After a great first night, my friend Chris and I sat and mused on what would be played the next three nights. He was convinced Mike's would be unleashed on night two, although most in our party disagreed. However, Chris did not have a ticket for night two, which posed a major problem for him. He was bound and determined to get into night two to see Mike's song against my advice that it would show up on night three or four. 

Being the obstinate character that he is, he devised a plan. If you were there for the '96 run, you'll recall that security was not even letting anyone into the parking lot without a ticket. So, Chris snuck in to the lot in my trunk. Next, the problem of getting into the venue had to be solved. A couple of weeks earlier, The Band had played at The Fox in Boulder, and the tickets had been Ticketmaster. 

All CO ticketmaster tickets were the same blue tickets in appearance. When we went to see The Band we had wandered into the venue (in a psychedelic abstraction) without having our stubs torn. So the tickets looked unused. Chris hoped the Red Rocks ticket-people might overlook which band was printed on the ticket. I told him good luck and instructed him I'd save him a spot down front if he made it. 

I don't know if it was that night that we were enjoying the great marshmallow/tortilla war, but a bit before showtime, I saw Chris come skipping in front of the stage like a little school girl with a huge grin on his face. He explained that he had tried every single person and got rejected, except for the last one. And whaddayaknow, we enjoyed a great show from the fourth row capped off by, of course, Mike's.

- Lawton