Indiana Jane and the Crystalized Concert Tickets

In honor of today's release of the new new Indiana Jones movie (which originated in the 80's, I might add) here are some concert ticket stubs from days o' yore.

When I look at these concert tickets, I feel:

1. Nostalgic            
2. Glad that I was able to experience some of the great 80's bands of all times (you won't find any "Flock of Seagulls" or "Warrant" stubs in my stash).
3. Old as shit.

Holy Hell, look at the dates on those tickets. Not to mention the U2 ticket looks more like a scroll uncovered from the Byzantine era than a 20-year old concert ticket. Notice the price tag - $15.50 to see U2? Are you kidding me? Granted this particular ticket says "Limited View" which is code for "Bring a breathing apparatus, tissue for the high-altitude bloody nose and a flag for when you reach the summit." This particular U2 Ticket (ancient scroll) was for the opening night of the Joshua Tree Tour.  Sadly, during the archaeological dig (in my closet), Indiana Jane (me) could not track down the Creme De la Creme of all ticket stubs: the coveted U2 "Rattle and Hum" ticket.

In 1987, U2 made a documentary-like film called "Rattle and Hum," which was a compilation of some of their major concerts during that year and arguably one of the best concert films of all times. Parker and I were there in all our 1980's glory. At a special price of $5  per ticket (Bono was charitable even back then), even we could fork out some of our mad  (pot) money for this opportunity. Despite waking up at the crack of dawn to be first in line for tickets, with Bartles & James Cooler Hangovers and wine-puke  in my hair (this happened often back in the day), we still managed to score the dreaded "High Altitude" tickets, as there were about 4000 other die-hards ahead of us at the box office. No worries, we were  young, could still climb Everest-like flights of stairs and our eyesight was still good. We were also convinced that the camera man would somehow see our beauty in row 903, film us (up close in all our blue eye-shadowed glory) and we would become the breakaway stars of this film.

We remember the concert like it was yesterday. The excitement of being a part of history (not really, but we were dreamers). The hot dogs we downed (extra relish please) at the concession stand right before Bono took stage and belted out "Bullet the Blue Sky." The chaffed thumb from holding the Bic lighter on HIGH during the entire rendition of "Pride: In the Name of Love." The helicopter hovering above us to get a wide angle shot of the entire audience (all the while thinking, "Yes helicopter-camera man, I am winking at you"). 

I recently showed my kids the Rattle and Hum DVD and during the helicopter shot crowd scene, I quickly pointed to where we were sitting  (sadly our close up must have ended up on the cutting room floor). Amazingly, they were not impressed. The next day, my son asked me if I would buy him tickets for the My Chemical Romance concert (his first concert). At $62 bucks a pop (one for him and  one for dear old chaperone dad) I was apprehensive. Longing for the days of the $15.50 concert, I caved in and bought the tickets anyhow. 

By the way, a few years ago Parker scored some U2 Tickets for us at approximately $160 each. At the last minute I was unable to go and she sold them on EBay for almost twice their face value (hot dog and bic lighter NOT included).

-VAL