ROCK N' ROLL DOUBLEHEADER

At this point I'm not sure whether to feel happy or sad that the Def Leppard & Bryan Adams tour has come and gone through Coveleski Stadium. There is a sense of excitement that comes with being the Ticket Manager for a major tour like this and all the bells and whistles that comes with that. However, when you work at the venue that hosts an event like this there is more than just ticket managing that goes on.

Unlike last year when Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson came to the ballpark for their tour, I was much more prepared, as was the entire full-time staff for this year version of the Rock N' Roll doubleheader. From the moment I arrived at the ballpark at 8 a.m. it was just one of those days were you were going to "live with your hair on-fire"

The phones rang off the hook and the ticket office was buzzing with activity. The weather was perfect and thus I think it brought more people out since there was no threat of bad weather. Everything ran pretty smoothly until our ticket server decided to basically shut-down for about 10 minutes around 4:15. And considering the gates for the concert opened at 5:15 or so this was not an ideal time for this happen. After biting my tongue and finally trying everything I could think of, it finally came back on-line and luckily it only caused a minor inconvenience to a dozen or so patrons.
After the gates opened and people started finding their spots, everything ran very well until some of the concert promoters told us that we had to move cars b/c the tour buses couldn't move. Basically it was move the cars or they get towed. Not a pretty situation but no cars were towed and no patrons were screaming or yelling at me or any of the employees - Thankfully!!

After not seeing one moment of the Def Leppard show as I was trying to settle the ticket numbers with the promoters and band personnel plus the whole car towing thing, I did get to watch several of Bryan Adams songs from the field level. I was thrilled to meet-up with some of my friends for a few minutes. After hearing "Summer of '69", I then got to watch a few songs from the roof. That was an AWESOME view to see all the people. By the way, it was the biggest event in Coveleski Stadium history! I thought Bryan Adams did a great job from what I saw and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves a great deal.

Once the show was over I helped count some of the concession money. After that task was completed around midnight, it was off to "trash duty" til about 2:30 a.m. Let me tell you something, I don't think I ever smelled worse and felt more dirty that I did very early Saturday morning! Getting home at 3 a.m. and another "typical" 18+ hour work day at the ballpark is complete. Also, I'm glad that God made soap!! Oh yeah, I was back at the ballpark at 10 a.m. to open the Ticket Office for home game 59 of 70 this evening!

Lots of memories to share in the future! I hope that all that were there had a good time!

P.S. -- Laura I hope you got some sleep! And I hope you are hearing ok today!!