I don’t know why I thought of this the other day, but I did:
I never liked metal, and I especially didn’t like “hair bands”. But when my best friend and a couple of his friends decided to go see Ratt towards the end of 8th grade (May, 1985), I decided to go with them for some reason. Why not? Tickets were only $13.50 or so.
My best friend and I had been up until 5am talking on the phone the night before, so when the opening act came out (some guy from Jersey called Bon Jovi), we actually went to sleep in our seats. Our friend Neil just sat in his and quietly watched the show, while our other friend Mike went to out to the concourse to go chat up some chicks (strangely, this was just to buy him drinks, not to get laid). Shortly before Ratt went on, Mike came back and woke Richard and me up. And then the band came out. It was all good (I guess), but a few minutes into it, Mike nudged me with his shoulder and said “Look at that dumbass!”
He’d pointed to the very top row of seats in our section. There was a group of mulletheads sitting by themselves in the top row, and one of them had started dancing on top of the empty chair in front of him. Not the seat of the chair, mind you… but the top of the seat back… the inch and half thin plastic seatback. And, judging buy the way he was dancing, he was pretty loaded. So, imagine a loaded Earl Hickey with a mullet dancing on top of a seat back. I nudged Richard, and we all laughed at the poor guy. As the show went on, we’d occasionally glance back and check on “Mullet Dancer”.
A few songs later, I was glancing back at him… and I saw him fall over. Since he was dancing on an aisle seat, he’d fallen onto the steps. And since this section of the Omni was like… 800 feet off the floor (hyperbole), I watched as he tumbled down the steps. I practically slapped my two friends to get their attention… “LOOK! LOOK! LOOK!” And that poor bastard just kept falling. It seemed as though our entire section was looking at this poor guy by the time he’d fallen halfway down the stairs… everyone was just frozen in either horror or amusement as he tumbled down the concrete steps. The steps at the Omni were tiny and there were no “landings” on them… just a giant row of concrete steps that went up and up and up. So there was no way to stop this guy.
When he hit the bottom, he was swarmed by ushers. He actually stood up under his own power, but immediately fell down. How much was drink and how much was brain damage, I’ll never know. His landing was in shadow, but I could swear that I saw blood all over his head. Whether he really was bleeding or if that was just the hyperactive imagination of an 8th grader, I’ll never know that, either.
Those steps used to scare me to death! Glad I never saw anything like that . . .
lets us not forget the fact that mike passed out in a concourse and was mugged or rolled for whatever he had and this was 9th grade i think. my memories of the 80’s metal shows i went to is hazy at best. mike is now in roofing with 5 kids.. he gave my roomie a price on a roof job and i didnt even know who he was. after he told me we laughed and talked about this show and he didnt remeber the passsing out or the mugging. now this was the same show where i asked the 2 chicks in front of us after them kinda blowing us off if they were there together as in a date, and its a wonder i am still single with a rap like that. BTW that was bon jovi’s 21st b-day that nite and judging by the drunken preformance they gave it was a jolly one at that. jon dropping his mic stand on the drummer was a classic moment in 80’s metal history as thats really the only thing i remember about that show. well that and the shirt that i gave to a girlfriend to wear after a teenage sex romp and my mom bitching that i needed to stop giving cloths away..if only mom knew….rich is wearing cloths by the omni today….hey that was a funny joke or was it.. the 80’s may they never die…it was in fact 20 yrs ago today….i think i am getting misty eyed over here.. btw neal is still neal just clean and sober for 4 yrs. me NOT SO MUCH