I am talking about the pre-show rituals. Mine varied a little over the decades, depending on my age and who I was going with to the show. I attended my first handful of concerts with my best friend, Chris. He had already been to some concerts before I went to my first, and he was the guy who showed me the ropes.
Naturally, there is the ticket purchase. He took care of that end of it, and I simply coughed up the dough when the time came for reimbursement. Chris did the travel planning, too. We took an inter-city bus for our first concert, Triumph, together. That was easy. A two hour ride brought us to the main terminal in the downtown core of Toronto. Chris knew the big city, so he was the tour guide, steering us toward a dining establishment (I think it was a McDonald's) for sustenance before our evening of rock'n'roll. Oh, and it was New Year's Eve, too, don't you know!
We browsed a few shops on our way to Maple Leaf Gardens, where T.O.'s pro hockey team played back then. That night, though, the Gardens would be transformed into a light and sound experience. As we neared the arena, Chris suddenly remembered something we needed... cigarette lighters. No, we didn't smoke cigarettes... or anything else, but as my buddy explained, we'd need the lighters to participate in the show. I was clueless about this, so I deferred to my concert-savvy pal. So we made our inexpensive purchases at a corner store. My first lighter. Heh.
Stepping inside the doors of Maple Leaf Gardens, I felt like this was a key life moment. And of course it was; I still remember it today and smile. Thousands of music fans thronged around us, some buying food and drink, some heading off to find their seats. Others were clustered around the tables of Triumph merchandise for sale. Yeah, I wanted souvenirs of this event. Triumph was one of my favourite bands at the time, a close second to Rush (another heavy Canadian act that I saw live several times), so I needed some cool stuff to prove I was there.
I got an Allied Forces tour shirt, the half-sleeve style, which was popular at the time. I also picked up a big, glossy tour program and a button. The shirt is long gone, shrunken and worn out, but the other goodies from that night live on, and are pictured above.
I won't get into the details of the concert itself since I talk about that in another post (here), but I did get to use my lighter. Settled in our seats, adrenaline pumping in high gear, Chris told me to get my lighter ready. The lights went down... and everybody in the arena produced a flickering flame, like a starry night sky... quite magical to see, especially for a first-timer. And during the show, whenever the place darkened, the lighters would flare up again. It was a fun way to participate in the mood of the event, and also a sort of way to send our thanks and appreciation to the band onstage. I know musicians feed off the energy of the audience, and I'm sure our lighters, plus our cheers and applause, gave Triumph an extra boost of confidence and inspiration as they pumped out one hard rock hit after another.
The following year, Chris and I, huge Rush fans that we were, snagged ourselves tickets to a Toronto show on the band's Signals tour. Our pre-concert rituals altered a little this time, but were essentially the same.... though better. Since Rush was our Number One band, we had to do more than just show up for the gig. We developed a project that would keep us busy for many hours in the days leading up to the big night. Chris and I designed and assembled a very artistic banner to parade around the Gardens before Rush took the stage. Pictured above is a snapshot we had taken of us holding the banner, not at the concert, but ahead of time. That's my fave souvenir of that evening (Chris got to keep the banner), plus the program and ticket stub.
Chris had a jacket with a bunch of Rush patches and buttons on it. This was his "uniform" to wear to Rush concerts. I liked the idea, so I politely asked my mother to sew my Rush patches onto a cheap army surplus jacket I bought. After tacking on my own growing collection of band buttons, I had a pretty impressive Rush garment of my own. I did away with that jacket long ago, but I kept every patch, pin, and button... you can see them all here.
This time we drove ourselves to Toronto, and there were four of us in the car. I believe Chris had brought along some Rush music on tape for the ride down. Our dinner was fancier this time around; we hit a real restaurant, with beer and knives and forks. Mmmm.
At the venue, pre-show, with the lights up, we held the banner high as we did a little tour around the arena floor, raising many cheers from fellow fans. And during the concert, we had a chance to unfurl the banner again, this time before the eyes of the band (and probably nobody else), since our seats were at the other end of the arena, facing the stage, just high enough that Rush could probably see our handiwork.
A little post-show ritual that began that night was the perusal of bootleg band shirts for sale on the sidewalks outside the Gardens. Funny how the bootleggers were so bold back then, probably threatened very little by the authorities or anyone else. It was just part of the experience, accepted as "normal" by most folks. I took a chance and bought myself a cool and unusual Rush shirt, sporting a design nothing like the pricier tees sold at the authorized merchandise tables. This was the early 80's, long before the legality of such practices were considered that important by anyone at all, including the artists.
My comrades and I more or less stuck with similar pre and post-show procedures for many years. Things evolved over time, as I moved cities and attended gigs with different friends, and we all got older. The gang and I would always do dinner beforehand, either fast food or something more extravagant. Booze wasn't always a factor in concert-going, though it played a role when I was hanging with a certain crowd prior to metal shows in the 80's and 90's. There were some shows I have pretty much no memory of at all, thanks to some heavy-duty imbibing beforehand. A couple of Iron Maiden and Metallica concerts are particularly fuzzy in my mind. All part of the experience as a reckless youth.
Sadly, no more lighters at concerts! Now it's just boring old cell phones. Not very magical, if you ask me.
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