Musings from this morning's ticket line

["James Bonalsky" <bonal71@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

This morning, for the first time since the JP/BC tour in 1999, I dragged 
myself out of bed, headed downtown and stood on line for about 3 hours to 
buy tickets to a show.  Now, normally, I'd be sitting in the comfort of my 
apartment, enjoying a leisurely moring with a warm cup of coffee and the 
papers, and heading over to the computer about 10 minutes before tickets 
went on sale just to fire up the good old cable modem.  Today, however, I 
found myself on Irving Place in 30 degree weather by 10:00 a.m., with a New 
York Post in my hands and a boot of Plant's 2002 show at the Hammerstein 
(the last time I'd seen him) in my cd walkman.  Luckily, today was one of 
the nicer days we've had in NYC in a while ... especially when the angles 
were right and my portion of the line was graced with some sunlight.

The reason I found myself in this unusual situation was because tickets were 
only available at the box office.  According to some staffers I spoke with, 
since Irving Plaza is so small (it's a general admission venue that holds 
about 1000 or so), Plant's management insisted on a policy to stymie the 
scalpers.  Specifically, tickets were only on sale at the box office with a 
maximum of 2 per person.  In fact, we didn't even actually get tickets 
today.  Instead, we had to show photo ID and got vouchers.  On the day of 
the show, we have to return with the exact same photo ID, pick up the 
tickets and go directly into the venue.  Although certainly more 
inconvenient, I think it's pretty cool that Plant would take such measures 
to ensure that only the "true fans" get to see him in such an intimate 
setting.  (Interestingly, there was very little promotion of today's ticket 
sale.  Irving's website had a very small note regarding when tickets went on 
sale and I think there was an ad in the Village Voice, but other than that, 
I heard nothing on the radio or anywhere else.  If it wasn't for FBO and the 
Manic Nirvana website, I would never have known about today's sale.  Not 
sure if this was part of the plan to help the true fans get tickets or not 
...)

Anyway, for any of you who may still be considering trying to get tickets to 
the NYC show, I think you still have a shot.  While waiting in line, we all 
had to put our names on a list.  I was number 70.  Just before the box 
office opened at 1:00 p.m., the guy with the list said he had about 200 
names.  When I was leaving with my voucher at about 1:20, it did not look 
like significantly more people had joined the line.  Since there was a 
2-ticket per person limit, I would highly doubt that 500+ people showed up 
today.  It would certainly be worth calling the box office to see whether 
there are any tickets left.

While waiting in the 3+ hour line, I got to talking a bit with some of the 
folks around me.  I also couldn't help but overhear some of the other 
conversations going on.  Here are some of the impressions I came away with.

1.  I was surprised by the number of people who said they didn't like the 
"No Quarter" tour (often referred to as the tour with that "Egyptian stuff 
and Middle Eastern crap").  The general consensus seemed to be that people 
went to that tour to see Jimmy and Robert, but didn't really like the 
reworked numbers.  Now I'm not going to pretend that I would have expected 
anyone to prefer the "NQ" versions of songs to the originals, but I 
genuinely liked what I heard on that tour and didn't realize the number of 
people who actually disliked it.

2.  In contrast to '95, it seemed most people loved the '98 tour.  That's 
not necessarily surprising, as I thought that tour was amazing, too.  
However, I heard a lot of people saying that the '98 tour was great because 
"it was just like Zep" and because "they only played the old stuff."  There 
was definitely a strong sentiment in my area of the line that Robert, Jimmy 
and JPJ should stick to playing Zep only.  Frankly, that was a bit 
disheartening to me, as I'm a big proponent of hearing something new from 
the boys.  I would imagine it would also be incredibly disheartening to Mr. 
Plant and, frankly, I still think that type of attitude is one of the main 
reasons he's not working with Jimmy or JPJ at present.

3.  I was struck by the optimism of those in line concerning the 
oft-repeated Zep reunion "coming soon" rumors.  Plenty of people had their 
own theories as to how, why and when it would be coming.  And, of course, 
there were a few of the "I know a guy who know a guy who works in some 
music-related industry and it's definitely going to happen this 
summer/fall/winter/etc."  Personally, I've got mixed feelings about a 
reunion (especially if they don't do an album of new music to coincide with 
it), but I can't help but acknowledge that there is, and always will be, a 
strong desire from the general public to see the boys back together.  And, 
there will always be, however unfounded, a strong current of reunion rumors.

4.  Even thought this was a line for a Plant show, Jimmy still seemed to be 
the fans' favorite (especially among the guys).  Interestingly, the main 
reason for the Page preference seemed to be related to #2, above - in other 
words, Jimmy still wants to play the Zep stuff and Robert is "too interested 
in that Arab and African stuff."  I didn't hear a single person say anything 
about wanting to hear Jimmy do anything new, only that it would be great to 
see him play Zep stuff again (with anybody).

5.  I heard more than a few people say that they thought Chris Robinson 
"sounded better than Plant" during the JP/BC gigs.  That was most definitely 
a shock.  I mean, I quite like the Crowes (I'm going to see them a few days 
after the Plant gig), I think the JP/BC stuff was good and Robinson did an 
admirable job by singing in his own style as opposed to trying to mimic 
Robert, but I can't imagine preferring it to hearing Plant himself sing.  In 
my opinion, throughout the entire '95 tour and during those '98 shows when 
he was "into it" (at times in 98, it really seemed as if his heart just 
wasn't into the Zep tunes), Robert sounded as good, if not better, than 
almost all of the post-77 Zep shows.  So, I can understand saying Robinson 
was good/really good/great, but I can't fathom saying you'd rather hear him 
sing that Robert.  That's just me.

6.   There was relatively little talk of Robert's recent solo stuff, 
especially "Dreamland" or "Mighty Rearranger."  Obviously, it's a bit early 
for that, but the almost complete absence of discussion about "Dreamland" 
and the Strange Sensation was surprising when you consider I was waiting in 
a line for a Strange Sensation show.  And, there was not a single word of 
any of his earlier solo stuff.  Again, much like some of my other musings 
above, I guess it's just a reality that I, as someone who really likes and 
looks forward to the new stuff, am in the vast minority.  It seems that most 
of the people around me in line were only interested in hearing the few Zep 
tunes Plant will do and consider the new stuff he's doing to be merely 
"filler" between the Zep songs he plays.  I'm not passing any judgment here, 
but personally, I was disappointed to see the number of people who seem to 
feel that way.  If I were Plant, I think I'd be totally dismayed.

Anyway, that's the report from a chilly line in NYC.  Looking forward to 
seeing Robert in a few weeks.  Thanks for indulging my ramblings.