This
isn't exactly the most exciting topic to write about or read about, ticket
purchasing, but I felt it necessary to finally give a huge shout out to
all the many local Pearl Jam fans I've met. Waiting for hours in
line with a ton of strangers doesn't sound like fun, but PJ fans always
seem to make the best of it, while fearing the chance of a fast sell out.  |
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Most of the morning's plans had been made the night before. Early. I needed to get to sleep so that I could wake up at the ridiculous hour of about 4:30 on a Saturday morning. My family thought I was insane as well. The plan was that I would pick up Laurie, and we would go to the mall for about 5:45. She had friends who would be waiting in line there to meet us. Apparently their plan was to line up around 1 that morning. As you can see, a lot of us were really paranoid about tickets. Although the venue, Molson Park, is huge, with Pearl Jam you never, ever know. The last show in Toronto, at Maple Leaf Gardens in 1996, sold out in about 17 minutes. Everyone I knew was shut out, but I still had the Ten Club to fall back on. (THANK GOD FOR THE TEN CLUB!!!). Anyway, we were going to wait around, see how many people were there - basically assess the situation. Then, Eva and a couple guys were to meet us later and bring us some Starbucks stuff for breakfast. (Note to self and everyone else: Never get the tall caramel machiato, especially if you haven't eaten much... More on that later.) |
| Well the day (more like night, it was still dark when I was getting ready) began like any other. I got out of bed, took a shower, got dressed, and went downstairs to make myself something to eat. I ended up bringing the food with me, because I just couldn't eat due to a combination of still being half asleep and being nervous. I went back upstairs to get my trusted backpack and threw in ALL my PJ CDs, my discman and some speakers. I was going to spend the next 5 or so hours listening to Pearl Jam, Pearl Jam, and more Pearl Jam. Around 5:20 I jumped into my car, rolled down the windows, put on Check Point Charlie, and headed to Laurie's house. It was gorgeous outside. The sun was rising, it was still cool out, and the dew on the grass was sooo cool. I pulled into Laurie's driveway, and there she was. She was asleep too. We headed back to my area, to the mall. The parking lot was empty. It was very strange. It was dusk. There were one or two odd cars, and a group of guys standing outside, having a smoke. They were the guys we were meeting up with. We figured the place was still locked up, and when we parked, we approached them first. They then proceeded to tell us there were already 20 people in line! YIKES! |
| The next 3 or so hours involved lying down on the floor of the mall, meeting up with old friends and meeting new ones. One girl in particular, whose name is slipping me right now, was just awesome. She had this crazy stickman tattooed on her stomach! It was hilarious. But we talked and talked, especially about seeing them in 1996. I had brought my discman with me, and I played DJ that morning. I took requests, other people gave me their CDs, and we all sat there and enjoyed a couple hours of Pearl Jam's live recordings, LPs, EPs and anything and everything else. Everyone was just so kind, considering how early it was on a Saturday morning. But moreso, people were anxious to get their tickets. No one knew what would happen at 10 when tickets went on sale. What about the other 60 TMs in Ontario? Are they going to have tons of people there too? Everyone stayed in a good mood, until security decided to tell me to turn my music off. The bastards. |  |
| By the time 10 rolled around, there were
easily more than 100 people in line. The kindness of Pearl Jam fans
then began to emerge from all of us at the front. The people at the
back of the line were really nervous about a possible sell out. A
10 ticket limit was in effect, but most people weren't buying that many
(though my friends and I ended up buying a total of 13 tickets).
A lot of people up front offered to buy tickets for those in the back,
so everyone could get tickets with no problem. But for some reason,
the morons at Ticketmaster inside Sunrise Records (the music store where
most TM outlets are located) thought some scalping was going on, so they
came outside, told us off, and said they won't serve anyone at all if we
don't stop. What nerve, and what a piss off. But that plan
came to a halt right then and there obviously, and we all felt so bad.
10 in the morning came around, and slowly but surely, we purchased our
tickets. That morning was honestly so much fun. I ran into
SO many people I knew, from school, and from Pearl Jam stuff. Luckily,
everyone in line got tickets, but everyone's mood and attitude towards
Ticketmaster weren't so great, thanks to TM. Bastards. Now
we just have to wait to all meet up again, along with 34 900 other Pearl
Jam fans, up at Molson Park on August 22nd. That story to come later... |