It was announced that Rain- a Tribute to the Beatles, would be playing at The Kauffman Center for Performing Arts. Dang I missed this when signing up for the usher shifts. Of course, the usher spots were filled now. Hmmmm, thought I. I would like to hear the Beatles music again, so I vowed to get a ticket. Oooops forgot until the day before when attending usher training at The Kauffman Center. Life was good as the box office was open. I asked when the Beatles would be appearing and my answer was tomorrow. Ok! I’d like a balcony seat on the aisle and I could afford the $45 fee.
I got to the Kauffman Center early and got my favorite parking spot in the garage. I was dressed in my favorite leopard outfit and I was in the building! I went up to the sixth floor to get a cocktail and order another one to be ready for me at intermission. Hey! This is a rock concert and drinking is mandatory. I asked for something with a cherry and I got something with three cherries and vodka. Oh yum, it was good. It so happens that the balcony level has a few tables and chairs to sit on while waiting so I had chatted with my usher friend until she had to go and work her door. I was sitting there enjoying my cocktail when someone walked up to my table.
She walked up to me and started talking to me. I assumed she was going to ask to sit at an empty chair at my table, but she said something about upgrade a ticket. Huh! She told me that she had two tickets, but the other person didn’t come and would I be interested in watching the concert in an upgraded seat. I managed to understand those words. She then showed me the ticket and the seat was in the section just behind the orchestra seats. This was a seat in the second best seat section on the theater! Oh Wow! I was thrilled to take the ticket. Fifteen minutes before show time! I ran down to the box office and donated my balcony ticket back to the Kauffmam Center.
I ran up a flight of stairs to find my seat. Door 4 row CC was my destination. The couple behind me were chatting and said row CC. I turned and told them that was where I was going too and they followed me. My goodness. The seat was in the middle of the theater right behind the sound engineers. Here was my gifted and turns out the couple had seats on the other side of me. Oh we were a happy row of people.
It is time! We had the announcement about turning off our phones and suddenly, we had the curtain pulled.
1. Words came across the screen. “Beatles came to the United States in 1964”. My brain barely had time to register that I was a senior in high school when the world changed. I marveled.
A bunch of fake TV sets were on the stage.
2. I heard and saw Ed Sullivan announce the Beatles. Video clips of that night were show. On stage. Everyone in America watched the Ed Sullivan show that night and the world changed. We all met the Beatle for the first time, at the same time. We saw and heard the audience of girls start screaming. I became emotional.
3. Lights came on the stage and Beatles started their music. An invisible knife came out of nowhere and went into my body. The knife stabbed my soul. My body suddenly wanted to SOB out loud. My body wanted to throw its self out of the seat and writh on the ground. Tears started. The knife continued to stab my souls throughout the first song. I was in agony. I did moan out loud. The woman my age sitting next to me made a few hand gestures to her face. I figured she was crying too.
4. Song ended, I tried to breath and recover from the knife wound. Much Appluae and screaming from the audience. The knife withdrew from my soul. Suddenly, without warning, they played song #2. Once again the knife returned and stabbed my heart again. I wondered if my body could physically throw its self on the floor and writh. No. My body will not fit on the floor. Seats in front of me are too close. My throats closed again. Tears started and I was wrecked as the song continued. I moaned in agony.
5. Song ended. Applause. The knife receded again. I clapped and manage to cheer in agony. Song number three started. The knife stabbed again. I remembered how to open my mouth and put my tongue on the roof of my mouth to stop the verbal crying. I wondered if I could live through the concert. I can’t take two hours of this knife stabbing my soul.
6. We moved to 1965 to the Beatles concert on Shea Stadium. The performers on the stage played the songs as we watched the videos of people at that concert. Oh my! However, the knife did not return to stab my soul.
Beatles at Shea Stadium.
All those young people were my age in 1965.
7. Our performers took an off stage break while the audience was treated to commercials of the time. Remember Dippity Do? We saw the commercial. Remember the Flinstones? We watched Fred and Barney lazing around while Wilma was mowing the lawn using a small dinosaur. Fred and Barney were saying it was difficult to watch Wilma working so hard. So they got up and moved around the back of the house so they wouldn’t have to watch Wilma. Then they lit up Winston cigarettes. Oh my! We saw the ad for cornflakes. Someone was eating cornflakes. How plain they were and the box said, “mixed with rice”. We saw a woman with long hair having her hair ironed. Every commercial was amazing glimpse of our past life!
Our performers came back and played more Beatles songs. Now I started to not recognize some of the songs. By this time in my life, I hadgone to college. I had to study in college. I bet I didn’t listen to the radio near as much. I remember that I had a record player and used it. But my emotionalism hell had gone.
I enjoyed the richness of the music.
At intermission I learned that my seat benefactor had watched the Ed Sullivan show for the Beatles show when she was ten! Oh my, the Beatles crossed all ages!
After the intermission, we enjoyed Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Heart era songs. We watched video clips of beatnicks and soldiers in Vietnam Nam. I was still in college and remembered only the top songs.
Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Heart Club.
The concert ended with Hey Jude. Cameras were mounted in the concert hall to record the audience! So while we all were standing and singing Hey Jude, the stage was scanning us, the audience! We saw the entire 4th floor and fifth floor with some of the sixth and possibly the 7th floor seats. The video was tinged like a Kodak imatagram color. We saw ourselves in the 60’s singing with The Beatles.
When the emotional experience ended, I profusely thanked my seat benefactor. She said it was meant to be. She searched for a lone attendee with worse seats than she had for a long while. She finally figured that coming up to the 7th floor to find me would work.
I managed to drive home. The next morning I awoke so tired, I felt like I had worked a hard day’s night. I barely made it through lunch. Coffee let me make it through the aftermath of a gigantic emotional experience!
If you discover that this concert is coming anywhere within 200 miles of you, get tickets!
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rain:_A_Tribute_to_the_Beatles
http://www.raintribute.com/band#