Re: The Who Mailing List Digest V4 #199

[Tweet81378@aol.com]

Well, Well, well
I know that it seems kinda boring, and I'll try to flip through as fast as
possible, while still getting everything in. 

Yesterday the 7th, the Nissan show was great, 10th row, but it wasn't quite
as good as Holmdel. ... Met a whole bunch of people at the pre-show, all
really nice. Forgive me if I forget names, I'm really bad about that.

Someone mentioned that Simon was playing Friday night, and we (Where and my
friend and list lurker Meghannnnnn) decided to go for it, even though it was
a 21 and over club only....

That brings us to tonight... We got there around 10 and were sitting in an
indoor alcove right before the bar deciding what to do when Simon and Ben
walked in. I think we were too struck by the fact that he was walking by us
to say anything... So we decide to be brutally honest and tell the lady
checking ID's at the door that we're under 21 but over 18, and if possible,
could we get in, 'cause we weren't gonna drink, we just wanted to see the
band. Unfourtantely the answer was no.. So Bernd came out, and tried to talk
to everyone about getting us in, to no avail. But they said that they weren't
gonna kick us out, and if we REALLY wanted to stay we could stay in the
alcove. Hey, whatever. So we sat in the alcove and felt like queens as people
on the list came out to say hi! 'cause we couldn't come and see them. Well,
they did start to make fun of us, but that's okay. So out comes Bob, Simon's
manager (I think that's his name, I'm so sorry if I screw it up, but like I
said, I'm pretty horrible with names)... Bob says that SImon and Ben think
this is a pile of shit that we can't get in, but we weren't gonna fight it,
so we just stood there.

The show was wonderful, and as someone who had never seen Simon before, it
was great (standing or no standing). They were surprised with the turnout and
that's great. I won't bore you with the details of the show, I'm sure there
are many others here who could tell you his lineup, but I was just enjoying
being there. We were visited by most of the guys on the list who were there,
including Scott, who says HI! and that if you stop getting the list, he feels
bad, but he's not at home right now, so you'll have to live with it...One
thing about being stuck out in the back, you get great stuff. Even though the
owner wouldn't let us in, he did come over and give us water. We thought that
it was nice of him to give it to us himself. Simon played one encore, and
there was this woman in front of us who followed Simon backstage and came
flying out saying "Pete's backstage! Pete's backstage!" Wow. Now since the
show started, we had been befriended by the owner of the club, the guy
managing the gate, and Simon's manager. We were just estatic. To have two
generations of the Townshend name in one building was great. (To soothe those
getting antsy, Pete never showed his face this side of the club and came in
and went out through a back entrance... Not that we could have gone backstage
even if we had wanted to. Remember, we're not allowed past the gate..) 

After the show we were hanging around, talking to everyone who meandered in
our direction, and lo and behold Bernd comes out of the back dragging poor
Ben behind. We introduced ourselves, and he got us drinks (Coke for those who
are wondering. Hey, at least it was free.) We talked a while about what he
was doing in the states etc. etc. and cracked some jokes about the rest of
the audience's age. We managed to get a few pictures with him, though I feel
bad to make him have to sit there and smile when it was obvious that he
wanted to go home. He made a point though that if you get up there, you have
to be able to put up with the "baggage" that comes with it (okay, not his
EXACT words). Well, we stood around some more - by now my feet were starting
to hurt - until Simon came out. We introduced ourselves, shook hands, and
discussed why we thought that the 21 laws were stupid, etc. etc. We didn't
want to keep him long, he looked exhausted, and was none too happy about
having a four hour bus ride ahead of him tomorrow. So... that's the end. It
doesn't seem like much, but it was the best night of not being able to get
into a club ever. Sigh.

To everyone who was there, thanks for your support of us, and especially
Bernd who is a great man, and who we can't thank enough. We'll see you all in
VA Beach!

                Where & an estatic Meghannnnn

"It's the wrong trousers Gromit, and they've gone wrong!"
                 ---Wallace and Gromit

P.S. -- if I accidently re-post the whole damn list, please forgive me. It's
3 am and I'm none too familiar with AOL's email shit... so.. I apoligise.