My Other Paul Shows
Tuesday, July 9, 2013. I went into work; knowing full well that it was the last place I wanted to be on concert day. But, my one solace was that one of the local radio stations played all Paul/Beatles all day long and the only actual radio I happen to own sits on my desk at work. So, I jammed out all day long.
I left work at 4 and met my friend Joan at MIT. The subway was packed as usual, but the cool thing was that most of us on the train were obviously going to the same place. The T should’ve played in-car Beatles music and that would’ve made us all much happier. We stopped for a brief dinner in Kenmore Square, and was able to hear Paul’s soundcheck as we walked towards Fenway Park. Soundcheck! Oh boy! I hadn’t heard soundcheck since Quebec City.
The streets outside of Fenway Park were jam-packed full of people; the majority of which were not on sidewalks. Usually, the Boston Police block off these streets to traffic on game day as well as special concert days. However, they didn’t block them off for Paul’s show and Joan nearly got hit by an MBTA bus. Joan fell and injured her left arm over the weekend and she was in a sling. We bought some merch and waited for the doors to open.
We found our seats. These seats were original to the stadium; which was built in like 1910 (or something like that). Unfortunately, I couldn’t sit in my seat beside Joan because of her sling. The seats were very close together. So, I sat on the arm of the seat.
One thing that really bothers me are rude concert goers. Everyone seated around us–except two–clearly understood that I could not sit all the way down in my seat. I chatted with all of them and explained. Further, I made it a point not to sit straight up and block views, I was usually leaned to one side. Besides, I like to get up during some songs and dance.
There were these two people seated immediately behind us who were just about the single most annoying people in the world. They came in right as Paul took the stage, so there was no time to speak with them at all. And, sorry, once Paul is on the stage, that is where all of my attention goes.
They threatened to have me thrown out just for not sitting down! Really? Seriously? They complained to the ushers, and the next thing I know some Red Sox official was asking me what my problem was. I explained the situation and that I was not leaving and that those people were actually the ones being rude. I don’t know how many things they threw at me.
Keep in mind these were NOT teenagers or young adults. These people were obviously first-generation Beatles fans. Yeah.
The Red Sox official understood and agreed with me. But, that just fueled the fire. The annoying people asked to be reseated. Great! Joan and I watched as they were moved down to the handicapped section (hey…Joan was handicapped. Shouldn’t we have been offered those seats??); which kind of upset us at first until we noticed that the people’s view was even further blocked by all of the wheelchairs, their passengers and their companions.
Gotta love karma.
After the incredible and awesome show, we took the subway back to Joan’s car and drove home. I saw some people on the jam-packed train with us that looked like the annoying people. I couldn’t be completely sure, but they were completely unhappy with the entire experience and griped about it for the entire ride. I know, because they switched from the Green Line to the Red Line with us on the subway.
Oh well. You just have to laugh.