1969 L.A. Forum Second Show - A true story
Date: October 4, 2014 04:38
I was 15-1/2 years old. (I'm 60 now.) Some friends said let's see the Rolling Stones. I knew the hits I liked the band, so I was in. There were two shows that night. One at 8:00 and one at 11:00. Being 15, I figured that my friends would get tickets for the 8:00 show.
Nope. The tix were for the 11PM show. Somehow I convinced my parents to let me go. The oldest guy in our group was 16 and he had a driver's license. So we crammed into his car and went to Inglewood. We got there about 9:00 and parked a few blocks away. We walked over to the Forum and there was a huge group of totally excited people waiting to get in for the second show.
Somehow we got word that the first show was running late. Very late. I told my parents that I'd be home around 2AM. I don't think we got into the building until well around 1AM. At this point, I was going wherever the magic carpet was taking me. I was going to see the Rolling Stones!
Our seats were way at the top of the upper level. I'm pretty sure the warm up acts were B.B. King and Ike and Tina Turner. I'm not 100% sure because there may have been some drugs involved.
I remember that I could barely see Tina Turner. After the warmup acts were done, someone had the crazy idea to see if we could get down on the floor. Like I said, I think drugs may have been involved, so we left our seats and headed to the lower level.
I remember that it was pretty easy to get down to the floor. We made our way forward and then the lights went out. They always had three sections in front of the stage at the Forum. Totally by random chance, we started making our way down between sections B and C which put us straight in line with where Keith would soon be. Of course, we didn't know that at the time. It was the first Stones show for all of us.
I'm about 5-7 and at that point, I probably weighted about 119 pounds. And suddenly I felt a surge of people behing me pushing me foward up the aisle. We must have been some of the first people with the crazy idea to head down to the floor. And before I knew it, I was right in front of the stage. One of my friends was with me. In the melee, we had lost the other two guys.
This is decades before cell phones. We had no idea how we'd get home and I remember it as if it was yesterday... We didn't care. They opened the show with Jumping Jack Flash and my life changed forever. I seem to remember Midnight Rambler and Honky Tonk Women. Or maybe I have that confused with the Liver Than You'll Ever Be bootleg of the Oakland show that I found weeks later. All I now is that it was one of the most amazing nights (actually mornings) of my life.
Street Fighting Man ended at around 4:30. The drugs had worn off long ago, but my friend and I were in a haze. It was beyond amazing. We really couldn't quite comprehend what had just happened. But we quickly realized that we had no idea where our driver was. And to make matters worse, we really didn't remember where he had parked. Dumb kids.
We wandered out to the parking lot without a clue how we'd get home. We were just two 15 year old kids who had been blown away by what we just saw. Here's where it gets totally unbelievable, but still true...
As we are wandering around the parking lot, someone asks us if we need a ride home. We say YES! These total strangers actually pile us in their car and drive us right to our homes.
They pull into my driveway at about 5:45 in the morning. It's now November 9th and the sun is coming up. I walk up to my door and when I walk in, there are my parents. They are understandably scared that I was gone so long, relieved that I'm home safely, and above all, pissed.
I don't remember how long I was grounded for, but however long it was, it was worth it. I saw the Rolling @#$%& Stones right in front of the stage!!! I had amazing stories to share when I went to school. (I think I was in 11th grade at the time.)
Since then, I've seen the band about 30 times. My friends all know that I'm their crazy friend who is nuts for the Rolling Stones. So, none of them were surprised when I saw the band in L.A., Oakland and San Jose in May of 2013. Since 1999, I've been sure that this show will the "the last time." And every time I've been wrong.
Three Footnotes:
1) I got married in 1988. My wife has joined me for about a dozen shows. She liked the band before she met me. She has the fever now. In 2005, we had the pleasure of being in the onstage boxes in San Francisco. That was a very special night.
2) One of the great joys of my life was when I took my daughter to see the band. I paid too much and got great seats. I was 15 when I saw the band for the first time. When I took my daughter, she was (wait for it...) 15.
3) In January of this year, my wife and I planned a trip to Europe for June. (I've always lived in California.) We set up our trip to start in Prague, head to Vienna, and end in Budapest. A very nice trip. Imagine how blown away I was when I found out the the band would be playing in Vienna when we were there! So, of course, we had to go. Once again, I was 100% into it... After all, it was the last time I'd see the band. I sure hope I'm wrong about that.
So that's the story of the first and last time I saw the Rolling Stones (and a couple of very special shows in between).
If one of you happens to be the incredibly nice person who drove me home in November of 1969, thank you! You put the "cherry on top of the sundae" on one of the best nights of my life!