I have never had the opportunity to see Billy Idol live, so when I heard he was coming to Denver I knew I wanted to go. So, the day they went on sale I bought Jess and I tickets.
The day of the show we left town around 2pm as we knew we had some stops to make along the way and we wanted to be there early. When we left town it was a little windy but the sun was shining and it wasn’t cold. We hadn’t even thought to check the weather in Denver, we just assumed it would be similar to Pueblo’s weather. Which it wasn’t! As soon as we got into the Springs it started lightly snowing. Nothing was sticking and it was just a few small flakes. The further North we drove and the closer to Denver we got the colder it became and the snow started to increase. Though we had our leather coats we really weren’t prepared for this weather. We were hoping that by the time we got to the venue it would stop. Which it did for about 5 minutes then it started to snow even harder. We thought well let’s walk up from where we were parked and go see if there were people already lining up. I honestly didn’t expect anyone to be standing out there in the cold, windy, snow! I thought maybe we will check it out and if there’s no one there we will go back to the car and wait a little longer since we were over 2 hours early at this point. Unfortunately, that’s not the way it worked out. As we got to the venue there was already a group of people in line waiting. So, we decided to get in line and wait too. At first I left Jess and grabbed our tickets from the box office and while I was there I heard them talking to someone about the fast pass. I asked them if they still had fast passes available and he said they did. After talking to Jess when I got back in line we decided to buy the fast pass. If it meant we would even get in a couple minutes earlier it was worth it. While we were standing there I tried to tell Jess she could go wait in the car if she wanted but she didn’t want to. Thankfully someone in line gave her a pair of gloves that they let her use the whole time we were outside waiting. I’m sure they helped but it was still cold. This wasn’t the coldest show we stood outside waiting for but it was cold and we weren’t as prepared as we should have been. Despite being as cold as we were, the time moved fairly quickly and next thing you know we are going in. As they opened the doors the metal detector went off and they held me up. I told Jess to just go and get our spots. It seemed that my keys were making the detector go off. As I got inside the venue area Jess had already grabbed a nice spot on the rail just a little off center, where we prefer to be. We also ended up saving a spot for one of the people in the group that let Jess use their gloves while we were outside. Since we helped hold a spot for her kid who was in a wheelchair, she ended up buying me a beer. While we were waiting for the first band to come on, this girl who had cut in line outside walked up to us and asked if she could get on the rail because she was too short. I told her there was no room and I wasn’t going to give up my spot. The people around me also told her the same thing. She tried telling us that she had a couple hundred dollars and she was willing to pay. I don’t know if she was offering the whole $200 but I wasn’t going to give up my spot after waiting over 2 hours in the freezing cold. I know she worked her way down the rail, I don’t know if anyone ever let her in or not but it wasn’t my problem to worry about. As we continued to wait we of course made friends with the security guys. We ended up seeing a guy we knew from other shows last year. Security was cool they even went and grabbed Jess some ear plugs from the bar since she had forgotten hers at home.
The first band to play was a band from the UK and they had a female singer. I had never heard of them before. The couple next to me told me they knew someone in that band and that’s how they had gotten their tickets. I thought her and her band Kelsy Karter & the Heroines did a good job. She was engaging with the crowd and their music was up beat. I think it set a good tone for Billy Idol. We managed to get a set list and a guitar pick. The guitarist looked like a very young Jimmy Paige or so I thought. I called him Jimmy Paige and then asked for a pick. He liked the compliment and of course gave me one.
After their set we took turns running to the restroom and grabbing another drink. All I know is I was ready and anxious for Billy Idol to come out. Just as he was coming out on stage there was some guy behind us who was messing with some of the people in our “group”. We notified security and before you know it they had him removed. That was the only drama we had to deal with all night which was good. Billy Idol came out and immediately started playing his hits. I was also really surprised how well he sounded. He may have been using tracks but if not he did a great job. He had a lot of energy and engaged with the crowd. He threw stuff out in the crowd all night. Drum heads or maybe they were frisbees, lol I wasn’t sure but I do know I didn’t get anything directly from him. I however, did manage to get a couple picks, one from the guitarist and I think the other was from the bass player. The one pick I have with Billy Idols name on it was definitely played as you can see the play marks and the picture on the pick is starting to rub off. I always prefer a played pick whenever possible. I was really hoping to get one of his set lists but that didn’t happen. Either way I had a great time! If I get the chance to see him again I certainly will!
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