My Irving Plaza Experience

RappellRappell Posts: 12
edited September 2009 in Given To Fly (live)
I thought you fans would enjoy this story almost as much as i did:

Pearl Jam and 2 Daves:


I often get forwards about something good that has happened to other people and how lessons are taught through good deeds. Since these stories are always about people whom I have never met.....they never have much meaning to me….so now that something like this has happened to me.....I would like to share it with all of you because I keep telling and retelling this story that it makes sense that I send it out in this fashion…..so here goes….it’s a bit long….but it's a great story about a boys dream and how a friend helps that boy fulfill it……



For those of you that don't know…..I spent most of my senior year of high school (1993-1994) and freshman year of college (1994-1995) speaking about one thing….. PEARL JAM…..some say I have an obsessive personality…..and if you knew me during high school and college you would have agreed based on my obsession with this band……in college I feel like I was known as the " Pearl Jam Freak"…..Pearl Jam was first introduced to me by another friend from high school…Kenny….and since then I have always felt pearl jam has become a part of me (I know that sounds corny…but it's the only way I can describe it)…..so to sum up the years from high school til now….I would just say that one of my most frequently thought about goals/dreams or whatever you can call something that will never happen but you just think about and daydream….was to see Pearl Jam play at Roseland Ballroom…..For those of you that don't know Roseland ballroom….it is a club/bar/concert hall in New York City that holds about 3000 people and allows you to stand and watch/dance/go crazy to the band that plays on stage…..The reasons that I have always wanted to see Pearl Jam there are:



a. They are my favorite band of all time

b. It is an intimate place to see a band play

c. Since it is standing room only….you get to become part of a crowd of people with the same goal in mind….to just become one with the band and totally get into the music without worrying about what people next to you are thinking…….when you see a band play at Madison Square Garden…..you are confined to a seat…and idiots around you telling you to sit down or move over…etc…….so to see Pearl Jam…..a band that would sell out a venue seating a hundred thousand people……at a club like Roseland has been my dream for the past 12 years



Like all far-fetched dreams…..I never ever thought it would happen because Pearl Jam doesn't play small intimate shows anymore…..when you can sell out Jones Beach…..why would you play a venue that can hold 3000 people at most………



now…..let's just to April of 2006 when Pearl Jam started talking about their new album titled “Pearl Jam.” I would like to preface this part by saying that while I have loved and will always love Pearl Jam…..I am a 30 year old teacher and father and husband now so my “obsession” has been tamed to allow me to function normally in the real world! Because clearly my family are more important (or maybe equal) to me than some rock band……..but…..just to let you know how obsessed I was back in the day……..Eddie Vedder…the lead singer of Pearl Jam was like a God to me…….I respected him for his lyrics….his attitude….his edge….his vivacity…..and his unbelievably….mesmerizing voice……anytime he spoke/sang I was in a trance….well anyway……he was dating a girl named Beth at the time of my obsession over the band……..and I think one of the many reasons why I was so interested in Beth, my wife of 5 years, and the mother of my child, was because her name was Beth…..haha….I know looking back that sounds so stupid….and as I write it I realize how ridiculous it sounds……but at the time it made perfect sense…….just to be clear I didn't marry Beth b/c of the name……it just gave me one more reason to go on that first date!!



Wow…I am really digressing……so anyway……Pearl Jam releases their new album….and I become a die hard fan again…..and wind up getting tickets to see them at Continental Arena in East Rutherford, N.J……a venue that holds at least fifty thousand people…..not real intimate……but still a great show….As I get more into Pearl Jam….I start checking out their website for news about them and I stumble across a story about them playing an unannounced show at a secret location in NYC. The only catch was that you had to wait on line outside of a Manhattan Tower Records for days for the slim chance that you would be one of the first 450 people to buy the new album to get a free ticket……..now…back in 1994 this would have been fun to do with friends……but not at this stage in my life………so the day to get free tickets came and went and than I found out where this secret show was…..IRVING PLAZA….this was where I saw my first general admission concert ever……..this was where I crowd surfed for the first time….but most importantly……this was a venue even more intimate than Roseland…….this place held 1000 people…..I was beside myself….after researching the tickets….I found out that I can pay over 1000 bucks on eBay to buy what was “most likely” 1 real ticket…..it wasn't happening….as much as I wanted to fulfill one of my dreams…..buying a ticket for the same price I could have taken my family away on a vacation….bought my wife/daughter a beautiful piece of jewelry…..etc….I realized that after complaining how much my daughters first birthday would cost…I couldn't justify spending this much on a ticket………so….I was depressed for days leading up to the concert……I was so desperate that I offered an A to any one of my high school students that would find me a ticket to this show…….and I teach in Great Neck where people always find a way to make things happen with their connections…..after a couple of promises that went unfulfilled…..Friday, May 5, 2006 (Cinco de Mayo) came along and as expected I was ticket-less……..but I told my friend Dave….who lives in Manhattan…that I wanted to come in to the city to just go there in the hope that we would somehow find a scalper or some other clever way to get in……as delusional as I was….Dave was confident that we would not get in to a show where only 1000 people were allowed in….where tickets were being sold for 1000 bucks…..but in any case….Dave agreed to go with me to Irving Plaza and hang out in the hopes of getting a ticket……….



Fast forward to Friday night…..2 hours before the doors are set to open…….we get to Irving Plaza and the line is around the corner……but even more annoying…….there are about 50 to 100 people with signs that say something to the effect of "Need 1 ticket….willing to trade Ipods, Cash, Razr cell phones" someone even offered a kidney in one incident…no joke!.....so my hopes of going to the show dwindled as I realized there were 100 people needing tickets and not 1 person selling…..at one point a delivery boy biked up to the venue to deliver thai food…..I almost paid him 20 bucks plus the cost of the food to give me his hat and the food so that I can sneak in to irving plaza and pretend to be delivering food…..and than I would just hide in the place til showtime….but I opted against it……..it is now 7:15…..45 minutes before doors open and since nothing was happening I thought that we should hit Yama and get some sushi before the doors opened…..Dave agreed and we ate dinner in record time……made friends with the people next to us and left 10% to the worst waiter in the history of Japanese restaurants………at about 7:50 we went back and noticed more people trying to get in…….there was no hope for us………



Fast forward to 8:30 when most of the line was in and the bouncers yelled out "If you don't have tickets you must leave because they are not selling anymore seats and there is no way you are getting in." Very encouraging to all these die hard fans….one of whom claimed he waited there since 6:00 AM in the hopes of getting a ticket….but no such luck……..at about 8:50….ten minutes before Showtime and after almost everyone was in……I recognized someone……..now….my wife and I always joke about how I have the best eye for spotting random people in crowds whom I should have no business spotting…….but I spot out David Cross…..a famous comedian who has been in television shows (Arrested Development) and Movies (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind)…..and who also runs a successful comedy show in the city called "Tinkles"….this fact will become important in a bit……….so I say to Dave (my friend…not David Cross) who is also a comedian….."Does he know you….you should ask him if he has any extra tickets."……so Dave…who is not shy…..yells out "HEY DAVE….GOT ANY EXTRA TICKETS FOR A "TINKLES" FAN!!!"….after the bouncer gives him a dirty look……David Cross notices my friend and in an unexpected and somewhat casual manner nods his head YES and waves us over as if we were longtime friends……excited and partially thinking I was dreaming….I jump over the belt that was preventing all non-ticket-holders from getting in…as Dave (my friend) tells the bouncer that David Cross is calling us over…..the bouncer turns around and sees that my friend wasn't lying and he lets us in……….so we get to Dave and I felt like a little kid in Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory…….but I didn't really believe it until I saw a big smile on David Cross' face…..but there was a huge catch……..David Cross looks in his ticket envelope and says "I only have 1 extra ticket."…..my heart drops and now I felt like a little kid in Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory after Willy Wonka yells "YOU STOLE FIZZY LIFTING DRINK…SO YOU GET NOTHING"……I was dead silent at this point…I had no idea what to say….Me and Dave both look at each other and he says to me, "you should go"…….and I say…"no, you made the contact so you should go"……..David Cross jokingly says, "who's the bigger fan."….after 2 minutes of terrible deliberation…..my closest friend since little league (over 20 years ago) says to me in the most sincere way a friend can talk to another friend "There is no better gift I will ever be able to give you ever….you are going in."…..I really wanted to cry…but instead….after realizing that my friend of 20 years was not going to let me miss this show……I gave him a big hug and got my ticket and entered the room where I would be spending some of the best 3 hours of my entire life………I was fulfilling my dream!



To end by making an already long story just a little longer…..David Cross also gave me a bracelet that came along with the celebrity ticket that gave me access to the balcony to sit upstairs with celebrities such as Tim Robbins, Susan Sarandon, one of the Olsen Twins and all of the Red Hot Chili Peppers………I had a choice between sitting at a Pearl Jam show with celebrities or standing 6 people rows in front of the stage in a general admission setting where I can "unleash" and go crazy while Pearl Jam played to ME…..obviously I chose to be on the floor 6 people rows in front of Eddie Vedder…….needless to say……after sweating about 6 gallons…being offered marijuana which I easily turned down (who needs drugs when I was high on Pearl Jam)……and just being totally entranced by every song they played………I enjoyed the best concert I can ever imagine………..after the show was over…….I had one more job to do…….find David Cross and talk to him about my friend Dave……I figured since David Cross was already an established comic…he may be able to help my friend (the aspiring comic) get to the next level…..so I go upstairs…..where many people are trying to go….but I get right in b/c of my bracelet!…..so I spot David Cross and I am told that he is in an even more exclusive area that only certain people were allowed into……after flashing my bracelet like I ran the place…the guy chuckled and said "that's not going to get you in here."…..determined to somehow pay back my friend Dave for what he did for me…..I waited like an idiot outside that area for the outside chance that David Cross would make eye contact with me and that after that eye contact he would leave the people he was talking to just to come over to me……..well……after 25 minutes of waiting…..we did make eye contact…..and he did just that……he came over to me…….I shook his hand and thanked him for the ticket…..but most importantly…..I spoke to him about my friend….(a side not is that my friend Dave gave David Cross his business card with his info on it in the hopes that David Cross will eventually take a look at his work)…….I asked David Cross if he still had my friends business card and after he said "of course I do"………I went into some rant about how my friend is 30 years old and that he's trying to make it in the comedy world and how David Cross is his biggest inspiration (which is true)…..and how I don't know the industry but I just asked David Cross to promise me that he will look at my friends website and try and help him in any way possible…….I told him that I had to repay my friend and how I needed his help (as if he didn't help me enough already)……humbly he actually agreed and said that he will definitely look at his website and check him out…….satisfied with COMPLETELY paying back my friend and never having to do anything else (just kidding)……..I felt good….walked down the stairs with the rest of the common-folk…..bought 2 t-shirts…..1 for me and 1 for my friend Dave……walked to union square where my friend had met 2 girls in which he apparently used the story of tonight to get in good with them….(I guess I wasn't the only one to benefit from my friends good deed!)……I gave Dave a hug….thanked him again…..talked about the show as if I was no longer a kid in a candy store but more like a heavy drug user high on the best kind of drugs possible…….only……..I didn't do drugs……but I WAS high……and probably will be for weeks………. if you got this far……I would like to say thank you for reading this…..this night was a magical night for so many reasons:



1. My wife's friend’s husband happened to have been away this night, so my wife was spending the night with a friend and her baby throughout all of this….so I didn't have to feel guilty about going into the city...without her......and attempting to get into a show without a ticket while she was sitting home alone

2. I drove into the city…..had no traffic….and found a spot immediately….in a perfect location

3. I had a delicious sushi dinner

4. I got to see Pearl Jam in the intimate setting I have dreamt about since 1993

5. I got to hear Eddie Vedder sing to ME and in turn I was able to become so involved in the music that nothing else mattered

6. I got to find out that my oldest friend in the world was willing to give up not only a chance to see Pearl Jam at Irving Plaza but also the chance to see Pearl Jam next to one of his own biggest influences (David Cross)…..and he did it all in the name of friendship.

7. I got to come home from one of my favorite nights ever…..give my daughter a kiss and give my wife a kiss……and realize that for so many reasons……friendship/love/family……I was the luckiest guy in the world



Dave's……..I owe you both….big time!



Thanks for reading!
Post edited by Unknown User on

Comments

  • tacettacet Posts: 323
    That was indeed quite the lengthy read but was worth it as it was one of the best stories
    I have ever read here.
    Dave is a great friend and I hope he enjoys success.
    And the other Dave is a very funny man and obviously a very,very nice man as well.
    we're all sentient snowflakes
  • CJMST3KCJMST3K Posts: 9,722
    Nice story! :)

    And CAA holds in the neighborhood of 20,000. :D
    ADD 5,200 to the post count you see, thank you. :)
    *NYC 9/28/96 *NYC 9/29/96 *NJ 9/8/98 (front row "may i play drums with you")
    *MSG 9/10/98 (backstage) *MSG 9/11/98 (backstage)
    *Jones Beach 8/23/00 *Jones Beach 8/24/00 *Jones Beach 8/25/00
    *Mansfield 8/29/00 *Mansfield 8/30/00 *Nassau 4/30/03 *Nissan VA 7/1/03
    *Borgata 10/1/05 *Camden 5/27/06 *Camden 5/28/06 *DC 5/30/06
    *VA Beach 6/17/08 *DC 6/22/08 *MSG 6/24/08 (backstage) *MSG 6/25/08
    *EV DC 8/17/08 *EV Baltimore 6/15/09 *Philly 10/31/09
    *Bristow VA 5/13/10 *MSG 5/20/10 *MSG 5/21/10
  • SOLAT319SOLAT319 Posts: 4,594
    What do those Irving Plaza tshirts look like?
    I have no patience for bad music and stupid people...

    The whole world will be different soon the whole world will be RELIEVED

    #resistgezi #resistturkey #resisttaksim #direnturkiye #direngezi
    #standingman #duranadam
  • You've made me late for work :)
  • OceansJennyOceansJenny Posts: 3,394
    I want to know if Dave Cross ever contacted your friend! 
    DC '03 - Reading '04 - Philly '05 - Camden 1 '06 - DC '06 - E. Rutherford '06 - The Vic '07 - Lollapalooza '07 - DC '08 - EV DC 1 & 2 '08 (Met Ed!!) - EV Baltimore 1 & 2 '09 - EV NYC 1 '11 (Met Ed!) - Hartford '13 - GCF '15 - MSG 2 '16 - TOTD MSG '16 - Boston 1 & 2 '18 - SHN '21 - EV NYC 1 & 2 '22 - MSG '22
  • PJammin'PJammin' Posts: 1,901
    I want to know if Dave Cross ever contacted your friend! 
    I want to know too. And Rappell, just so you know, that was me helping hold up Eddie during Porch. That was an early 90’s atmosphere that night. Congrats on getting in. 😍
    I died. I died and you just stood there. I died and you watched. I died and you walked by and said no. I'm dead.
  • possomistspossomists Posts: 427
    I was first on line at Tower Records to get tickets to that show. My friend and I slept outside for 3 days. It was an awesome time.
    "you can say that we're, nocturnal, posssomists"
    -ed july 8th MSG 2004
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