I never thought Neil would come through a lobby full of fans. I traveled to Wilkes-Barre, PA, to see Neil on Sunday, December 12, 1999. The man in my life came with me, even though he wasn’t going to the concert. He picked out what sounded like a decent hotel from the AAA book. We got there on Saturday. Then on Sunday, I noticed that a lot of other fans were staying there, too. We had gone to a museum early in the afternoon and came back around 3 or 4 o’clock. Vince Charles, Neil’s steel drum player, was in the lobby with several fans, including some I had met before. This led me to wonder if Neil himself were staying at this hotel. Vince wouldn’t say, but somehow I got the impression that he was. Later, I came down to the lobby again. A bus had pulled up in front of the hotel. A lot of fans were in the lobby. Someone told me that Neil’s band was coming down to go on the bus to the concert, and Neil would not be far behind. There were two elevators, and I watched as they went up and down between the floors. An indicator above each elevator showed what floor it was one. Finally one of them stayed stopped for a longer time than usual on the top floor. When it finally came back to the lobby, I heard fans who were standing closer to it call out the name of Neil’s girlfriend. And then I saw his face – now I’m a believer! I remember that he stopped and welcomed us, and I’m sure he told us to enjoy the show that night. But I was too excited to remember everything.
