Reply #12: LOL! You just reminded me of a Greatful Dead concert - circa 1985 [View All]

[HopeHoops]

Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia, MD.

This is an open-air pavilion with a large lawn. Even for a Barry Manilow (sp?) concert, they had a guy outside with a megaphone - "For your protection, we do not allow large sticks, knives, recording devices, cameras, movie cameras, blah, blah, fucking blah".

I had just seen the Dead at the Capital Center a few weeks earlier and it was boring as hell so I didn't have high expectations (pun intended). As I approached the gate, I was stunned that the megaphone moron wasn't at his post. They weren't searching purses or backpacks and the guy in front of me walked in with an 8" telephoto lens on an SLR around his neck.

Inside, there were at least six recording stations with milk crate barricades and 8' directional stereo microphones aimed at the stage. I was looking for a friend and didn't expect to find him so I headed up the narrow aisle toward the back. A guy came down past me calling out, "HITS! Anyone doing HITS?" Toward the back there was a milk crate concession stand with two florescent green bowling pins with "POT" written down them. I had just spotted my buddy when the music started. On the down beat, everybody was dancing.

Pretty much anything and everything that could be smoked was being smoked and there was a cloud that easily extended 8' above the ground. I had another friend with me who was a solid Republican (and all-around goody-goody). He got a profound contact high.

Curiously, the only arrest from the entire concert involved a VW station wagon from Oregon packed with pills. Go figure.