The Skimmer and I were in the car last night, on the way to dinner. I was telling him about the Cheap Trick/Poison/Def Leppard concert.
"Those people really do that thing with their hands and their tongues."
Then I did the heavy metal...what would you call it? Salute?
"What surprised me even more about the crowd was there were people there of all ages. Lots of people older than me. You know that nice older lady who works down at Starbucks? There were hundreds of people there just like her, doin' the heavy metal salute! It was killin' me."
Then The Skimmer and I did the heavy metal salute at each other.
Then I continued, "Ok. I've got something to tell you."
"What?"
"Never mind! I'm not telling you."
"Tell me!"
"Ok. KJ never got the tickets."
"Figures."
"I met her and D at the box office and her first words were, 'Stupid drummer didn't get us the tickets!' You know, I shouldn't have been surprised. Totally KJ's MO. Free tickets! Backstage passes! So, I had to buy my ticket."
"How much?"
"I am never telling you in a million trillion years."
"How much?"
"Oh my God. Let's just say it was...too much."
"How much?!"
"I'm never telling you! More than I paid for Bruce Springsteen. Let's just say that. Let's just ponder, for one second, that I paid way more to see Cheap Trick, Poison and Def Leppard than I paid to see Bruce."
"How much did your Springsteen ticket cost?"
"I'm not telling you that! Then you'll be able to do the math."
"C'mon, tell me."
"Ok. I paid $80 to see Bruce Springsteen. $80.00! What a deal."
"How much for last night?"
"Ok. Ready?
"Yes."
"One hundred..."
Silence.
"...thirty..."
Silence.
"...nine dollars! Onehundredandthirtyninedollars!"
"OH MY GOD!!"
"OH MY GOD!! One hundred and thirty nine dollars to see Poison! I am still stunned. Stunned!"
"Oh man. That's crazy. Who can spend that kind of money now?"
"No one except the 15,000 to 20,000 people who were there doing the heavy metal salute all around me, I guess."
"Well, that's ok. I spend too much golfing."
"It's not ok. It's unbelievable. I used to be out at Blossom four times a week. I'd see the Doobie Brothers, Linda Rondstadt, Eric Clapton and I don't know, Southside Johnny all in the same week. Every ticket five bucks."
"I remember when they were $4.00."
"Bud Lights were $11.00 last night! T-shirts were $45! Oh my God. As soon as we got inside Blossom last night it started thundering and lightning. I told KJ and D, 'Great! No only are we at a Poison concert, we had to pay get get into a Poison concert and now we're gonna die at a Poison concert!' And then Cheap Trick couldn't land their plane at the airport because of the horrendous weather. So, I was like, and now we're not even going to see Cheap Trick! It kept getting better and better."
Which it did. I was with two great friends who I hadn't seen in years, and we laughed and joked around all night long. It stopped storming and the sun came out. Cheap Trick finally showed up and sounded great. Poison was not my cup of tea. But, Def Leppard was something. Their stage show was outrageous. I was like the Memorex guy.
Completely blown away. By the ticket prices, my lasting friendships and Def Leppard's solid wall of sound.
"OH MY GOD!! One hundred and thirty nine dollars to see Poison! I am still stunned. Stunned!"
Every ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSE has its THOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORNNNNNNNNNN!
As soon as we got inside Blossom last night it started thundering and lightning.
That reminds me, are you ever gonna visit my blog? I even made a Chucky Todd post for you.
~
Posted by: ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© | June 27, 2009 at 06:45 PM
Wow, that is incredible how much that show cost. I can't believe it, honestly.
I remember when the Eagles did the Hell Freezes Over Tour and were charging more than $100 for seats. My uncle was going to go, and I went into this diatribe about how that went against the spirit of rock blah blah blah. Then a few years later I turned around and sprung for U2 tickets at $150 a pop (granted, for my anniversary and for luxury box seats at the United Center, but still).
But I would have forgotten all of the dollars and cents the minute I heard the opening note to "Photograph."
Posted by: Brando | June 27, 2009 at 09:42 PM
Joe Elliott, even now, is totally worth $139. Saw Def Leppard a couple of summers ago with an incarnation of Journey, and it was such a great show, all the aging rockers (like me) singing along to all the songs and doing the metal salute...good times, good times. Well worth $100+!
Posted by: Laura | June 27, 2009 at 11:12 PM
Sounds a lot like my weekend last week. Glad you had a blast and enjoyed the show!
Posted by: Adorable Girlfriend | June 28, 2009 at 02:10 PM
Should have waited until they did the county fair tour. :)
Posted by: Jennifer | June 28, 2009 at 02:48 PM
hilarious & awesome.
glad you had a great time.
though a million years is a lot shorter than I thought.
Posted by: Kathleen | June 28, 2009 at 10:00 PM
I knew you were AWESOME. THe fact that you went to this concert makes you TOTALLY AWESOME!! I hope you brought a lighter and waved it around a lot!!!
Posted by: Von | June 29, 2009 at 04:26 PM
Lighter waving could have led to burning something down.
~
Posted by: ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© | June 29, 2009 at 07:28 PM
LOL!
Posted by: blue girl | June 29, 2009 at 07:42 PM
I note for the record that my wife paid scalper's rates for Springsteen--in Hartford, so an overnight trip--nine years ago. Which would make $139 seem small even then.
Cheap Trick may have missed the show, but they Did Good by Some of Us: http://gizmodo.com/5315751/cheap-trick-releases-newest-album-on-8+track-cassette
Posted by: Ken Houghton | July 16, 2009 at 04:08 PM