Friday, April 11, 2008
Rock of Ages
A Woman Obsessed • It's All About Me •
This week’s Metroland features stories of its writers’ first concert experiences. Why didn’t they ask me?
After unsuccessful attempts to convince my parents to allow me to see The Monkees at Jones Beach and Bon Jovi somewhere else, Def Leppard announced a concert date at what was then New Jersey’s Brendan Byrne Arena. It was 1988, I was 12 years old and I was completely obsessed with Def Leppard, in particular Rick Savage. I was relentless. I begged. I pleaded. I’m pretty sure I cried. My parents didn’t stand a chance. I was elated when they finally agreed to allow me to go with my friends Jane and Robin who by that time were concert veterans. The arena show cost a whopping $18.00. I can’t remember if it was my dad who woke up early one Saturday morning to call into Ticketmaster (old school!).
The show was on Thursday, September 22. After school, Robin and I headed to Jane’s house in our ripped jeans and concert tees and waited for her dad to get home from work to drive us to the show. Much to my horror, he was late. Very late. And we had to drive to Jersey. I don’t think he got home until after 7pm. The show started at 8pm. Did I mention we were driving to Jersey? We finally got there and I can still so clearly hear Geoff Tate’s voice echoing in the hallways. We never made it to our seats in time to see any of Queensryche’s set which at the time didn’t seem to matter since I didn’t even know them. Our seats were true nosebleeds; we were practically in the last row of the arena. But Def Leppard’s shows were in the round and this was a smaller arena. I’m pretty sure I was shaking with excitement when the lights finally went down after what seemed like an eternity of doing the wave. For the next two hours, I was in true rock and roll heaven. For two hours I screamed my head off and didn’t think about anything other than what was happening in front of me—not any of the fights with my dad or brother, not losing my grandfather or beloved Spooky—just the music and hotness in front of me. It was the most amazing experience of my 12 years.
It’s rare to go to a show today and be able keep my mind from wandering to work or family or other stressors in my life. But I won’t ever forget the high I got from that first show and I won’t ever stop trying to recapture it.
