Stay Lucky...MSG 4/4 (very long!)

[Jason Hare <hare@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Last night, my Who Karma was working overtime for so long that I 
could have sworn I was going to get hit by a truck on the way home to 
even it all out.

I wound up taking a day off of work, which I didn't actually even 
think was a possibility until I got home last night at around 
2:30...if I had thought of it earlier, I definitely would have stayed 
out later!

But anywho....so last night was definitely a good Who show for me. 
It might have been the best, musically speaking, of all four, but 
honestly, I was just so into it that I lost all objectivity.  Even 
during 5:15, which is the one number that I really had not been 
enjoying...I wound up enjoying it.

So here's the story.  First I stopped by the dinner thing that Tim 
Eimiller had gone to the previous night before.  Luckily there WERE 
Who fans there this time.  I sat with Scott and Trish and some guy 
sat down next to us with a Fillmore East program from when the Who 
played there with Chuck Berry, Albert King and Joshua Light Show. 
THAT was cool.

After stopping by the Wee for a bit (looking for Stoo, actually, who 
didn't make it to night 2 as far as I could tell), I headed into MSG. 
I ran into Chris Stamp and his wife.  Chris was more than gracious to 
take a picture with me.  Also got a nice one of Alan McKendree and 
myself with Chris as well.  (Alan, you can tell the mistaken identity 
story if you want!)

I headed down to catch the last few songs of Plant's set.  His band 
was kick ass and he sounded GREAT.  He looked really good too, and 
made PLENTY of rock-and-roll faces.  I'll post the pictures in a few 
days (I've taken about 400 over the 4 nights).  I had a second row 
seat last night (directly house left of Roger), but I couldn't get to 
it at that point in the show, so I just stood in front of the 
security guard in the center.  A really nice guy who decided it was 
okay for me to stand there instead of squeezing in to my seat.

So at this point I decided to schmooze as much as I could, to see if 
I could somehow get front row, up to the barrier instead of in the 
second row.  The security guard was nice, we got to chat for a bit 
about some other stuff, and although he made me go to my seat, he 
kinda implied that I could possibly move up during the show.

So I'm sitting in my 2nd row seat, talking with the two people in 
front of me.  There's a guy to my left, an empty seat in front of me, 
and a girl to my right.  I'm talking with them, getting friendly, 
making sure they're cool with me jumping up front to the barrier once 
the show starts so, as I put it, "we can all rock out together." 
(And yes, I used the term "rock out."  I had lost all pride at this 
point.)

Well, some guy comes over to the front row in front of the empty seat 
and goes, "hey guys, listen, I'll be honest- I have a seat on the 
back of the floor.  Is it okay if I just sit in this seat for a 
little bit?"

We're all looking at each other, not sure what to say.  He asks the 
guy on the left- "is this your seat?"  "No."  The girl on the right- 
"is this your seat?"  "No."

(pause)

Me:  "....It's my seat, actually."

:-)

"But I'll tell you what, I'll move up to my seat and you can take my 
place here in the second row."
"Cool man, THANKS!"

So he's psyched because he's moved up to second row.  I'm psyched 
because I've moved up to first.  It's 9:14 and the Who aren't on yet. 
I'm sitting in this seat, twiddling my fingers, just WAITING for the 
rightful owner to come and kick me out, forcing me to send the 
back-floor guy back to HIS seat.  But at 9:18, the lights go down and 
it never happens.  I run up to the barrier, armed with my camera and 
my water bottle, and knew there was no way I was going to let go of 
that front metal bar.

I took some pictures for the first half hour of the show, before the 
front security guy told me "no more."  I wasn't about to argue. 
NOTHING was going to get me away from that front row.  (Although I 
did manage to take another 50-60 shots during WGFA and the encore.  I 
like to push my luck).

By the way, I do realize I've come this far in the e-mail and have 
yet to really talk about The Who.  They were in great form.  A few 
people in the front had not seen The Who before and were worried that 
Roger wasn't going to sound as good as he had in the past.  I don't 
think they believed me when I said he was actually going to sound 
BETTER than he has before, but this gig proved me right.  Pete was on 
fire, as usual, and Roger was perfect.  I watched Rog most of the 
night as he was closest to me, although I did get to make eye contact 
with Pino and Simon a few times.  Simon's backing vocals were perfect 
last night.  They really couldn't do "Another Tricky Day" justice 
without him.  That number in particular has been one of my favorites 
over all four nights.  Just a great song, and I'm always so surprised 
at how many people know it!

A quick background story before the next part: on Wednesday night, 
Billy Canell (from Who's Next) caught Roger's harmonica after Baba 
O'Riley and gave it to Mindy, the niece of Mike (Whofan4how many 
years?).  I saw Mindy at the Wee before the show and told her I was 
catching the harmonica tonight, at which point she stuck her tongue 
out at me and told me to forget it.  ;-)

So I'm watching Baba O'Riley, thinking about the harmonica and trying 
to figure out if I actually have a chance of getting it.  The song 
kicked ass as usual, and no, the harmonica solo is NOT pre-recorded, 
TRUST ME, it has sounded different each night.  The song ends and as 
it does and the lights briefly come up, I scream to Roger to ask him 
if I can have his harmonica.  He sees me and throws it.  And then it 
becomes like something out of 2001: A Space Odyssey.  The thing flies 
through the air in slow motion.

(I'm a horrible catch, in general.  Never was very good at baseball 
and remember missing a crucial ball in a lunchtime 3rd grade game. 
It was something out of Calvin and Hobbes.  But I digress.)

But tonight I caught the fucker.  It went RIGHT to my hand.  High 
fives all around.  I yelled out "I SAID I was gonna get it, I GOT 
it."  It was a very cool moment.

So there's still a break before "Sea and Sand," and Roger sees me.  I 
thank him profusely for the harmonica and he nods and gives me that 
little tip of the hat salute thing that he does.  Then I turn back to 
Trish to show her the harmonica.

While I'm turning back to Trish, apparently Roger goes back, gets the 
freakin' CASE for the harmonica and throws THAT to me to put the 
harmonica in.  ('cause, you know, the harmonica wasn't enough, I 
guess he wanted me to be able to have the whole thing.)  Of course, 
I'm turned around, so the woman next to me gets it.  Later on, I 
trade her a VIP pass for the case.  (Ahhh, resourcefulness.)

That was really the highlight of the night for me.  Roger and I 
caught eyes a few more times.  He pointed the microphone in my 
direction during You Better, You Bet, and yes- he directed "and open 
legs" RIGHT to Trish.  It was HYSTERICAL.  Trish fell backwards in 
her seat.

Lisa Grand told me that I was on the screen a bunch- looking like an 
idiot, no doubt.  I was super-hyper last night, my shirt entirely 
soaked, my voice completely gone, my ears ringing, and I made no 
apologies for it.  The nicest thing was that the people around me- 
Lauren, Stef, Eddie, Jacqueline, Trish, Scott, Gigi - all seemed 
genuinely happy for me.  Having that kind of support is just 
priceless.

After the show, I headed up to the bar briefly before heading home. 
Got to say goodbye to Simon and got to meet Zak and get a picture 
with the two of them.  Got to give hugs to all my Who buddies and let 
them know what a great time I had.  I left early but I felt like I 
should just get home before someone stole the harmonica or something. 
;-)

I have lots of thankyous to dispense to a lot of people on this list. 
Since I'm already writing this horribly long e-mail, and I apologize 
for those of you whom I lost ages ago, I'm going to continue.  On 
2/13/02 I wrote the following in a message to the list"

"I have one goal this year that I have never attempted before- that 
goal is to see ONE show, either at MSG or Jones Beach, from one of 
the first three rows."

A lot of people sent me private e-mails with support, tips and help, 
and some helped even more than that.  I'm sure that I'm leaving 
people out but thank you to Kathy VT, Charles Lily, David Brewer, Jon 
(slipkid), Bob McHugh, Brian Cady, Bill Canell, Lela Buis, Listmom 
Scott Smith (I missed you last night), Alan McKendree, Mark Fintz, 
Colleen Cahill, everybody in the Stir Music family, Dave Van Staveren 
and Corie, Jacqueline (you're the best), and many more that I'm sure 
I'm forgetting.

And my biggest thank you of all goes to Lauren and Trish.  Those two 
worked VERY VERY hard to make last night happen for me, against ALL 
odds.  I'm sure they wouldn't like to be singled out for this, but I 
have to thank them.  Two minutes after I sent out that original 
e-mail on 2/13, Trish e-mailed me and said "I really want you to 
achieve your goal."  Her and Lauren didn't give up until it happened, 
and it happened, beyond my wildest dreams.

More to say but I don't think I could ask anybody to read any more than this.

Thanks again.

Jason