Van Halen in a few weeks

So in a few weeks, I get to see Van Halen... live. I've seen David Lee Roth and I've seen Eddie Van Halen. Not on the same stage... not ever. The first concert that I went to was Van Halen at Alpine Valley on the Memorial Day weekend. I still have my ticket stub. Row 26 and I think the total price of the ticket was $25. I remember waiting in the "Ticketron" (that's what it was before TicketMaster) on a Saturday morning to buy the tickets. Three tickets, and I remember that we gave the lady $80 but the bills were stuck together so she said we only had $60, lucky for us, my best friend had a $20 bill on her.

The day of the concert, we drove out to Alpine Valley... it was my introcution to the rock and roll culture. I saw, heard and smelled things I hadn't before. Bachman Turner Overdrive was the opening band. I thought that "You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet" was a brand new song. It was 1986 and I was I guess 13 1/2 years old. My parents drove my best friend, my brother and I to the show. We all bought t-shirts. I think those cost about $15. I have mine and I have my brothers. Now that t-shirt is pretty darn small but it is the 2000s so it's all good that it's too small. I just need to lose about 15 lbs to make it very cool... we'll see by the show date.

I've gone from cheering the band to booing the band. I have been let down, thrown out, dried out, psyched up. All that. Now, here they are. My two childhood heroes coming together on stage. Like it was just for me. Only it's for the whole world! Bummer that Mike Anthony won't be there, I think it's a shame. At any rate. I'll be looking forward to the big night. Rock on, party like it's 1984.