Hersheypark Arena
Hershey, PA
Tuesday, October 28, 1997
Section B1, Row B, Seat 2
$35.75
Hershey was sweet.
Tickets for Hershey went on sale a week after Philly's did. This was the local show for Dawn, Zoey, and Jerry, my Yestogether friends from central Pennsylvania. Yestogethers were monthly gatherings that Dawn started, usually held on the first Saturday of the month. We were the four core members, and we told anecdotes about the band, listened to music, watched videos, ate, but more importantly, laughed and kept each other sane. We met monthly like this for four years, until Jerry and I each moved out of state. We also looked out for each other and attended events together. The Hershey ticket sale date was actually the date of the next planned Yestogether - the concert and ticket sale information came together so quickly for this tour that we didn't know about it the previous month.
Of all the times I camped outside overnight for concert tickets, this was my favorite. I took a Greyhound out to Harrisburg and Zoey picked me up. We grabbed dinner at a fast food place, and then drove to the Hershey Arena. We were first. Dawn met us there. Another woman showed up in line afterwards. These were very different demographics than usual - I was usually the lone female, and there were usually a lot of drinking and partying going on. We were quiet. The arena security guard must have noticed this when he left for the night. He actually left the doors unlocked for us, to use the facilities, vending machines, or just to keep warm. Let me repeat: HE LEFT THE ARENA OPEN FOR US. Maybe people are more trusting in small towns, because I could never see this happening in a city theater. He did it as a courtesy.
Across the parking lot was the Hershey Stadium, with some high school football game going on. We were able to buy soft pretzels and hot chocolate while we were waiting. I slept in Dawn's car and walked inside the arena for a bit. We even had access to the seated area. Dawn's husband Terry brought breakfast to us in the morning.
Buying the tickets was a little frustrating. There were multiple sales windows. They lined us up in groups of 4 or 5, where Dawn and Zoey were behind me, and people who came later than us were first in line in the next window. I hate that! The other window got service first. The first person got front row, and the next person in line was already getting all the way back in the second row! I bought a single ticket and was also able to get into the second row. Dawn and Zoey got seats next to mine. Jerry had not wanted to wait in line for tickets. He tried the YesWorld seats, and ended up 10 rows or so back from us.
I took a long nap when we got back to Dawn's, and then we had our monthly Yestogether. The start of the tour was less than two weeks away. By the next month's Yestogether, my portion of the tour would all be over.
The day of the Hershey concert arrived. I was well-rested after my awful time two days earlier at the last Philly show. This was almost a repeat of the ticket-sale day. I Greyhounded out to Harrisburg. Zoey picked me up there and drove me to Hershey. We met up with Wendy Vig and her friend Rick at their hotel. Wendy had done something amazing - she was a Yes fan from a long time back and she had sent Jon Anderson some poetry she had written. Jon thought she should publish it and he offered to illustrate it. Jon is involved in so many projects, and they don't always come to fruition. But this one did. The book was released shortly before this tour started, and it is called Fountains of Gold. I met Wendy a year earlier in San Luis Obispo. She and Rick were going to a bunch of shows together on this tour.
The four of us took a tour of Hershey Park's factory. We got free samples of Hershey's miniatures and kisses and joked about throwing some on stage during the "You've got a sweet imagination" line of Open Your Eyes.
Our seats were great. I was second row, dead center. We had better seats than Jon's wife Jane, who was a row behind us. I laughed at Jerry, who was sitting so much further back than us. This venue has a reputation for bad sound and boominess. I didn't hear it, but we were probably close enough to get most of the sound from the stage monitors. Jon's microphone didn't work for the beginning of Rhythm of Love, but that was soon fixed. We had the usual problem with people behind us who absolutely wanted to see what was going on stage, so we couldn't dance or move around too much, but they didn't see an issue with talking over the songs. We used Owner of a Lonely Heart as an excuse for us all to get up and dance. Even Jane joined with us.
I saw some friends I wasn't expecting. Central Pennsylvania is not too far away from Baltimore, and my friend Scott drove up with his son Ian. Ian was 6, and I think this was his first concert. I didn't get to see Yes until I was 15, also with my dad. My friend Mark from Philly decided at the last minute to come out for some more shows. He managed to get a front row ticket, albeit all the way on the side.
Some of the on-stage banter differed for this show. Jon had been announcing that the Open Your Eyes CD would be released on Thanksgiving and that the album was a turkey! (Pretty accurate assessment!) Then, we'll get a free turkey with the album. Steve joined into the silliness and said it would be a vegetarian turkey. Jon also changed the And You And I introduction that they were rolling... a tape and flat out said they were rolling joints. Much cheering and applauding for that.
Towards the end of the show, Steve came over to Jon and started whispering furiously. Yes had some crew members early on who revolutionized concert sound and lighting - Roy Clair on sound and Michael Tait on lights. While they were both based in London at the right time for Yes, their respective companies, Clair Brothers Sound and Tait Towers, were now in Lititz, PA. Yes used to famously rehearse in Lititz and let some fans in to hear them. Steve kept a car in the Clair Brothers' parking lot year-round that he used while on tour. Steve's whisperings were to remind Jon that this was the "local" show for Lititz. Were these guys in the audience? I'd love to hear some stories from them! Jon then announced this and had everyone cheer for their former crew members.
The real fun began after the show. Zoey was a huge Chris Squire fan. She played bass and owned a Chris Squire signature Rickenbacker bass. She brought it to the show that night, hoping to get Chris to autograph it for her. She even wrote a note to Chris about it and passed it on to a roadie, hoping they would decide to bring her backstage for the autograph. Nothing had come from that, but we were determined. Jerry had gone to the concert with another friend, and they left afterwards.
Dawn, Zoey, and I wanted to find the band. Their tour buses were in back on the arena. In most places on this tour, the buses were on streets or alleys, so we could just walk up to them and wait. But when we tried to do that in Hershey, a teenaged security guard stopped us. We weren't allowed to walk in back. We explained about Zoey's Rickenbacker and the note. Finally, we asked if we could check with someone else - it shouldn't be that big a deal to walk to a public spot. The security teen was the only guy there. It actually worked out that Zoey was allowed to run back and ask if it was okay. She came back and said that it was.
After we walked down some steps and around the arena, I realized what we had done. We weren't just standing by the buses, the backstage was right there with no other barrier. We just talked ourselves backstage! It was that easy!
I immediately looked for Jon. I'm always most excited to talk to him and I needed him to sign Wendy's book. He wasn't there. We had a lot of access to the rest of the band. Zoey got her moment with Chris Squire. The roadie had passed Zoey's note to him. Chris asked Zoey if she was a good bass player. Zoey told me later she thought Chris had only asked if she was a bass player, and she enthusiastically responded "Yes I am!" She got her signature.
I talked to Steve Howe for a bit. He always seems happy to sign autographs, but less likely to hang out and chat. I must have had the right accessory. I brought along my copy of Homebrew, his collection of demos. Steve is an amateur photographer and used a lot of his photos in the liner notes. He looked really happy to see Homebrew and asked if he could show it to someone. I got to stand there with him while he paged through the booklet and pointed out some of the pictures. He thanked me and signed it for me. I got to talk to Billy and Alan a bit more too.
Looking at these pictures, I can see myself wearing some interesting things. Some of the Yesfans on AOL had a crazy idea for a Yes tribute band - Siberian Kazoo, a takeoff of the song Siberian Khatru. I have actually seen a group of Yes fans playing kazoos to Yes music. Jerry created some tshirts with a logo. I was wearing mine that night. It was also much colder - I had on my Yes jacket, sweatshirt, and winter coat. Check out the pink pin on my coat - it says "Just say YES. You're Extra Special". It's a promo pin from the Taj Mahal Atlantic City Union shows. My friend Mark gave it to me.
On our way out, I picked up some paper souvenirs. Fliers for the soon-to-be-released Open Your Eyes album were on the chairs at the concert. I tried to pick one of every color. Backstage, I got Igor's autograph on the pink one. I can't find it right now and that's the only signature I have of his! Roy and I recently combined a lot of our mementos - it made sense it do so, but it's harder to find "my" stuff. I also pulled some of these papers off the walls and doors. They would only be thrown out anyway.
I slept over at Zoey's parents' house, in their spare bedroom. The next day, we drove up to Long Island to stay at our friend MaryAnn's for the three New York Beacon Theater shows.
I found it! Here's my Igor autograph.
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