3 Concerts - 1991

I didn't go to my first concert until August 1991. My brother paid for my ticket to a Styx concert because I drove him there. It was at the Garden State Arts center. Tommy Shaw was not a part of the group at the time and they did not perform Mr. Roboto which was disappointing. We went to see John Denver there a week later. Lawn seats then. He did a song called Home Grown Tomatoes and dedicated it to our state. My brother went off on his own. About a month later we went to the Brendan Byrne Arena and saw Rod Stewart. He wandered off during that a few times. Rod said "Hello NY " or something like that and I was thinking we are in NJ, Rod, not NY. I didn't go to another concert until 2000. Well, there was an Oak Ridge Boys one at Great Adventure in 1992 that I was at.

My Music Dream

December 11, 2001

I got to see Sting in concert last night - in my dreams that is. The weird thing is that this was taking place in the auditorium/ gym of my former grade school .There were 6 or 7 other performers at this show too like Rod Stewart. Sting did 4 songs then Rod came out and did a few of his hits. After him The Outfield did Your Love. Most of the people in the audience wanted Sting to do more songs which he did later. Culture Club did Miss Me Blind. Duran Duran was also there - with JT, as if he'd want to get back together with them. Michelle H., the girl who used to pick on me alot in that school was sitting next to me and was actually being very nice to me at this event. I kept wishing that I had a seat closer to the stage and was thinking that I wish that I had brought my binoculars. It's not as if this room was that big. The guy in back of me did have them though. Everybody was so happy when Sting performed again. He did 4 more songs including Every Breath You Take. He came off of the stage and for a few minutes was shaking people's hands which I thought was pretty cool.

I had no idea back then that all the original members of Duran Duran had indeed reunited that year - in May, I think. Didn't find this out until a few years later. I'm sure that this was yet another one of my alien abduction dreams and they had me in a holodeck like in Star Trek with either shape shifting aliens or holograms or both.

Concerts

I never was really that into going to concerts until 2000 when I saw Bon Jovi for the first time. I did go to a few in 1991, or was it 1992? My brother wanted to see Styx and didn't drive so he offered to buy me a ticket if I took him. I wasn't that into them but I did like some of their songs. Major disppointment to us both that they did not do Mr. Roboto. No Tommy Shaw either. This was at the then Garden State Arts Center. We saw John Denver there a couple of months later and Rod Stewart at the then Brendan Byrne Arena shortly after that. I saw the Oak Ridge Boys at Great Adventure a year later.

I enjoyed that Bon Jovi show in Philly so much that I just had to see them again. My boyfriend took me and we joked about Bad Medicine alot. He tried getting tickets for the Meadowlands but they were sold out. We saw them in Camden about 8 months later. I don't think that he was too pleased when I told him that I got tickets to see them at Giants Stadium for later that week. It was a last minute thing. Part of the reason I did this is because I was mad at myself for not using the binoculars at the Camden show. We got there late and missed a little of the opening act, Sugar Ray. I loved the fireworks at the end. This show was taped for a VH1 special that we watched.

I went with this same boyfriend to see The Monkees at a small club in Delaware and Brian Wilson at the PNC Center. He also got us tickets to see Duran Duran at the latter venue in the summer of 2000. I refer to it as the Simon and Nick show because it wasn't the 5 original members. Embarrased to say that I really wished that John were with them then.

I went to see Mellencamp in 2002. My brother was supposed to go with me but he was in the hospital. My mom came with me so the ticket wouldn't go to waste. She knew nothing about his music but said that she enjoyed the show. My brother did get to see him 3 years later at the same venue - PNC Center. We went to the Hall and Oates concert there a couple of months later. I went to 2 shows there that summer also but I never told him about them- Donna Summer and Duran Duran. Maybe I should've, but I just wanted to go on my own for a change.

We did go to the Def Leppard concert that fall at the Continental Airlines Arena. It was a very rainy day and the weatherguy Bill Evans said don't drive anywhere unless you absolutely have to. He'd probably think we were nuts for doing this. It was really scary. My driving anxiety gets worse when there's bad weather. Bryan Adams also performed at that event.

My brother went with me to see Bon Jovi at the new Prudential Center in Newark in the fall of 2007. Daughtry was the opening act. That was the seventh time that I saw Bon Jovi. My brother thinks that I've seen them 4 times. I was afraid that he'd tease me and say that I'm obsessed with them. He already does this enough. I went on my own to MSG in 2005 and Giants Stadium in 2006. I wish that I could afford to see them at the new Giants Stadium this spring but I'm saving for something else.

I have been to 7 Duran Duran concerts as well, although part of me says 6 because it doesn't officially count the one without John Taylor. That is so mean. I was so excited when I first saw him at the MSG concert almost 5 years ago. Should I be ashamed to admit that? I just had to see them again when they were at PNC a few months later. I went to one of their Broadway shows in 2007 only it turned out to be at Roseland because of the strike. I went to both of the Central Park shows in the spring of 2008 and a week before my birthday in December that same year saw them at the Wellmont Theater.

I'm usually in the nosebleed sections at these events or close to that but for the last three DD shows I was pretty close. It almost felt surreal being there. It was general admission which is why I was able to be in that spot. I wish that I could have gotten that close to Bon Jovi. I do have this crazy afterlife fantasy that your spirit gets to go to any concert or other event in whatever time period you want. I hope that this is true. God is probably laughing at me.

I definitely will be posting more about my Bon Jovi and Duran Duran concert experiences in the future. I've gone on enough about this subject for one day, plus I have some laundry to do now-real exciting.

Ooops- how could I forget about Genesis and Phil Collins? I'm sure that there are some people who would like to forget that they even exist. I had been into Genesis since 1986 and was so glad when I got to see them in 2007 at Giants Stadium with my brother. He went with me to the Phil Collins MSG show too- I think that was 2004.