put my sweatshirt on, got ready for a long nap. Saw my big new tour program and decided I had to look through it again. I picked it up oh-so-carefully and held it under the lamp so I could see the pictures -- I'd only seen it in the dark up until this point. Stood next to the lamp for some time looking at this great book of wonder, at all those new pictures, absorbing the new vibe. Finally, I set it down and turned off the light. AAAAGGGGHHHH! I screamed -- then laughed. The letters on this fucking shirt glowed in the dark! It was actual glow-in-the-dark stuff that they make balls and Frisbees and stuff out of. Even in the dark you could read THE PRETENDERS very, very clearly. The writing on the back didn't glow, I noticed as I stood on the bed and examined it in the mirror, but I could light up the area around me with the front! This truly was a delight -- it scared the hell out of me at first, but now was incredible. I finally stopped playing around with my new shirt/toy and got into bed. I fell asleep quickly with my Pretenders neon sign. I met one other person through K.: Peggy Sue Honeyman-Scott. I was talking to him on the phone one day. He put me on hold. When he returned, we were conference calling Peggy Sue. I could have killed him. He'd given me her address and phone number, but there was no way I would have used either. He thought he'd change that. After the phone call, I did write and call her. She didn't seem to mind at all. |
