Trading Tour Shirts for Tickets

A Neil Young an Crazy Horse journey.

I Scored the  1^st ticket in between acts and sent Trrish in with it. The traffic into the venue dried up at about 8:20. I then  met  a very cool person and we talked about scooters, and I asked where the best place to listen, and he said, over there on the back deck,  that turned out to be a very cool place to listen to the music. I hung out there for a good portion of the first set. I then started to walk around, and found my way back to the road where people were exiting the venue out onto. It was the road that the handicap route is on and the road where the steep and long ramp that must be negotiated to get to the ticket takers.

So I hang out there for a while asking people exiting the show, if they have any un-used tickets. Most people look at you like it’s the most ridiculous question they’ve ever heard. I tell them it happens more often that they would think. No one really believed, and they kept walking. Then a nice gent comes down the road, and I ask him, and he chuckles and says no, and then says “all I have is a pass.” I immediately tell him that would work perfectly. He laughs and say’s “how am I supposed to get in to the next 5 shows. We both have a laugh, and he keeps going on his way. I take a walk back to cool listening area, which is right behind all the tour busses, about 8 of them. And just I get there, Mr.  “I only have a pass,” walks into the lot where the tour busses are, and hops onto one.  I should have been more persistent about that pass (:

So I walk out to the road again, and ask a few more people, and one guy hands me a ticket, and I head off at a sprint to make my way up the long ramp! I get to the Ticket area, and I’m huffing and puffing, and they looked at me like I was from another planet. I handed one of them my ticket, and she scanned it and it made negative sounding peep, and she promptly informed me it was used. I couldn’t believe it, I asked what kind of person would do such a thing, hoping for some sympathy. One of the other ticket takers says, “That’s what happens when you buy tickets out in the parking lot.” I say that I didn’t buy it, the guy just gave it to me. And then the original ticket woman says, “it happens all the time.

I took a few moments to catch my breath, and then asked if I could just stand right where I was, and the answer was a very quick no by all three of the ticket takers that were standing there. So I walk about 20 yards back down the ramp, and start asking for unused tickets, and  a young couple walks by and seems confused by what I was asking, but the keep walking. They made it about 5 yards down the ramp, and the young woman stops and says “I don’t thing we understood.” So I walked over and tried to repeat what I was doing and I could barely talk because of this tickle in my throat from the gallop up the ramp, but I finally got it out. And the guy starts to hand me a ticket and this other guy that was watching this all go down, yells to them that he’d pay them for that ticket if it was un-used. The woman is trying to have the guy not give me the ticket , but I catch his eye and he hands me the ticket before the woman has a chance to really make hey argument that they should take the money, And I didn’t wait around for her to do it, I ran up as I was thanking them profusely. I wanted to kick the dude that was trying to abscond with my ticket, right in the teeth, but didn’t. I arrived back at the ticket area and one of the ticket takers calls out, ”you got another one to try? And I say yes, and sorry for being so much trouble, and she says “you’re no trouble. She scans it and it beeps that beautiful sound that confirms a good ticket, and all three of them cheer at once.  At this point, I believe Mr. Soul was just starting, and I was in!

 It’s 4:06 AM and Show time is quickly approaching, and I need some sleep before starting another Neil and Crazy Horse journey.  There is a little prequel, but it must wait.