Start them up: Mick Jagger, left, and Keith Richards kick off the Rolling Stones' latest world tour at Milan's San Siro Stadium on July 11. The Stones perform in Regina on Oct. 8. Photo Dave Hogan/Getty Images.
A few weeks back, I found myself on a fishing boat cruising through the fjords off the coast of Alaska. I was mesmerized as a bald eagle swooped down from his perch on the cliffs above and snatched a small silver fish from the water just a few metres away. It was beautiful. It was majestic. And what was going through my mind was this: “How am I going to scare up Stones tickets when I get back?”
Rumours that the Rolling Stones were going to play Regina in the fall had been swirling for weeks and had been on my mind as my vacation began. Why Regina? Many of us in the city, while grateful, were scratching our heads. CBC’s Content Factory might have nailed it in a comedy skit when they suggested the real reason the Stones were coming to Saskatchewan was the lack of trees for Keith Richards to fall out of. Whatever the explanation, it would be the first time the World’s Greatest Rock Band would perform in the province and I was determined to get in by any means short of burrowing under the fence.
I’m not a Stones fanatic. I’ve never even seen them live. Still, in my own way, I love these guys. I remember the first time I saw them on TV. I was five and it was the Ed Sullivan Show on Oct. 28, 1964. Ed promised something for the young people and, to my surprise, taking the stage was not Topo Gigio, the little mouse puppet I was crazy about — it was the Stones. Since then, their music hasn’t exactly been the soundtrack to my life, but over the last four decades it’s been there for a lot of the cool parts: Get off My Cloud on my dad’s car radio; Beggars Banquet on the turntable at my best friend’s house; Angie on the eight-track and Waiting on a Friend on the MP3 player.
Almost as soon as I returned to Regina, an Oct. 8 concert date was confirmed. That put the city — and me, I sheepishly admit — into full-blown ticket frenzy. Word came down that there would be about 40,000 seats up for grabs, ranging in price from $302.50 for the Gold Circle to $62.50 for the nose-bleeders.
The bad news was that members of the Rolling Stones fan club and Saskatchewan Roughriders season-ticket holders — the concert venue, Mosaic Stadium, is where the Riders play — would be getting first dibs on thousands of the best tickets days before anybody else. There was considerable public outrage about this. By the weekend, you couldn’t get a haircut or take your car through the Tim Horton’s drive-through without hearing bitter lamentations about the unfairness of it all.
With no special connections, I was worried too. Clearly, my original ticket-scoring plan — hiring a teenager with a sleeping bag to line up at the box office — was going to be inadequate for the task ahead. To get just what I wanted, or needed, would take wheeling, dealing, conniving and cash. Spending $125 to join the fan club was an option, but with no guarantee of tickets, hardly an attractive one. Shelling out as much as $464 for Riders tickets would have been another tough pill to swallow. And eBay? Not with ticket prices ranging as high as $2,000 US a pair.
With the deadline for the first big ticket sell-off winding down, desperation was setting in. But then, hallelujah, a colleague casually mentioned that he and some friends were big Riders supporters and would be getting in on the early ticket sales. I made with the puppy-dog eyes and considered telling him that in future he could always count on me to stain a deck or move a body rolled up in a carpet. It wasn’t necessary. My friend cheerfully agreed to put me on a list and I was on my way.
Later in the day, he came by with the good news: “Here you go, two seats, section 20, right across from the stage, $236.10 for the pair.” As pathetic as this might sound, it’s been a couple of days and I’m still filled with glee. And as I wait, a little nervously, for the cheque to clear, I think I know just how that eagle felt after its successful hunt, swooping away with goodies clutched in its talons.
Kevin O’Connor is CBC.ca’s regional online journalist in Regina. He sympathizes with those trying to buy tickets when sales to the general public begin July 31.
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