Of course the first time you ever meet members of the band, it is very memorable. In 1998 at the age of 20, I went to Chicago to see the band. It was the first tour that I could afford to see more than my hometown show. I was a part of the email mailing list BONG back then and to identify other mailing list members at shows, we made laminates.
After the show I received word as to where the band were through a friend from the mailing list. We raced there all excited and approached the club entry. It was at that moment that I realized that I was not 21 which is the age you need to enter clubs in the US. I am Canadian and we can enter clubs at age 19 so this was something I wasn't thinking clearly about. My other friends were of age and I told them to go ahead - how could I stop them from possibly meeting the band? I was then sad..but excited for my friends. I told them I would wait outside the club and I wished them the best and hoped they would get a chance to say hi to the band.
After about 20 minutes of milling around in the front of the club, the security woman at the door started taking to me. She said she knew I was not there to drink and just wanted to meet the band. She told me that she would let me in to join my friends if I was to PROMISE not to drink a drop of alcohol. I was stunned at her generosity. I ran down the stairs into the club. It was at the bottom of the stairs when I realized that the band were not just walking around the club with everyone, but in a VIP section of their own. I could see the security at the front of the VIP section. Just as I was about to try to find my friends, the security called out to me - "Hey, up here!" Confused, I approached the security. He motioned to the entranceway and I could see Martin just a few feet away. Stunned yet again, I walked through and into the VIP area. That night I didn't understand my extreme stroke of luck.. Later we realized they had likely mistaken our BONG mailing list laminates for some sort of pass. However, I did end up having the most amazing time with the band. We chatted, hung out and to make things better, my friends were in the VIP section because they too were BONG members with laminates.
I'll always remember that night because everything seemed stacked against me and in a short few strokes of luck, I was granted a memory I will never forget. To this day I am still good friends with the same people who shared that experience with me. : )
