what are you listening to ???

Butcher Bob · Post by **Butcher Bob** » Tue Oct 05, 2021 2:47 pm

It was the summer of '85, Red-eye and I had a concert to go to. So we grabbed up our buddy Shitface, jumped in my '67 Skylark, and hit the road...we were headed to Atwood stadium in Flint. The band hadn't performed or released an album in almost a decade, let alone with the original members. It was one of those rare occasions where none of us could find any pot, so we grabbed a couple fifths of whiskey for the trip and away we went. Shitface drank one all by himself, so we let that fukker wander off once we were inside the stadium. Red-eye and I ended up on the cable box that ran from the stage to the sound guy. Lady luck must have been with us, because dude standing next to us pulled out an ounce. We promptly bought half of it. Dude was with his girlfriend and nobody else was very close to us...so the four of us hung out and blazed the whole concert.

First up, the backup band...

They were awesome. Although I did think the selection of a southern rock band seemed a little strange for the headliner. The crowd was apparently on board with it though. Now for who we really came to see. Blackmore and Glover (Rainbow), Gillan (Black Sabbath), Lord (Whitesnake), and Paice (Gary Moore's backing band) had re-converged for the first time in 11 years...this was the Perfect Strangers tour. They did not disappoint. Being an outdoor venue, they had this huge laser light show above the stage...the big talking head was the best part. Unfortunately I couldn't find any Atwood footage, but I did the best I could...

While they did a couple callbacks for some older hits, when the show was over, we knew....it went from pitch black to daylight as the stadium lights kicked on. We thanked dude for the smoke and the company during the concert, and bid him and his girl farewell. Then we started wandering around looking for Shitface. Bumped into a girl we knew and asked if she'd seen him. "Oh yeah, he's been with a bunch of us in the stands over there...man, he's fucked up." We laughed, and proceeded over to pick him up. Early on he had managed to bump into a group of folks we knew from back home, and they had kind of 'babysat' him through the concert.

All in all, one of the best shows I have ever been to.