get backstage at a concert

I found out last Thursday that a friend’s band (from Chicago) was playing in Minneapolis on Saturday. That left me just enough time to frantically text him and yell at him for having to hear about this tour from the freaking Onion A.V. Club, and to tell him I was planning on coming to the show.

Turns out that the show had sold out in a few other cities, so he put me on the guest list. Awesome! After the show, he plied me with free beers from the green room. Awesome! Then he asked if I wanted to hang out backstage-well, downstairs, which is backstage at this place. Awesome!

Turns out “backstage” is code for a basement with a couple of shitty, ratty old sofas, with lots of band graffiti on the walls, but oh well. It was fun to feel like a rock star.

My list includes: Rolling Stones, Cher, Bette Midler, Talking Heads, B 52s, Beach Boys, Chuck Berry, Sam and Dave, The Sherells, The Blockheads, The Coasters (I was their manager for Japan), Yellow Magic Orchestra, The Doors (after Morrison), Shakin’ Stevens, RC Succession, New Riders of the Purple Sage, The Band, The Chanels (I was their manager for America), and a lot of Japanese groups.

Celebrated the performer’s birthday with him after his show!