Reader Request - Horror Stories
September 19th, 2007 - by John
I was headed down the thruway (route 90 in NY) in the summer of 1997 to see The Wallflowers at Darien Lake performing arts center. I was with my girlfriend, a buddy of mine (wheelchair bound) and his brother. We should have stayed at home. Originally the tickets had been to see The Counting Crows that evening- The Wallflowers were the opener- but the Crows had cancelled due to throat problems or something like that. So the deal was- if you still used your ticket- you would get a free voucher for a lawn seat for any other show that summer. What the heck we thought. Then we got a flat tire.
At the time I was driving an early eighties Pontiac Bonneville which was a little bit rusty and quite prone to flats. No problem I though- sure changing a tire on an expressway is a little daunting- but I can handle it. Well I got four of the five blots off the tire, and then, on the last bolt- striped the wrench. Of course- I had no additional tools- and no AAA- so we were out of luck. I ended up walking a mile or so down the road and found a couple of guys cutting the grass on one of the medians. They were nice enough to come back to the car w/me and use some of their tools to get the last blot off and the new tire on. Great I thought- we’ll still make the show (probably miss whoever the first opening act was- but not bad considering). The bad luck was not over. When I went to start the car- the battery was dead. So- the two guys- who had already changed my tire- brought the lawnmower down the median and gave me a jump. Luckily it was a large mower.
We could only go about 45 miles and hour on the spare- but eventually we did make it- just in time to catch the band. I remember the Wallflowers putting on a decent set- they threw in a lot of covers to make up the extra time in the headlining set. After the set we drove the hour back home- at 45 miles an hour- w/the people cursing at us and passing us non stop. As I recall the whole way we were singing Bloodhound Gang songs, deliriously. Never did get to use that voucher either. Doh.
Hit us up with a comment- tell us your concert horror story.
September 22nd, 2007 at 10:55 am
Back in 1998 I was in college up in Syracuse, NY. Hum was touring in support of Downward is Heavenward.
A friend at school was also a Hum fan. He was from Scranton, PA which is about halfway to Philly from Syracuse. Neither of us had a car so we bought Greyhound bus tickets to Scranton and his friends would drive us the rest of the way to the show.
The bus was scheduled to roll out of town sometime around 7am on the Saturday of the show. Despite the early appointment, I went to a party the night before. Somehow I ended up back at my dorm drinking straight out of a bottle of cheap vodka until about 4am. I was clearly a moron.
6am rolled around and I awoke with a belly still full of cheap vodka feeling worse than I ever had in my life. I pulled myself up and we left. But things turned ugly immediately at the bus terminal. I only made it about four steps towards the bathroom before getting violently ill as I ran down the hall — all over the walls, ceiling and floor.
I silently made my way to the bus, and somehow kept in my seat until we hit Scranton. We got there around lunch time, and my friends family was dead set on providing us with hoagies. My head was throbbing and my stomach felt like it had broken glass in it. I could have burst at any moment. I tried to politely decline, but they wouldn’t take no for an answer. I took a few bites of an Italian sub before running off to their bathroom for another round of puking — this time it was vodka AND hoagie flavored. Ewww. Gross. Really, really, gross.
We eventually got back to Philly and I made it to the show. But all I remember is standing in the very back of the TLA on South Street worrying that I was actually going to die. And promising myself I would never drink that much ever again if I lived. Hum broke up not long after that.