I had the luck of winning tickets from WPLJ on Thursday afternoon for this past Saturday’s Bon Joviconcert in the park. While free, tickets were required to manage the crowd and the tickets were nearly impossible to find. They gave them away at different points in the city, all of which I missed due to work obligations. So I ended up burning the phone lines to ge through. Busy signal after busy signal, day after day, I worked the phones. I’m a casual Bon Jovi fan, like his music, not in love with it, but my sister and friend Dave are huge fans. So I thought free concert, Great Lawn, beautiful Saturday night, who could turn that down? That single reason was why I kept at it. Finally on Thursday afternoon, I was caller 19. I won 4 tickets and the next day went down to the studio offices to pick up my prize. Sis and Dave were extremely happy. They both told me many were jealous and wondered if I bought scalper tickets. I think if I were to call for me alone I would not have won them but the fact I was doing it for others a higher power had a hand in my getting them. Not getting religious mind you.
So Saturday came and we all met up at the park at 5pm, with Dave bringing his beau. The line was long but moved quickly. Security was tight but professional. Since we couldn’t bring big bags or backpacks, I had to put everything in a plastic bag and carried a rattanmat to place down on the lawn. We had chips and water, the essentials as alcohol was not allowed. Not that I need a good buzz to enjoy live music. We camped out in a good spot directly across from the stage (but about 800 yards away). We relaxed in the sun, chatting away the time and watching the crowd grow and swell. Finally 8pm hit.
On the dot, Bon Jovi comes out and starts with Living on a Prayer. Crowd immediately gets into it and the rest becomes a musical blur. Lots of popular old stuff as well as new stuff made for a feast for the senses. There was never a let down until Bon Jovi let us know that the park closes at 10pm so he had to end the concert on time. For two hours he entertained, jumped around, really feeding off the crowd. With the great weather and flat screens so that you felt you were on top of the stage, it turned out to be a great evening.
It was also funny watching guys awkwardly hitting on women. Women in groups dancing, guys start dancing with them, but then thinking that dancing meant the women were interested, hit them up for numbers and/or more and were left empty-handed. For a moment I thought Todd was there because he uses concerts as hookup spots, regardless of how much the ticket cost me. Another reason I don’t go to concerts nor invite him to ones, even free ones.
Here are a few pictures from the evening. Camera phone quality but you get the idea.
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