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By the time Duran Duran had released ‘Medazzaland’ (in 1997) John Taylor had left, and of the original five, only Simon and Nick remained. Eileen (my best friend) and I had gotten back in contact with each other, so when I heard that Duran Duran was coming back to Jones beach in the summer of 1999, she was the first person I called.
“I know there’s no John Taylor for you, but come anyway. We’ll have fun”
“I don’t know. I don’t think I want to see Duran Duran without John Taylor in it”
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'Let it Flow'
tour program
(front cover) |
“I understand, but it’s always so nice to go to Jones Beach, and we haven’t been to a show together since 1987!”
Eileen decided to come, and also managed to convince my friend Laura (a John Taylor girl, like Eileen) to come also. When I ordered the tickets I got seats in the first section back from the orchestra. The difference in price between orchestra and the section we were in was about 25 dollars, so I didn’t get orchestra seats.
Laura had been at a family party (at Jones Beach) and she met up with me and Eileen in the parking lot.
When we got to our section, only one of the three seats was available to sit in. The seats happened to be right next to the mixing console, and there were some trunks in the other two. They appeared to be something that the road crew might be using.
They looked really heavy.
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the black rectangle indicates
the location of said heavy-ass boxes |
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| 'The boxes looked REALLY heavy' |
We took turns sitting in our one seat as the theatre began to fill up. We thought for certain that someone would come along and move the boxes, but no one ever did. The opening band came on, and still no one moved the boxes. By this time, all the other seats around us had filled up, and we were still short two seats. Eventually a guy came over and started opening one of the boxes. He was a short, stocky guy. He was wearing cargo shorts, combat boots, and a motorcycle jacket with no shirt underneath.
“Oh goody, are you here to move these boxes?”
I asked with a smile
He glared at me.
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| *Cockney accent* 'NO, I'm NOT going to move those boxes. It's my gear, and it's not MY problem' |
He had a thick cockney accent, and a bad attitude.
“No, I’m not gonna move these boxes. I need them to stay here”
“I paid for those seats, and I need those seats”
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| Eileen, Cynthia and Laura (expletives deleted) |
“That’s not my problem”
Eileen started tapping my shoulder.
“What?”
I didn't mean to snap at her, but I couldn't help it.
“Come on, Let’s go tell somebody. Someone has to be able to get this guy to move his shit”
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Our first step in gaining assistance was
the usher in our section. Unable to help,
He directed us to the 'Headset Lady' |
I walked over to an usher, and told him the problem. 'The Usher' was just a gawky teenage kid, and he said that he didn't know how to help us.
“But, see that lady over there?”
He pointed to a woman in a Jones Beach Theatre shirt.
She had a headset on her head.
“She’s in charge of seating and stuff, maybe she can help you”
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'Headset Lady' says 'Wait here for the 'Tall Guy'
and tell him that *I* told him to give you new seats' |
We thanked 'The Usher' and we walked over to 'The Headset Lady'.
Next, we told 'The Headset Lady' about our problem.
“I think the best thing to do is just get you some other seats. See that tall guy over there?”
'The Headset Lady' pointed to a tall guy in a Hawaiian shirt.
“Yes”
“The Tall Guy has all the extra tickets. Go tell him your problem and tell him that I told him to give you new seats”
We thanked 'The Headset Lady', and walked over to 'The Tall Guy'
Then, we told 'The Tall Guy' about our problem.
We explained (again) about 'The Rude Roadie' and the boxes, and how he refused to move his stuff. 'The Tall Guy' rolled his eyes,
“I am so sorry. That guy is with the tour, and I assure you he doesn’t work for me. I am so sorry for the trouble, and I’m gonna give you some new seats”
'The Tall Guy' pulled out a wad of tickets from his back pocket.
“How many do you need?” he asked.
“We need three” I said.
'The Tall Guy' began to shuffle through the tickets. It seemed like he was trying to find us three seats together. Eventually he stopped shuffling and he pulled out three tickets and read them again. He muttered to himself,
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'Nice Tall guy' says:
'That guy doesn't work for me,
but I am sorry he treated you that way.
Here's some better seats' |
“Nah, these aren’t good enough”
He put them back into the pile and he went back to looking through the tickets. Eileen was standing just behind 'The Tall Guy', and she was smiling. Eventually, 'The Tall Guy' came to some tickets that he liked and he handed them to me.
“Here, take these. I am so sorry, and on behalf of Jones Beach Amphitheatre I apologize for that man’s rudeness. Have a great night”
I took the tickets, and we all thanked 'The Tall Guy'.
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the ticket stub from our NEW seats.
I don't thave the original one I bought from Ticketmaster.
The Tall Guy took them from us. |
Next, we handed our new tickets to a nearby Usher, who said:
"Oh these are Orchestra seats, you need to go see that Usher, down there”
We thanked THAT Usher and we went down the steps to the Orchestra section. We handed our new tickets to the new Usher, and he led us to our new seats.
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Eileen, Cynthia and Laura in their
NEW, BETTER seats
'Squeeeeeeee!!' |
As we got closer and closer to the stage, Eileen, Laura and I just kept staring at each other and giggling.
When we got to the 10th row, the New Usher stopped.
“Here you are. Tenth row, these three seats, right in the center”
Eileen, Laura and I just squealed at each other. The stage was only about 30 feet away. I think we may have even jumped up and down with excitement.
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'The Great Jones Beach Upgrade'
"All illustrated with cartoons" as
Joe Jackson would say. |
Finally we had seats and we could relax. Finally, the lights went out, the butterflies in my stomach became just about unbearable, and then Duran Duran came on.
(all photos *such as they are* are property of me, and I have the neagatives to prove it)
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the view from our new seats. Not too shabby, huh?
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They opened with 'Girls on Film' and I couldn't help it, I just started screaming. The set was especially good because almost all of the songs had a different arrangement, and I couldn't always tell right away, what the song was. I liked that.
In fact, the whole show was full of surprises.
They even played ‘Secret Oktober’
It was a real treat to get to hear that song live, and to hear it performed in such a cool, and sexy manner.
You can view this performance here:
'Secret Oktober' Jones Beach - 1999 (via You Tube)
Another highlight was when they played ‘Out of My Mind’. I never got to see Duran Duran when they toured 'Medazzaland' so I had never heard that one live before.
You can view this performance here:
'Out of My Mind' Jones Beach - 1999 (via You Tube)
This was August of 1999, and ‘Pop Trash’ had not been released yet. Simon introduced ‘Someone Else Not Me’ as a brand new song, and it was another one of those times that I think I actually felt goose bumps. ‘Hallucinating Elvis’, ‘Lava Lamp’ and ‘Playing with Uranium’ were also excellent. ‘Playing with Uranium’ in particular was especially great.
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I believe this was taken during 'Someone Else Not Me'
I remember the hairs standing up on the back of my neck, it was so great
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a little SiWa action.
ALWAYS a treat. |
It was a hot, muggy August night, very typical for New York in the summer. and all the guys (even Nick) were covered in sweat.
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'The Controller'
aka Nick Rhodes |
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He threw his head back and I could see the beads of sweat
rolling down his neck. I apologize (profusely) that
my camera didn't capture that properly for you.
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The end of the show 'Rio'
(of course) |
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Nick says goodnight to a fan and throws
some of his charm around. |
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Simon, I must say I DO like those pants
*raises eyebrow* |
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| this far away shot doesn't show the really good stuff |
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Warren, and his washboard abs.
Even with my crummy camera
they photographed amazing well
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We ended up having a much better time than we thought we were going to have. The way the evening started was so stressful and annoying.
I joked with Eileen that I should order those seats every time, and see if we could get another ‘Upgrade’
Eileen and I would go see Duran Duran one more time in 1999, and that was because I actually won tickets for a special show at the Town Hall in New York City.
That will be the Twelfth One.
