It Was Twenty Years Ago Today, Part LV

It was Saturday, September 19, 1987.  It was time to get sitting.

Tickets to see U2 at the old Saint Paul Civic Center, for the Joshua Tree tour, were going on sale at 9AM. 

And I was going to be there, come hell or high water.

In those days before Ticketbastard Ticketmaster choked the life out of the concert business, you actually had to be at the box offices to get the tickets.  U2’s fans, of course, were dedicated – almost like Springsteen fans, even in the Twin Cities.   I’d actually seen people camping out on Wednesday afternoon on the old plaza on Kellogg Boulevard. 

I couldn’t do that – I had work to do.

But Saturday?  That was me time. 

I woke up at 1:30 in the morning, and jumped in the car.  I parked in front of the James J. Hill mansion (to this day, my favorite free parking in town), and walked past Triangle Park down Kellogg to the Civic.  I made it there just after 2AM.

I was probably number 1,000 in line.  And it was cooold.

And so we waited. 

And waited.

 

 

 

 

And waited.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And waited.

Of course, I didn’t have all that much going on in my life at the time, so spending seven hours waiting in line for tickets for the line to start moving wasn’t a real hit on my lifestyle.  My little tech writing contract had ended; leaving me not especially interested in doing more of it.  Voice-over work and freelance print reporting was going well; I’d landed a bunch of jobs in the previous month (hence, I could afford to go to a concert). 

So I stood in line.  And waited.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And waited.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And waited.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, after seven hours, at 9AM sharp, the doors opened, and the line started to crawl ever so slowly forward.  Word came back; they were letting people into the box office in groups of 20 or so. 

So we waited.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And waited.

 

 

 

 

And periodically stepped forward in increments of ten or fifteen feet or so, every couple of minutes.

The chill of the day baked away by about 10AM.  I started wishing for water.  Or a bathroom.  Or both.  But no, I was going to stay in line.

So I waited.

 

 

 

And shuffled.

 

 

And waited some more.

 

 

And shuffled some more.

 

 

And so on.

 

 

And so forth.

 

 

Finally – at close to 1PM, I made it to the big wooden sawhorse barricade that served as the “ropeline” for the queue.  A big, jovial-looking Saint Paul cop was minding it, counting people off in groups of twenty.  After 11 hours in line, I was standing with my hands on the barricade, when the cop came out of the door.  There were probably a solid 1,000 people in line behind me, still. 

“Folks”, he announced loudly, “the show has sold out”.

I stood, jaw sagging slowly from the weight of my teeth.  My dry, dry teeth.

I think I swayed a bit, out of pure discouragement.

“So…” the cop continued, “I’m happy to announce a second show!”

And I was the third person into the box office to get the tickets. 

Stage left, first row of bleacher seats.  Under Adam Clayton’s elbow.

I staggered up the hill, with stiff legs and stiffer fingers from clutching the pair of tickets.

Now, the hard part; finding a date to take.

12 thoughts on “It Was Twenty Years Ago Today, Part LV

  1. So does that meant he poor sap who was a few hundred people ahead of you in line, thereby waiting almost as long, was stuck with nose bleeders . . . . bummer!

    I’m no ticketmaster fan, but it beats standing in line. And now witht he aftermarket outlets you can get decent seats a face value for pretty much anything accept the hotly contested ones.

    There was 12,000 at Rush last and the day before the show you could still buy Main Floor, 15-20 rows for face value on StubHub

    Flash

  2. I saw them on the Elevation tour in May 2001 (Target Center). Normally I don’t get too excited about popular music, but that show was by far, not even close, the best concert I have ever been to. Seeing one of the best ever at the peak of their talent and career. And it was a cool show but not over-the-top with special effects. PJ Harvey opened.

    I forgot to get tickets when they went on sale so bought two decent seats from the guy in Hudson (Ticket King). It was extortion what he charged, but I would pay anything as I was kind of going out with someone at the time so wanted to take her. She gladley accepted. But it turned out all she wanted was her free trip to U2. This guy learned a valuable lesson that spring.

    See their DVD “Live in Boston”. It was filmed about 3 weeks later and is an identical show to the Mpls one, except it they edited out about 4 songs (including a very cool version of Mysterious Ways).

  3. AC, sad but true. I felt so cheap and used.

    Any consolation is that I would not have gone to the concert othewise, not even at face price, but am happy to have seen the best ever (in some peoples opinion).

  4. I was at that first show.

    My friend Marty got tickets and then invited some bimbo from our high school!

    I let him know that I would invite him if I had tickets, so she got the boot.

    She never really liked me after that but my guilting worked.

    I can’t remember anything about the show, but I’m really cool because I was there.

  5. Well, if it’ll make you feel better, you’re probably not THAT cool… 🙂

    What I remember of the concert…well, there’ll be an installment coming, as luck would have it, on the 20th anniversary of the show.

    Try to maintain a regular life while waiting…

  6. Pingback: Shot in the Dark » Blog Archive » It Was Twenty Years Ago Today, Part LX

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