I convinced a friend to make the trip with me since I had family in the area and we got ready to go. We decided to leave the next day (by bus) in the morning and arrive maybe 4 to 5 hours later on the day before the show. Well, to our surprise snow was making its way up from the New York area and you could not travel from nearly Boston to NYC by bus. NOT GOOD! Only two buses left from the area all day and we were not on them. We were desperate! What to do?

Standing in the middle of Plymouth, NH, with it now snowing and getting worse by the minute, we realized that the only option we had was to go home. With no car and no bus we were not able to get where we needed to go. We set off for home, heartbroken and tired. We even thought of asking friends from the local college if they might be going home for the weekend anywhere near that area in Connecticut. But No Luck.

It was about 12:30 at night with 6" of snow now on the ground. We couldn't even get a cab home. Nobody wanted to drive that night. We sat in a 24 hour gas station and waited to see if somebody could help us with a ride back to our apartment. We were screwed. In maybe an hour a friend of ours from the college showed up. He filled his tank and greeted us on his way in to pay. 

We bullshitted for a few and asked what he was up to. He said he was going home to NJ for the weekend. I almost fell over myself when I heard this. I proposed he give us a ride and drop us where it was convenient for him on the condition that we paid for his gas. He accepted, and was relieved he didn't have to take this trip alone in the wee hours of the morning.

Our friend dropped us at a gas station in CT, just 10 miles from where we needed to be, and we were in bed by sun up. The next day we carpooled with friends to try and get some tickets on the lot. Everything was great, we made it this far, we had to get in, I was determined. I had about 100$ on me and was worried about spending too much on a ticket... I really couldn't afford to pay any more than face value. Lets face it, 100$ is really not much at a show... it goes quick.

So the door opens and still no ticket. I am very worried now, it was about 20 degrees out and I was freezing and wishing I was inside. Well, the show starts and now I am panicking. Everybody I was with already had tickets and were inside, the music and crowd are roaring... No tickets in sight. I traveled so far and I was empty handed. I felt left out. I had gone to shows without going inside, but this felt horrible.

I went back to our car. My friend gave me his keys in case I got cold. Thank god. I went into the trunk and grabbed a beer. I offered one to my friend and we set off to find other people as unfortunate as ourselves to hang out. As we shut the trunk someone came walking swiftly down the aisle we parked in. He walked over to our car and asked if we were going inside. We told him "no" and he offered us two tickets for $80 a piece. 

I gave him a hard time cuz they were 50+$ over face value, and he was eerily cool about it. The show had started already, where was he going to get 80$ for those things? Smiling the whole time, he pulled out two back stage passes and threw them in for the same price. I gladly handed over almost all the money I had for the ticket and the pass.

So here I am in a good seat 5 rows from the floor to the right of the stage with "Runaway Jim" blaring in my face and a backstage pass on my hip. How it all happened I will never know. I have never had such a crazy thing happen to me. I will spare you the rest of the story, because there isn't much. The show was great, and I had a blast. I am not going to tell you some backstage story because there isn't one. 

New Haven was a small stop on a long tour. The only member of the band that made and appearance was Trey, and only for like ten minutes. I was disappointed, but in complete shock I was there. 24 hours earlier I was wondering how I was going to get home from a 24 hour gas station.

- Kurt