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1. I had been extremely excited about seeing Neil for the first time ever since finding out Neil was coming to town. I emptied my piggy bank and bought tickets immediately. I had just turned 15 and my boyfriend had hoped I wouldn’t find out Neil was coming. He refused to go (and we would have had to get somebody to drive us) and his best friend wanted to go, but didn’t want to anger his friend. Neither one of my parents wanted to go, but when I threatened to walk there, my dad finally gave in. He ended up being very embarrassed by the comedian who was the opening act. I noticed his belly shook from laughter even though he was trying to look like he wasn’t enjoying the show.

   I think I spent all day getting dressed and trying to look beautiful from head to toe. As soon as Neil came on stage, I was just awestruck and tears began to pour down my face. With every new song he started, the tears of joy would start again. My dad definitely misunderstood and asked if I wanted to leave. I could not have moved from my seat!

   I had my camera with me, and lots of people were getting out of their seats to go down front and get a better picture. My dad kept poking me and telling me to go get a picture, but I was way too shy to go get that close to Neil. Just about the time I almost had my nerve worked up, he had everybody take one last picture in unison and requested no more pictures. I got a few photos from my seat, but with an instamatic and flash cubes, you can barely see Neil (but you could recognize the shirt from the front of the Gold album). (and you know — I have bought various articles of clothing over the years that remind me of that shirt. I have a couple in my closet now)

   Neil made quite an impression. I always wondered if it was partly because my hormones were just beginning to stir, but I think it is more because his voice was already ingrained so deeply in my soul. I would stack my Neil albums up on the phono and listen to them nonstop whenever possible. But to actually SEE him, OMG. I had thought he was a bit funny looking (but the up the nose photo on the back of BLTSS was not an impressive first look), but on stage, OMG, he was incredibly sexy. And he told such great stories in between the songs.

   I especially remember the story of hearing his first song over the radio. He said he had always fantasized that he would be walking down the street and his song would be coming from a speaker in front of a shop. A beautiful woman would look at him and somehow just KNOW that he was the man singing the song and immediately try to seduce him (which in those days meant going for a malt). The reality was that he first heard his song coming from the radio of a red convertible. When he looked for the beautiful woman, all he saw was a dog relieving himself on the tire.

   I was totally and completely mesmerized. And I still feel the same excitement every time I go to a Neil show. He makes me feel 14 again. (no wonder the boyfriend was jealous)

   here’s a sound file for your real player

   http://members.cox.net/bahadreama/1970intro.rm

   and a scan of a review from the same time period. I never saw anything in our local paper.

   http://members.cox.net/bahadreama/1970stub&reviews.jpg

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