For me, definitely in February 1998.. Worked a in very little company, the boss wouldn't give me one day of holiday until the summer break.
So I flew without notice from Paris to Houston for two Compaq Center shows on Thursday and Friday.
First gig was the same day of the flight. I had just three hours break between custom clearing and the show. I showed up at work on Monday.. The guy was ready to fire me, had cleared it with his lawyer.
I said it was a family emergency and I couldn't find his phone to call him. He didn't buy it, but I finally kept the job..



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2018-01-18 18:45 by The Joker.

Loads of time especially the times I had to queue Virgin Records, Oxford Street, London for the Brixton 95 show and outside Tower Records in Piccadilly to buy tickets for Shepherds Bush Empire.

Everyone at work including my boss knew who my favourite band was and knew why I was throwing a sicky. Ha.

Kinda sorta (but not really)

I was a professional musician for apx. 10 years. Eventually I got sick of it and got a haircut and started looking for a real job. Unfortunately for me, my resume didn't show a whole lot of "work" and it was a long (16 month) search but I finally managed to find a company that wanted me. During the official offer/acceptance interview in mid-September, the following conversation took place:

Me: Would it be OK if I took the morning of October 27th (1997) off?
Hiring Manager: Sure. That should be fine. Do you mind me asking why?
Me: Not at all. My buddy and I have tickets to see The Rolling Stones in Nashville on Sunday, October 26th and there is no way that I will be in any condition to get home from the show and into the office on time on the 27th.
Hiring Manager: (Laughs) Well I suppose that's about as good a reason to be late as any other. I hope you have fun at the show.

For the next few weeks, I wasn't "officially" hired by the corporation but continued to work as a temporary employee. On the morning of the 27th, I actually arrived about an hour earlier than scheduled and had this conversation take place:

Hiring Manager: Hey! Are you still working as a Temp or are you an employee?
Me: I'm still a temp.
Hiring Manager: OK. I'm going to have Mandy get the paperwork together. You're becoming an employee today.
Me: Cool.

I've joked ever since that, only I could show up late for work after going out of town to see The Rolling Stones and get hired by the company that afternoon!

Peace,
Mr DJA

> Did you ever put a job at risk to see the Stones <

Not directly .... but there was no hurry for getting a new job when the Stones were on Tour ....

Throwing a sickie is the biggest risk for me,so I'm always vague about tour dates in case I can't get time off . Social media has made it very risky ....Zero posts from Hamburg 17 or Berlin 14 !


sc uk

No.


The last time a job of mine may have been at risk because of a concert was back in 1977 seeing Led Zeppelin 6 times.

Yes in 2002/2003 during Licks - I was working at a museum and my boss was very cool.
I was able to see multiple shows during the US leg of the tour without any problems, but when it came to traveling to Europe in the summer of '03 I was pushing it a bit.
It was my 40th birthday, and I had a seven week itinerary planned out. While it wasn't all about seeing the Stones, part of my itinerary was built around quite a few shows (all shows in Stockholm, all in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht, all in London, and the final two in Glasgow). Again, my boss was very cool and after weeks of pleading and explaining the situation I was able to make it happen...barely.

_____________________________________________________________
Rip this joint, gonna save your soul, round and round and round we go......

How about a lost relationship? Flew to Boston with then-girlfriend for opening night 2005. We had ok seats. Just to see if there were any last-minute releases of tix, I checked Ticketmaster for night 2 before we flew back home and pulled up a single seat in row 4! What to do? I sent her back by herself, delayed my flight and went to night 2 by myself. That went over well!

Something most, if not all of us have done, probably fairly recently:

Stones on tour in a different part of the world than you live in... Because of the time difference, the Stones are on stage while you're at work...

Do you use your office computer or Wi-Fi connection to check Periscope or Facebook Live for a live feed? Only on your lunchbreak or on "company time" while you're multi-tasking?

I had more than a few people ask me last summer/fall if I was listening to a Stones bootleg/live album at my desk only to have me respond, "No that's the Stones live, right now in _______"

So much for using office equipment for business purposes only!

Peace,
Mr DJA

Almost the opposite!

Due to a surreal set of co-incidences my employer paid for me to fly from the UK to the USA at what turned out to be the precise dates that allowed me to see the first three shows on the "Steel Wheels" tour in August/Sept 1989.

Sweet.

--
Captain Corella
60 Years a Fan

Slightly OT - back in 72 when in high school, several of us took off school to get Stones tickets. When I told one of my teachers I'll be missing his class because of a Dr's appointment, he reached into his pocket, gave me some money and said "pick me up a Stones ticket while you are at it". We did, but not seated near us.

I skipped my High School graduation, does that count?

Quote
mr_dja
Something most, if not all of us have done, probably fairly recently:

Stones on tour in a different part of the world than you live in... Because of the time difference, the Stones are on stage while you're at work...

Do you use your office computer or Wi-Fi connection to check Periscope or Facebook Live for a live feed? Only on your lunchbreak or on "company time" while you're multi-tasking?

I had more than a few people ask me last summer/fall if I was listening to a Stones bootleg/live album at my desk only to have me respond, "No that's the Stones live, right now in _______"

So much for using office equipment for business purposes only!

Peace,
Mr DJA

Funny you mention that as it's related to my previous post - prior to and leading up to the Licks tour (and during it also), I spent at least half the day at work reading IORR, Rocks Off, shidoobee, and the now defunct official Rolling Stones membership message board, as well as spending time looking for tickets on ticketmaster, etc, and researching and planning my itinerary. I became an expert in finding the best deals on flights and hotels online during that period, and my wife still refers me to friends when they're in need of an experienced travel agent lol.

_____________________________________________________________
Rip this joint, gonna save your soul, round and round and round we go......

jobs come and go... The Stones are FOR LIFE!

I had a clause inserted in every employment contract i've had since 1994.

It states, that if the Rolling Stones announce a concert in New Zealand or Sydney, Australia that i can take leave to travel and attend, no questions asked.

And i also have that if Mick or Keith depart this mortal coil then i get 3 days bereavement leave, to sincerely mourn, reflect, listen and watch everything that they have ever released...

If you want me too work with you, then I have to have the above.

The first time i put it in the HR department of NZ's largest company couldn't believe what they were reading, so they rang the big boss (ceo) who had hired me, and he said, "Yep that's right, he told me of the condition during the interview, he said, 'If you want me, then i need this'"... Heck i was 23, must've been the testosterone...

HHAHHAHA

First show I called out the next day.

Yes I did. In 1969 a group of friends and I wanted to see the Stones at the LA Forum. So, I was the guy to stand in line all night at the Forum ticket window, and I called in sick in the morning. We were I think 11th in line. By the morning, the line was all the way around the Forum and more. It was a party for sure. Fortunately, I kept the job and I bought 16 tickets for lots of friends. And, of course, it was an epic, memorable show.

A few weeks later, we got word of the Altamont show. We made plane reservations (I worked with about 6 other friends) to fly to San Francisco from LA. We were planning to all call in sick. When our boss got word about it, he let us know that there would be no jobs when we got back. It was a good job, it was near Christmas and they really needed us, so we decided to not go.

Yes, of course.
I post-poned my university degree to be at the Shea Stadium

Absolutely. The job, but more than that - my marriage. I don't think I can even admit yet what I did to go see them.

Well..i have told my boss i wont be available for work from May 1 till Sept 12.
Dont think they like that.told them i wanna see the Stones again this year.their reply was like..youve seen them 4 times in 2017.was that not enough.
No...i am addicted to this band.
Jeroen

Love this thread!!!

The answer is: More than one time.

Best story:

In 1995 Vodoo Lounge Europe Tour when I was Creative Director of Lintas, Germany - a big advertising company, me and my wife - by many very lucky circumstances - were on the guest list for the special gig in L´Olympia, Paris.July 3rd.
It was a monday. And the morning we were on our way to the airport I got a call from my company: "You have to stay here, the CEO of Deutsche Telekom called in a meeting surprisingly and will fly in from cologne this afternoon to meet you."
I thought to myself: "What I should tell my children one day about this? That I let go the Stones in the legendary wonderful tiny Olympia-Theatre and miss the first club gig of my band in my fan-career for a meeting with a client ???(yes very important client of us, but anyway? NO! So I said: "I go to Paris. Do it without me. Even if you fire me for this."
So I went. An called later from the hotel in Paris, how the meeting went.
"Oh, the Deutsche Telekom CEO cancelled the meeting by himself because he changed his plans again...."
So in the end there was no damned meeting.
But there was I club gig.
And we were there - first row :-))))))

Did you ever put a job at risk to see the Stones

Not really.

(But, in this context, other relations got somewhat disturbed on two occasions in 1998 and 2003.)

Well, the morning after Schüttorf 1995, when I went to office, I was still so groggy, I mean hanging in the ropes, that my kind young boss asked me well-meaningly "You should go home, Klaus, and take a rest!". I would have liked to do so, however, my professionell ethics forbade me to accept and I struggled through the day till closing time.

dead.flowers

A Friday afternoon, 1994.
The boss told everyone they had to come in to work on Saturday.
I told him I had a prior commitment and was unavailable.
He pressed me on this, and I replied, "It's personal," "Emergency,""Have to help a friend." He wouldn't let up and finally I just told him "Stones tickets are going on sale tomorrow."
He asked if that was more important than this job to which I enthusiastically replied, "Yes." I got my tickets, wasn't fired, but quit shortly thereafter.

PS- SKILLS - nice job on the clause, that's impressive.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2018-01-19 16:56 by mrsoandso.

I wouldn't exactly say I put my job 'at risk', but I certainly let work know that my attendance of the Stones at Hyde Park in 2013 twice in one week was 'non-negotiable', and that I would be there - period !!

I was working in Uganda at the time, on a 'rotational' basis. That's to say, one month on/one month off. The Hyde Park shows fell in a period when I was due to be out there, and not 'on leave'. But I basically put my foot down and told work that they would have to juggle people's schedules around, because come hell or high water, I was not going to be in Uganda during that week, I was going to be in London. They didn't like it and there was a lot of bitching and moaning and calling me names, but they did move some schedules around and I did duly get my way. I don't actually think my job was ever truly at risk, but .... I did have to kind of 'tow the line' a bit for the rest of the time I was contracted to be out there ! 'Swings n' roundabouts' as they say !!

[ I want to shout, but I can hardly speak ]

No, but I nearly got fired for getting Clash tickets in 1979. They were supposed to play at the Palladium in NYC in June of that year. Tickets went on sale in May on my first day back at the job I had the previous summer. A colleague was waiting on line, but needed an extra body because of ticket limits. Another colleague asked if I could help and assured me that it was OK. I didn't take any longer than a typical lunch hour. I just took it earlier in the day. We got tickets, but my supervisor was pissed as hell when I got back. She reamed me out and nearly fired me. Then the whole tour was cancelled.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2018-01-19 18:50 by ab.

It's cool how people put the Stones 1st. I feel in good company!

Just remembered this incident...

1994 was actually my 1st time seeing the Stones (I waited to long to call for tickets and missed '89). I had managed to get two tickets for the Atlanta show on November 15th which was my then girlfriend's birthday. A few weeks before the show, the guitarist from the band I was playing with (I was a full time musician at that point) called me to tell me that he had booked us in Knoxville, TN on the 15th. When I told him what I had planned for that night, all he asked was, "Can you get a substitute?" Thankfully a buddy was able to fill in for me that night and my girlfriend and I had a great time at the Stones show. To this day, it's the only night I have ever hired a sub to replace me at a show so I could do something else. Priorities, right?

Peace,
Mr DJA

Yes, gone on for years, stories too many to mention, but 99% of the time the supervisors cave in and say yes. Maybe they are a fan too but don't want to admit it. Thank you Joker for bringing this up cause I always thought I had problems getting time off.

yes sr .....last october

No, but I once blew a Job interview because I had the worst hangover of my life from hanging out at a party with John Entwistle the night before.

Not me but I’ve got a good story about my best pal. He went to Knebworth, raced to the front when the gates opened. The Stones came on late and he was late for work on the following Monday. He was I think about 19 years old then. His job was to deliver the post (mail) as the post boy at the local civic council office. He showed up late for work on the Monday and was fired by his boss on the spot for being late. So right after he was fired he took the stack of post for that day and dumped the lot on his boss’s desk and said “you deliver it.” It was one of his proudest moments. He later went and took all his O and A levels, went to university, and became a highly respected teacher of special needs children.