Classic Rock N Recall: Big Wally’s Rolling Stones Experience

Today in Classic Rock History

In 1989
The Rolling Stones performed a concert in Clemson, South Carolina, and donated a portion of the proceeds to the victims of Hurricane Hugo.

In 1990
Mick Jagger and Jerry Hall announced their marriage.  The ceremony happened a week earlier in Bali, Indonesia.

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Ah... 1989.  My second experience waiting in line for something. This time it was for tickets to see The Rolling Stones in concert in Syracuse.

My best friend, Tom Groves offered to buy my ticket, if I waited in line overnight, for what was sure to be the best seats in the Carrier Dome.  I of course had to buy my wife, Karen's ticket, and at $35, it was the most expensive concert ticket ever.  I was fifth in line, and I scored big time.  I got my tickets and I was in row BB, which was on the floor and at about the 50 yard line. Not a bad deal for the Wallyman.

Fast Forward to the concert. We entered the climate controlled Dome and started looking for our seats. I was gonna be the hero for all my friends cause we got kick ass seats. We showed our stubs to one of the red coats, and they pointed down to the floor. Ohhh boyyy this was gonna be great.

We got to the floor, showed the tickets again, and again the red cots pointed us in teh right direct, but we already knew where we were seated and it was right around the 50-yard line line, where the Syracuse Orangemen played.

We get to the midway point in the stadium, and there was row Z, then the mix point, so two more rows and we should be in the best possible 'Sound Seats' in the building.

So we walk to row AA, and row BB would be next in line and Rolling Stones Time!

WAIT.... What?  Our seats are not here.... they are... Way... Over.... There????

How could you be pointing us to the Other End Zone?

Apparently, the concert seat numbering system in the Syracuse Carrier Dome is completely different than any other place in the free world. What happened was that once the Dome Rangers stopped at Row Z, they started all over again at the back of the stadium with row AA, which meant row BB was about as far away from Mic Jagger as almost humanly possible.

It was at the time that the 'OH, Really good seats... WALLY?' and other insults commenced.

I was crushed. I went from hero to goat in 3.2 seconds. The band sounded great, but the visuals... not so much. Mic and Keith looked like itty-bitty ants, and we spent most of the concert staring at a video monitor of what our own peepers couldn't see nakedly.

I made up, ever so slightly, by buying my six pack of friends a few drinks at the Sheraton Hotel bar afterward. So the whole concert ordeal, while a great time and I wouldn't have traded the memories for all the tea in China, ended up costing me much more more than the price of a $35 dollar ticket.

To add insult to injury, I could have caught the whole show on MTV a few weeks later, and had the exact same visual experience as staring at the Carrier Dome video monitor.  And it would have cost me a lot less than the wife's ticket, the drinks and the hotel room.

I do have 'Mixed Emotions,' cause I was caught between a 'Rock and a Hard Place,'  but I wouldn't have had such a wonderful experience!

I can 'Almost Hear You Sigh.'