Early in 1982, I was locked up in a adolescent psychiatric/behavior modification unit in a mental health hospital in Chicago for three and a half months. That was due to an OD of what was supposed to be acid, but was instead most likely strychnine. As you can imagine, at this time I was pretty much uncontrollable.

I ended up going to this concert even though my mom objected. Honestly, I really didn't care what she thought--I just told her there was no way I wasn't going to go. I know she was just trying to look after me--after all, she is a nurse--but I assured her my acid days were over and that I was only going to be drinking and smoking weed. She appreciated my honesty. (I'm honest to my mom, too--I haven't touched anything except for genuine windowpane since then.)

My friend Tony DiStefano from high school got the tickets. These were hard to come by, but his dad "knew" people and got us 4 tickets FOR FREE! The fact we had no ride wasn't a problem because I could ask Marty Smith, who was the brother of a girl I was boning and who had a car. Of course, he accepted. The fourth guy asked was this guy named Jerry Trost, who had access to his burnout older brothers' stash spots. He knew where their stash spots were. So as long as he brought drugs, all would be good. As Tony, Marty, and Jerry pulled up in the car, my mom said to me, "You've got school tomorrow, so don't get TOO FUCKED UP!!!" School. Whoopee. So what the show was on a Tuesday night--I was going to see The WHO!!!

When we got to the parking lot, I began hassling Jerry to break out the care package, but he wouldn't get high in the car or even say what he brought. We were dying in anticipation. Finally as the guy with the orange cone guided the car in the parking slot, Jerry dug around in his pocket and pulled out a half-ounce chunk of blonde Lebanese hashish. He broke off like a quarter of it and totally packed the bowl he brought and we smoked that bowl nonstop for a good half hour. When we got out of the car to leave, smoke clouds literally poured out. It was really reminiscent of a goddamn Cheech and Chong movie.

When we got inside the Horizon, we had no idea where we were sitting. Now, the concert was sold out, and to get the tickets at all, let alone for free, was pretty incredible within itself, but unfortunately, they were in the balcony directly behind the stage. They had a huge TV screen facing us so we could see the front vantage point of the show so it actually was interesting to looking back upon. I'll touch more on this on that in a bit.

The opening act was T-Bone Burnett and his Rolling Thunder Revue. The reason why I remember this is because of the guitarist he had in his band, Mick
Ronson, who had played guitar with David Bowie in his Ziggy Stardust days. I really don't remember what they played, but it must have been truly extraordinary considering I have absolutely no memories of it.

That was when the fun started actually, at least IMO. It was pretty cool to watch the road crew work behind the scenes dismantling the equipment and set up The Who's equipment, all within a matter of a half hour. That sort of stuff has always amazed me-the choreography, coordination and practiced grace has always made set-up seem like a sort of ballet to me, albeit one performed by fat, sweaty guys who look like Hell's Angels. When the dance of the sugarplum amplifiers was completed and the lights were dimmed, I saw Roger Daltrey, John Entwhistle, Pete Townsend, and Kenny Jones being led via flashlight to the front of the stage.

The lights went on and BAM, The Who came out and give a kick-ass concert. This was for their "It's Hard" tour and songs they played included personal favorites as "Who Are You," "Won't Get Fooled Again," "I Can See For Miles," "Long Live Rock," "The Real Me," and "Eminence Front." It was a great show, but the cool thing was watching the cops filter thru the backstage area with people they busted for trying to jump the stage barricades or some other craziness, as well as paramedics with OD victims on stretchers. After seeing that, I knew then that I really would never eat acid again. I wanted to go to many more concerts, but I had no interest in spending them at the first aid station.

Then I also noticed in the corner about 20 HOT women with this badge thing around their necks, as well as these guys standing by a table with the same badges. After the show, as The Who were led off stage, those people with the badges followed right behind. That was when I discovered what a laminated is and I remember thinking, "I got to get one of those." (The backstage pass, not the women-AIDS being nonexistent, everyone was much loser.)

Oh, yeah, the other notable thing about that concert was that we left looking slightly Oriental. After all, we had all the rest of that hash to smoke!

Next Episode: Robert Plant 1983

Until then…ROCK ON !

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