The Third One - (My Simon LeBon Moment) Madison Square Garden - June 23, 1987

If you're a Duranie you know what happened to Duran Duran between 1984 and 1987. If you don't know, I will tell you that they reached their peak of popularity, and they all but broke apart. Andy and Roger left and the future of Duran Duran was in question. Or at least that's what the press kept telling us, but Duranies knew that the return of Duran Duran was going to happen. In 1986, they released 'Notorious' and they embarked on a world tour. Eileen(my best friend, and fellow Duranie) heard that they were coming to New York to play Madison Square Garden and we knew that we HAD to be there.

*TIME OUT FOR A BRIEF HISTORY LESSON*       

Back in ‘The Day’ (ie: before Tickemaster ruled the world) it was possible to wait on line at a box office and purchase your tickets with actual money. At Madison Square Garden you were actually allowed to sleep out over-night and wait for the box office to open in the morning. There would be barriers, and the NYPD would keep an eye on the area all night. I did it several times, and I never felt that I was in any danger. In the morning (approx. 2-3 hours before the box office opened) they would have a lottery. This meant that the people at the front of the line would get the tickets with the lowest numbers, BUT they were given out randomly (as in not in sequential order)

*BACK TO THE STORY*

Eileen and I decided that we would wait outside Madison Square Garden (MSG) and try to get really good seats. For about a week before the day the tickets went on sale, I kept having this bad dream that I had been standing on a line all night only to find out in the morning that I had actually been waiting in the wrong place, and that the show was now sold-out. It still gives me shudders to think about it.

*shudders*

(see)

Anyway, the night before, Eileen my friend Laura and her friend Theresa went out to a nightclub. We left there around 2:00 in the morning, and we all waked over to MSG. As we approached the regular box office doors, we could see that there was no one else around. We all thought that was weird, so we started walking around. A police officer came up to us and told us that the the people were lining up along 8^th ave.

I was so relieved. If that cop hadn’t told us, I might have actually stood in the wrong place all night, and that nightmare I had been having might have come true!

Sure enough, when we walked down 33^rd st. and approached 8^th Ave. we could see all the fans lined up. There were probably about 200 people waiting there already. We took our place on line, and we waited.

It was actually a lot of fun. We talked all night with the other fans, and we took turns holding each other’s places in line so we could go pee, and break for refreshments. 

Around 6:00 am they started handing out numbered tickets. Eileen and I were standing right behind each other. She got number 331 and I gut number 365

(see what I mean? Even though we were together, we got very different numbers)

Once all the tickets were handed out, Security told us to disperse and come back at 8:45 and then they would bunch us together by our ticket numbers.

We left MSG and headed over to McDonald's (the SAME one we had gone to in 1984, see ‘The First One – 19 March, 1984)

We all had some food, and we relaxed. Eileen even fell asleep at the table and when she woke up, she had a red mark on  her forehead.

When we got back to MSG, they started calling out the ticket numbers. 

”If your number is between 301 and 331, line up here. You will be going in FIRST”

I started screaming.

”Oh my God, that’s you, that’s you” 

and I pushed Eileen on her on the back all the way over to the spot that Security was pointing to. 

She was the last person of the first bunch of people that got to go the box office. After she left, I realized that I hadn't given her the rest of the money(we were supposed to buy 6 tickets) and I hoped that she had enough.

I will never forget the look on her face when she came out of the box office

”Second row!! We have seats in the second FUCKING row!”

She started screaming, and I started screaming.

”I forgot to give you the money, I was so excited when they called your number first, that I forgot”

”I know! I only had enough money to get 2 tickets”

”Oh well, we’ll take those, and when they call my number I’ll get 4 more for everybody else. Tough luck on them, I mean we ARE the ones who stood out here all night”

”Exactly, we earned those seats. Second fucking row!”

”I know!!”

We must have looked like maniacs, screaming there on the street like that.

When they called my number(about an hour later) I ended up getting the rest of the tickets for our friends who had said they wanted to go. They ended up in about the 10^th row, so they couldn’t have complained TOO much.

We were so excited, and finally the day of the concert arrived.

Once again, MSG was crazy. At the time, all the Press had been saying that Duran Duran were over and that their fans who had once been so devoted were confused by the new material and that we were leaving in droves. The Press (as is still the case) was wrong. Anyone who was there can tell you that it was so exciting. They had sold out MSG (in record time,no less) and even added another show. For some reason the Press didn’t report THAT story.

It was so exciting handing our tickets to the usher and getting closer, and closer to the stage. The thing that amazed me the most was that there was no barrier between the stage and the first row. Between my chair, and the stage it was a distance of about 8 feet, max. Eileen and I looked at each other, and we jumped for joy, really. I’m not adding that for flourish, we really did that, and the Usher just shook his head at us.

The opening act was Erasure. I had seen them once before so I knew that they were gong to be great and they were. Andy Bell (the singer) was wearing this rubber leotard, and his ‘package’ kept popping out the side of it. Every time it happened, he would turn around, and tuck it back in only to have it happen again about five minutes later. I’ll never forget that!

In between the sets there was music coming across the PA system. Right in the middle of Eric Clapton’s ‘It’s in the Way That You Use It” the song stopped and the lights went out. 

The whole place started screaming.

'Duran Duran were done, done’ ?

I don’t think so ______ (insert profanity here)

A band of Caribbean dancers and steel drummers came out and marched across the stage, Eileen and I looked at each other like ”What the hell?”

Once they left the stage, the stage lights went back out, and when the lights came back on John Taylor and Simon LeBon were eight feet in front of us. We increased our screaming by about a hundred decibels (again) and then they burst into ‘A View to a Kill’

'A View To a Kill' and yes, it WAS.

Up until that moment, I had never heard that song live. Back then all we ever saw on TV was ‘playback’ The only other time I had heard it live was on MTV at Live Aid, and we all remember what THAT was like.

It sounded so amazing live I couldn’t believe it.

'Save a Prayer'

THAT'S how close we were.

'Some Like it Hot'

The set list was heavy with songs from ‘Notorious’ and that was fine with me. It is STILL my favorite Duran Duran album. 

JoSi...Before I ever even knew what joSi was.

'The Chauffeur'

Simon LeBon gets comfortable

They even performed ‘Some Like it Hot’ which was great, but the highlight of the songs for me, was ‘Election Day’












Oh boy. When the song started Simon had a vest on, and a white t-shirt.

first, the vest came off.....

Then, he grabbed the stand...

Right at the beginning of the song he went to the back of the stage, and pulled it off. After that, I don’t remember the whole routine exactly, but he launched into this ‘thing’ with his microphone stand, that I SWEAR I thought it was gonna kill me. He was right in front of us. He gyrated against the mic stand. He licked the mic stand (or at least it LOOKED like he did) and then he lay down on the stage and…

holy crap just thinking about it now makes me giddy.

then, he hit the floor....

next he came up again
(my FAVORITE shot)

then he went down again....

and then he went up AND down
(and I was speechless)

     








  The concert was going great, and so far it had been everything I had hoped that it would be.

Then it got even better.

That’s when I had my ‘Simon LeBon Moment’I don’t remember what song it was (Grrrr) but at one point Simon looked me right in the eye.

I screamed, he laughed, and I started to feel weak in the knees. Simon pulled on his shirt and pointed at me.

I looked down at my own shirt and realized that he was trying to tell me that he liked it.

the shirt in question.
If you're wondering if I still have it,
the answer is YES.
This photograph was taken in April, 2012

(I was wearing a shirt with his Scavullo  portrait on it)
I pulled on my shirt and gave him a look like,

’Oh, you like this?…thanks’

(I’m sure I was blushing)

Then, Simon actually smiled back at me.

I thought I was gonna die.

 At this point, Eileen noticed what was happening, and she grabbed my arm.

I smiled back at him and screamed,

”I LOVE YOU!” 

he smiled back at me and mouthed the words:

”Thank YOU!”

After Simon said that, Eileen shook my arm, and I laughed. Simon laughed back at us and then I started to slip off my chair.

I felt like such a dope. There I was in the middle of my Simon LeBon Moment, and I was being a klutz. It was so humiliating.

Eileen quickly grabbed me and pulled me back up, but not before my miniskirt had slipped halfway up my ass, flashing Simon LeBon in the process.

He gave me one last smile, and then he looked somewhere else.

It lasted all of 45 seconds, but it was still the most exciting thing that had ever happened to me (up until that point, anyway) and I couldn’t believe it.
 I needed to sit down, and I grabbed the cigarette out of Eileen’s hand

”But you don’t even smoke!” she shouted

”Well, I think I need to start, especially after that!”
Once I had my cigarette in hand, I looked downstage, and I saw Simon's wife. She was staring at me, so I smiled at her. She gave me the dirtiest look. I wiped the smile from my face, and she looked away from me. She turned her face back to the stage and she began watching her husband VERY intently. I was still in a daze from 'talking' to Simon LeBon so I couldn't really process what her stare was all about. Nowadays when I talk about the experience I call it the 'Persian Evil Eye'

Even WITH the 'Persian Evil Eye' it was a thrill and even after all these years, I can remember it like it was yesterday.

The end of the show was amazing, and John’s entrance for the beginning of ‘Wild Boys’ was another stand out moment.

Wild Boys never lose it

Wild Boys always shine

whoa, JT....

The harmonica in question

 At the end of the concert, Simon tossed his harmonica into the crowd (in MY direction, no less) but the woman behind us pushed me out of the way, clunking my head in the process and she grabbed it for herself. I was so pissed, and Eileen and I gave her the dirtiest looks.As I was rubbing my head, I again looked downstage and once again, I was the recipient of the 'Persian Evil Eye'.
'It's a GOOD thing I didn't catch that harmonica. What kind of look would THAT have gotten me?' I thought to myself.

'Thank You, New York, and good night!'

When the show was over we were so bummed. The only thing that made it bearable was knowing that the next night we would be back. That was the Fourth One.