Magic

Friday, I went to see Bruce Springsteen. And it was AWESOME!!

Hubby, my sister and her hubby all went together. We had gotten General Admission tickets. So apparently at all Springsteen concerts there is a system for the GA.

The System:
Between 2pm and 5pm GA ticket holders show up, and receive a bracelet with a number on it.
At 5pm, everyone with these tickets is supposed to line up in number order.
At 5:15pm, a number is drawn from a large bucket.
Starting with that number and going up, the first 400 people get to be in the pit.
After that, everyone goes to the regular floor area.

OK, back to the story.

We depart around 2ish for Philly. Should we get food before hand? Well, we decide that we will wait until we are closer. The drive is wonderful. Spend the time listening to Deirdre Flint and old Springsteen songs. I knit, the guys bond, and sis and I catch up with life stuff. Apparently not paying attention, we miss the exit! So, we get off at the next one, and continue on our way - way out of the way...

Finally we arrive at the venue, 4pm...having not stopped for food. We decide to get our bracelets and then look for food. So we stand in line for about 30 minutes...not bad, we get numbers 417, 418, 421, 422...no clue how we got separated but who cares, its not bad.

We go back to the car and try to look for food. Actually, sis and I send the boys off to go hunt for food...after all, women are gatherers! Sis and I try to find out more about the system, as it is very not clear to us at this point.

No food! By this time we are starved. Now that we have the low down on the bracelets though, we feel pretty confident that we probably won't get picked for the pit. Should we go eat and then come back forgoing the chance to be close? No-way!! So we wait...

5pm. 800 or so people attempt to line up in order...

Remember in grade school those exercises where the class is to line up alphabetically by last name? And remember how it always takes 30 minutes or more for 30 children to do this? Yeah, lining up 800 adults by number...about the same result...There is no line, there is only confusion and mayhem. The event staff try their very hardest to organize the mob, but without any voice amplifying devices, you simply cannot expect to get the attention of 800 excited fans.

Of course then there is a jerk that decided to make up a lotto number and call it out...saying that that was the number picked! Right-- the number had not been picked at all! So this just made the mass of people even more frantic and even more unmanageable.

Before even half of the people were semi-arranged, the number is drawn. Everyone that had been in line rushed to the front in order to hear...now there is no line at all...

The number was: 405!!!

Halle - freakin - lujah! We are only 10 or so people from the front!!!! Hot damn!

So we wait in yet another line...a line that is very very close to the door. We wait, and wait, and wait. During our wait we notice these two chicabiddies talking to every guard and staff member in the area. Apparently their number is not in the 400 chosen to enter the pit. The one, tall, skinny, and blond, is half naked...she is definitely trying to use her feminine wiles to weasel her way into the line.

She talked to EVERYONE, people in the line, people outside the line, guards, staff, lonely looking men...This sort of woman just drives me nuts. Why would you do that?!? Doesn't that undo years of feminine efforts to be looked upon seriously - treated as equals? Apparently she is not a feminist. Everyone around us is determined not to let her get to us, not to let her anywhere near that stage. She is so freakin' obvious, I am sure that every guard has seen her and hopefully will not let her get there either.

We wait some more. This waiting sucks because now that we are guaranteed a spot in the pit, we know we will be standing all night...my feet start to hurt...

6:30 pm - the doors open. We receive our other two bracelets and enter. It is a mad rush to the bottom of the stadium and to the front of the stage. Frankly, I think this is absurd. Shouldn't the people with the closest numbers be guaranteed a close spot? Regardless of physical prowess? No this is not the case.

Anyway, we score a spot about 1 person from the front of the stage.

The concert starts and OMG how awesome is it to be 10 feet away from Bruce for the entire concert?!?! The whole show is fabulous! The set is wonderfully varied, some new songs, some oldies but goodies, it is AMAZING. Sis wasn't a big fan before, she just wanted to tag along and hang out with us...but by the end of the night, she was a huge fan! Now she is determined to listen to all his old songs and learn them.

What happened to the biddies? They ended up in the pit...right behind us. Some retarded man decided that she was pretty enough that she should be given a spot that she didn't deserve. Everyone around us noticed, how could the guards not notice?!? We made a wall...determined not to let them get any closer. And we succeeded! Even at the end, those two chickies never made it any closer. If it hadn't been for them, it would have been a perfect night.

Magical indeed.