Who

  In 1989, The Who announced a concert at Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh, NC.  It was the closest they would come to Columbia.  A local radio station was chartering a bus to go there.  I just HAD to go.  They had performed at Woodstock, and I knew almost all of their music.  I invited my friend Del to go with me.  

 It was about a four-hour trip to get to Raleigh.  Even though I was into bootleg recordings at that time, I didn't bring anything.  A lot of people did, and all of the camcorders were confiscated at the gate.  There was a big pile of them.  We got there just before the show started.  We were sitting on the left side of the stage in the bleachers about halfway up.  It had rained earlier, but the clouds had cleared.

 The first half of the show was The Who performing "Tommy".  It was great!  They did an intermission and then came out for the second half playing all of their hits.  Pete Townshend was having to play acoustic guitar through much of the show, because he had hurt his wrist in a previous show.  

 There was one downside, though.  Because we were sitting in the bleachers, we had to turn toward the stage to see.  Del was on my left, and there was a guy I didn't know standing on my right.  He yelled the entire time right into my right ear.  I asked him to stop yelling, but he couldn't hear me.  He was yelling.  I was getting mad at him.  Also, the concert itself was very loud even being outdoors.  The Who had the Guinness Record for the loudest concert ever.  Louder than standing next to a jet engine.  Towards the end of the show, I could actually feel my brain moving around in my head.  I was getting physically sick, so I left my seat and walked up to where they were selling t-shirts.  I bought one.  I couldn't escape the noise, so I walked back to the bus and sat inside.  I could hear the encore plain as day.  

 Because of that guy yelling in my ear for almost three hours, I permanently lost some hearing in my right ear.  Was it worth it?  You bet it was!  It was an Amazing Journey.