The Sixth One - Roseland Ballroom (4 November, 1988)
The show at the Beacon Theatre had been the finale of the Strange Behaviour Tour. I wouldn’t see Duran Duran again until 1988, when they were touring to promote ‘Big Thing’. Sometime in the spring of 1988, Eileen and I began another one of our periods of not talking to each other. It was all my fault this time, and I was stubborn. Looking back at it now, I don’t know why I didn’t just call her and apologize. But, I didn’t. I am really good at being stubborn, and because of that we wouldn’t see, or talk to each other for several years.
During the summer of 1988, I had gotten a new Boyfriend. As much as I wanted to feel like I really cared about this guy, I did not. He really was just someone for me to be with so that I wouldn’t have to be alone. My life had changed so much between 1987 and 1988, and I found myself just trying to keep up. I was no longer going to F.I.T. and I had come back to live at home, and go to a local community college. I was working, and going to school and I really missed being in New York City. I was also missing Eileen, and I was missing my ex- Boyfriend. In the middle of this emotional mess, came the announcement that Duran Duran was going to be playing a series of shows at small venues throughout thee U.S. There were only about 6 dates on the ‘Secret Caravan’ tour, and the last one of them was going to be at the Roseland Ballroom in New York City.
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| The Secret Caravan Tour Program (back) |
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| The Secret Caravan Tour Program (front) |
Now that I was on Long Island, I had to find another place to get tickets. There was a Ticketmaster outlet on Larkfield Road in East Northport. I forget what kind of store it was (I think maybe it was a hardware store) but they had Ticketmaster there, and they also used a lottery system. About a week before the tickets went on sale, you had to go to the store and get a bracelet. This bracelet had a number on it, and on the day of the sale, the person with the lowest number would go in first. I picked up my bracelet, and waited.
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| General Admission AND 15 bucks. THOSE were the days!! |
When I arrived at the store on the day of the sale there were about 25 other people waiting. At first I was worried, but then I learned that some other tickets for some other show were also going on sale that day. Of the 25 people waiting outside, only 7 of them were there for Duran Duran tickets. Of those 7, my number was the lowest. Once again, the show had sold out in record time, and I was so glad that I was lucky enough to get tickets.
Now, the New Boyfriend liked Duran Duran enough to ask if he could go to the concert with me. I figured what the hell, I had never taken a boyfriend with me to see Duran Duran and it was nice that he liked them enough that he was even interested in going. He was going to school in Upstate New York at the time, so he was going to take the bus down from New Paltz and meet me on line at the Roseland Ballroom.
The concert at Roseland was general admission, and I got to Roseland at around 10:00 am. There were only about 12 other people on line at that time. We had a nice time hanging out together. Around 4:00 pm the New Boyfriend showed up. He had suitcase with him.
“What the hell? I hope they let you in with that”
“It has all my stuff that I need for the weekend”
This Boyfriend had a habit of whining, and all my memories of him are of him talking in that voice.
“Oh God, don’t whine about it. But I’m telling you, if they don’t let you in because of it, I’m going in anyway”
The New Boyfriend rolled his eyes at me and continued whining,
“Really, you would actually leave me here….outside?”
I didn’t even think about it.
“Yes. Yes I would”
Around 4:30 a bunch of people started arriving, and they were going into Roseland. One of the girls on line in front of us grabbed a Security guard.
“What the Fuck, who are those people?”
“They are participants in the New York City Marathon. They are having a special dinner for them tonight”
“When are they leaving?”
“They have to leave by 7:30, or else we’re gonna charge them $1,000.00 per half hour extra they stay over”
I started cracking up at that point.
(As I sit here typing this, I think I recall that the New Boyfriend had brought some pot with him. I remember smoking a joint while we were on line. This explains why I remember this conversation being so funny)
Sure enough, around 7:30 all the people started coming out of Roseland. I don’t remember what time they let us in, but I remember that Security was not too happy about the New Boyfriend’s damn suitcase.
“You can’t bring that in here”
I slapped him on the back and said,
“See you later, ______”
The New Boyfriend tried to give me the big, brown eyes, but like I said (In ‘the Fifth One’) I am immune.
“There’s nothing in here, but clothes and stuff”
and he popped it open.
“It’s a good thing we smoked the pot already”
The Security Guard looked at me
“What was that?”
I gave him my most innocent face.
“Oh, nothing”
The Security Guard smiled at me, and finished rummaging through the suitcase
“Ok, it’s all right. Have a good time”
I grabbed the New Boyfriend’s hand, and dragged him toward the stage,
“COME ON! we’ve wasted enough time already”
The New Boyfriend tried to pull me towards the coat check room.
“I have to check this!”
And he pointed to his suit case.
“Go right ahead, but I am running for the stage, I have to be in front”
In his whiny voice, he replied,
“Oh…Okay”
I let go of his hand, and ran for the stage. I got a spot right in the front, right up against the stage, and right in front of Warren’s microphone stand.
Perfect.
The New Boyfriend put his suitcase on the floor right in front of me.
“I need to put this here”
I looked at the precious 12 inches of space that now seperated me from the stage.
“You have got to be joking”
“Oh, sorry”
He slid the suitcase over, and he stood behind it.
“Good, that’s much better”
I moved back up, and pressed myself up against the stage.
We had to wait about another hour or so before Duran came on. I don’t recall that there was an opening band. The opened with ‘Big Thing’ and I went crazy.
The New Boyfriend tried to grab my hand. I shook him off of me, and I screamed right at Simon.
Simon saw me, and winked back.
That poor boyfriend never stood a chance.
For the rest of the night I continued to stop the New Boyfriend from distracting from looking at Simon. Every time, Simon would start to look in my direction, the New Boyfriend would grab me, or try to kiss me. Sometime in the middle of the show, I smacked his hand
“Cut that out, I’m watching Duran Duran!”
“How come you’re not paying any attention to meeee?”
He was whining again, and it took ALL of my self control NOT to slap him silly.
“Are you fucking kidding me? I have got Simon LeBon in front of me, and you want my attention?”
The New Boyfriend just looked at me with sad eyes.
“If you stand on my suitcase, you might be able to see better”
I kissed him then, and I felt bad for being so mean to him.
“Thanks!”
I climbed onto his suitcase, and I stayed planted there for the rest of the show.
When the show finally ended we were some of the last people out. The only other thing I remember was that The New Boyfriend’s suitcase had a huge dent in the top of it.
“Oh man, the girl I borrowed this from is going to be mad”
“does she like Duran Duran?”
“Oh, yeah. I think she does”
“Then she will understand”
Only two months went by before I saw Duran Duran again, but by then, the New Boyfriend was history.
