30th Birthday Party

 

Thirty years ago, a friend of mine called my dorm room asking if I wanted to go see a new band in a small bar/eatery on campus. I agreed and as we walked in, the first song I heard them play was a cover song by John Prine called "Angel From Montgomery." Even back then, few had ever heard of John Prine and certainly nobody my age so it really grabbed my attention that these two young kids were now singing it to the crowd of which I was a part. The night went on and I really enjoyed their music enough that I soon purchased their debut CD. I no longer recall if it was available then or came about soon after but I do know, that was one of their first concerts The Nadas ever performed.

Thirty years later, at a concert my wife took me too for my birthday, they announced they would be playing a 30th birthday show back in the state where I live and we both thought it might be nice to attend. We never bought tickets though as it was a long way off. Then a new farm-to-table restaurant opened up nearby and I thought we might combine both in one evening but thus far, we have still been unable to score reservations for the farm-to-table restaurant. We went back and forth and eventually decided to just buy concert tickets and attend regardless of the restaurant. 

We had two options for tickets, general admission or VIP with reserved seating. The VIP tickets also included backstage passes to party with the band and here an acoustic pre-concert set. We decided to splurge and go for the VIP tickets and indeed got to party with the band, including eating from their eclectic food table below before the concert. They played a handful of songs for the 30 of us who had purchased the VIP tickets and mingled with us before the concert. Eventually, we were able to sneak into the venue and reserve our seats before the doors were opened for general admission. All was going well and we were having a great time.

Then three or four songs into the set, the three drunk groupies decided to get up and dance in the narrow front aisle between the first row of seats and the stage. A couple songs went by and the rest of us humored them hoping they would sit back down so we could enjoy the concert but it was not to be. Soon, they became persuading others to come up and then immediately, those who had purchased general admission tickets and were seating in the back of the venue rushed to the stage and my wife and I found ourselves looking at twerking butts of over a hundred other people less than a couple feet in front of our faces. (We were in the second row.) We could no longer even see The Nadas on stage.

I hoped the venue workers would clear them out but they never did other than collaring a few for putting drinks on the stage. After a half dozen songs, I had enough and we got up and walked to the back of the venue where there were now available seats and we could sit, enjoy the performance, AND see The Nadas, the entire reason we paid extra for our tickets. Although we still enjoyed ourselves and I don't regret going, it has kind of soured me on attending anymore of their concerts where I pay for a seat.

As mentioned above, the center part of the food spread was eclectic but is sort of an inside joke from some of their older songs. On either side of this picture were giant meat, cheese and cracker spreads along with an open bar, hence the three drunk groupies that soured my second row seating experience.