Music Memory Monday

1989 was the summer of Great Woods. Great Woods is a concert amphitheater in Mansfield, Massachusetts. Actually since my day it has gone corporate and now is called the Comcast Center. To me it will always be Great Woods. The place reminds me a lot of the Henderson Pavilion. Of course unlike the amphitheater in Henderson, Nevada, the one in Mansfield, MA is surrounded by trees and beautiful wooded areas. These trees and wooded areas found many hopping over the huge walls of the venue to gain entrance to these reasonably priced concerts for free. Now I will not share anything that will incriminate myself, but yes, I will narc on an old friend. The Cure was touring that summer and I was determined to add this to the list of concerts I attended that summer. Oh I love Love LOVED the Cure. I know, a little dark for me now, but hey, it was 1988. Who did not love "Lovesong" -Show Me , show me , show me how you that trick? Anyhow, I had some how managed on my college budget to get a ticket weeks before. Never giving a second thought to the fact that I might have to work that night. No,back then I would have quit a job to see the Cure. Luckily, I did not have to go that route and got my shift switched with a friend. We made the short drive down to Mansfield in my car with every seat full and then some, blaring music from the tired old stereo. My cassette tapes jamming every so often only to be gently removed from the console and rewound into playing order. College years found me very popular as I was one of the only in my group with my own beater, jalopy, broken down old gas guzzler. Upon arriving we tailgated for a while in the parking lot with lots of kids from all over New England. Some like us were fans. We were wearing our Cure T-shirts some jeans. maybe some black lipstick. Others were die hard fans. These folks made the emo kids of today look tame. Mohawks- not faux hawks, big big dark hair, long dark coats, (on a hot September night, in Boston, oh yuck) eyeliner, lipstick, white skin a menagerie of punk rockers. Oh, and I am describing the guys.

As time came to go to the gate, we found that one of our group did not have a ticket to enter the concert. This someone happened to be my date. He assured me he would be fine hopping the wall and would meet me at the back of the field. Okay, I could deal. It is not like I had not seen others do this same ting at every show I had ever attended. So he left us and we headed to the ticket takers. We all had general admission tickets which meant you sat on the grass. It was imperative that you staked out your area as soon as you got in so you could be as close as possible to the stage. I told my friends to head over with out me I was going to meet up with the wall hopper date. By the time I got to the back he was already over the wall. I was surprised to find him sitting down. As I got closer I saw he was holding his badly disfigured arm. Oh my gosh. He looked like he was in a lot of pain. I asked him what happened and he said that when he was hopping down off the wall he somehow got his arm hung up and while his body went down, his arm did not. It was broken. Really broken. Great. He told me we would have to get out of there and get to a hospital but let's just stay for one song? So one song turns into the show. This at his own doing. Just one more song he would say every time I asked him how much it hurt. I mean he might as well enjoy the show that he broke his arm to see right? I can picture him still, that poor kid holding his arm tight, trying not to be bumped by the swaying crowd in the grass. Everytime I hear any song by the Cure I think of that night. Memories like pictures in my mind.
The Cure, Pictures of You= Great Woods, Broken Arm, September, 1989