Part Two - The Concert
I brought my cat over to my friend Liz's house for a vacation. I hoped and prayed it wouldn't eat her guinea pig. I came back to my apartment, which was in absolute shambles. I decided which clothes I'd wear and threw them all over my couch. I set my hair in rags and braids, looking like the young black servant in Gone With the Wind, and fell dead asleep at midnight. Marilu called me a bit after that and as I was half asleep, I only heard her say something about taking an express Bus #N to Best Western Hotel, where they were staying.
6:00 AM my alarm rang - more "Bruce Juice" from WNEW FM. I couldn't bring myself to get out of bed at this ungodly hour. It was still dark outside. My thoughts began to drift to the one man who drove me to do all this nonsense. The motto for the day seemed to be "where there's a Wood there's a way." I managed to scrape away some of the cat doody on the bathroom floors, get dressed, slap on tons of makeup and take the train to Amtrak. 95% of the train to Philly was made up of Stones' fans. The Stones Express. Cassettes blared, drinks flowed and toward the end of the ride at 10:25 AM, there were a lot of kids drunk out of their minds, singing a medley of Stones' songs off-key amid shouts of "sit on my face" to anyone who passed by. Sit on your own face, I thought. I sat next to a girl from queens with a black hat, bandanna around the brim with lots of Stones' buttons on it. "You goin' to the concert?!! Man, I didn't think you looked like you were goin' to the concert", probably eyeing my rather generous helping of makeup and made-up hair. She turned out to be very nice and very generous bestowing on me 2 uppers, numerous glasses of Brotherhood-Maine wine and hits of her joints. By the time we hit JFK Stadium I was quite buzzed. I even stamped my foot to George Thorogood.
Marilu and Loretta decided to meet me in front of the Red Cross Station, at 1:30. I didn't have great seats, but it wasn't hard getting onto the field. I just smiled at the ushers like a really belonged over there up closer to the band and they didn't ask any questions. It was 2:05 and Journey had finished their set 10 minutes earlier and the Stones were due on next. My leg was starting to shake from nerves. I gunned for the center of the stage, like a raving lunatic and managed to get 3/4's of the way there, stepping over bodies and hands. "I’m sorry", I grinned broadly at whoever's hand it was that I stepped on so as not to incur a scene. There were wall to wall people from were I was to the stage. I thought always just to move forward, inch-by-inch, slowly, no matter what, until I was up in front. I couldn't bear the thought of seeing the bad as specs had I sat in my assigned seat. I would see a tiny space for one foot in front of me, which was soon going to be my space and would explain to the people in front of me (so as to get my other foot there) that I was trying to get "over there" and pointed to my left. They would let me pass anywhere but straight ahead to the center, where they wanted to be. Then I would tell some people that I was trying to get "over there" and pointed to my right. This went on until I zigzagged enough so that I was a distance of nearly only five Madison Square Garden rows away from the stage.
To top the afternoon off, what would a Stones' concert be like without a motorcycle gang. There was the Pagan motorcycle gang, who were constantly brawling with people and when they knocked a guy down, everyone fell back like dominoes. I utilized the situation, however, to move upwards while everyone else was backing away from these guys. Thirst was creeping up on me as well, as I didn't bring a canteen of water, stupidly. Besides I was also struggling to keep a firm foothold on my space. We waited 2 hours for the Stones to finally come on stage. They began with Under My Thumb and did a full 2 hour set. They seemed very well rehearsed (nothing much else to do in North Brookfield, Mass.), and the sound was excellent where I was standing and Mick's voice was in great condition. The songs included Neighbors, Let It Bleed, Midnight Rambler, Black Limousine, Waiting ON a Friend, Start Me Up, She's So Cold and Jumping Jack Flash. Keith tried to do Little T & A but fucked up and everyone loved it. It wouldn't have been Keith without that happening. Meanwhile, tons of things were being thrown on stage like burnt offerings -- whiskey bottles, an overnight case, transistor radios, cups, sneakers, phone numbers. Ron asked whose radio it was. He probably knew that who ever it was had to pay for it unlike him who gets all these freebies. He picked up the radio and listened to it as he walked across the stage doing a groucho Marx bit. Ever the clown, he picked up a sneaker and gently threw it at a passing roadies' ass. I spotted his girlfriend, Jo, on the side of the stage dressed in a black miniskirt, and black tights. I noticed it was Ron's girlfriend because she was looking at him the entire time the way I was looking at him. My heart sank….Pity…., for me, anyways.
Whenever Mick splashed water on the audience, everyone would rush in to try and get some splashed on them. Either it was because everyone was so dehydrated or because it was Mick who was serving the water. Ronnie gave a few people near the stage a few bottles and cups of beer. Soon after that I decided to get right up in front of him and did just that - So close yet so far. I was just a few feet from the stage now.
The boys did an encore of Satisfaction, but I was so exhausted and thirsty, I began walking back, grubbing drinks from everyone and anyone.
I was so elated at being so close up, I was looking forward very much to the next concert (but that wasn't to be until 1998 in Athens). I got on the Amtrak to NYC which again was filled to the brim with Stones' fans. I met an Irish guy, who got his tickets through Bill Wyman's brother, Paul, who works on Wall Street. He's in a band called "The Major Thinkers, which he pronounced, the Major Tinkers. I got back to my house around 10 PM and went off to the fridge to down 1/2 gallon of water and to a much-needed sleep.