Summer, 1976. Foghat/ Opening for Rush.🤘 The weekend school let out for the summer, I had to spend 3 days in jail. Got busted for illicit smoking substances, and the judge, along with my lawyer, were family friends, so i got off lightly. While doing my 3 day stint, I read the novel, Papillon, by Henri Charrière, cover to cover. (About jail break from a Penal Colony in French Guiana.) Cover to cover. My friends, sympathic to my incarnation, had managed to score a handful of tickets to the upcoming Rush concert at MSU, Friday, the end of June. Up until then, I had only seen one concert, supposed to have been Jim Croce, but was substituted by Cheech and Chong, due to Jim's untimely death. But I digress.
So my first Rock concert, at 17. Rush! I had been given two tickets for myself and a possible date, so I had a lovely prospect in mind, but given my recent brush with the law, and my party reputation, convincing the parents of said beauty, would prove challenging. Angie MacClure had just turned 16, and was Developing nicely. (Smiles) We didn't Lol back then. 😆
Mid-June. A day at the lake beach, WildCat Creek. Blanket. Cooler full of beer, fm radio tuned to 98.8. Rush, playing of course. 😎 Angie two blankets over. I was smiling, and making eye contact, Figuring out when I might make my move, and ask her to the concert. She had just broken up with her boyfriend, and one of my brother's friend, Bird. He was a cool dude who got the nickname from his badass Pontiac Firebird, And the fact that he wore a Phoenix around his neck, and whenever you hit him up, he'd say, "Yo!" And flip you "the bird." Angie was feeling pretty rough about the breakup, and subtly trying to act nonchalant, and ignore Bird and his boys partying down beach. So I got up, pulled a couple of Bud's from my cooler, and invited myself on Angie's blanket. We made decent small talk, and seemed to hit it off and i asked her to the concert. She said she'll ask her folks, but yes. Still, her eyes kept glancing at Bird. I told her, she should go talk to him. But she was being stubborn and of course, a proper southern girl would never make the first approach, after a breakup.
-Castles made of sand, fall in the sea, eventually...
That very night, Bird got drunk, and wrapped his car around a telephone pole at high speed. Angie was beyond devastated. Blaming herself, in utter tears for days on end. Inconsolable. She told me she just couldn't go out with me to the concert, and i understood, but acted macho, and said something stupid and insensitive, being an ass. I tried to apologize, but the damage was done. I lost her.
Concert day. I had given my extra ticket to a cool rocker chic friend of mine who was elated, for she had missed the opportunity. Getting ready for the show, a few beer's and some smoke, my friends arrived at my house and we partied. Thinking about sneaking some adult beverages into the show, i knew i couldn't get away with more than one beer, so i chose a bottle of Boone's Farm Strawberry Hill.
Now how am I going to get this past security? My mom, being a cool mom, gave me an empty pint bottle of tequila to pour some of the wine into. That'll do! Off we went to the the MSU stadium for the show. Standing in a line from hell, my friends and I passed around a smoke or two, and the line slowly moved forward. I was mid-sentence in a story about my stint in jail with my friend Patti, when out of nowhere, this chic, Becky, (friend of Angie's) comes up to me and says, "Kelly! I Hate Your Guts!" I turn around and "Smack!" A slap in the face that was seen and heard from way back! Dumbfounded, I was at a loss for words naturally. I knew why without explanation. What I told Angie after Bird's death, "If you were meant to be together, you would have been. And you'd be dead too." 🤗🙏😇 It was insensitive and cold of me, but i was trying to let her know that I'm glad she's alive and not dead. Cause she would have been.
After that, everyone quickly forgot about the scene, as we approached the door. I made it inside without a hitch, and we found our seats and began to party as the crowd got settled in for the show. Foghat opened up, with Slow Ride, then cooly progressed into I Just Want to Make Love to You.
Just as Rush was about to come onto stage, I pulled out my wine in Tequila bottle from my pants, and tipped it up and guzzled. The guy behind me, slapped me on the back, said, "Dude! I gotta party with You!" So i passed him the bottle. (Wine in Tequila bottle secret, was never noticed. We were all stoned and drunk! Rush entered the stage, and Rocked our asses off! Almost perfect night, it ended with an encore of "Time Stands Still."😆🤪🎶😎🤘 [media=https://youtu.be/D2WzlWiOwng]
Ah youth. 😂 I hope Angie managed to have a good life. One of my classmates was driving the car in the crash that killed her boyfriend, and it never left her.
This is the one Canadian band, I can appreciate the talent fully from the lyrical to the music, but they create a rush of noise like cymbals crashing around that is like heresy to my appreciation of music. Just can't jibe with them, they make my blood boil while I know the talent. I'd need the bottle.
@Montanaman Maybe you do, maybe. Many years ago, while keeping friends with a couple of people who loved their booze. My one friend sent me the strangest text, it was like a demonic vision, he meant to send to my other friend. When I asked, he apologized and said, they were lyrics from Neil Peart meant for our friend. Then I understood, a rush of blood and a bunch of what felt like for someone drunk, prophetic.
Nice memoir, @Montanaman! My first concert was far more low-key but quite historic in its own way. First Pink Floyd tour after Syd Barrett left the band (late 1968 - I was 15, and went with a schoolfriend who shared exactly the same birthday).
@teachmetiger210503 yes, i miss that. I can't imagine going to a concert now, the crowds, the possibility of an altercation, the traffic. Daughtry was in Billings a month ago. My son went. 😎
