When this concert was first announced I think it was 2019, I knew I wanted to go. However, I didn’t buy tickets when they went on sale and they sold out quickly. Then covid hit and this tour got delayed to 7/21/22. When they made the new date I again knew I wanted to go but resale tickets were $300+ per ticket for top level. So I decided I would wait until closer to the show and see if they dropped at all. The week before the show, tickets were still selling for $200 a piece which was more than I wanted to spend. So Jess and I decided we would wait until the day of the show and buy the cheapest tickets we could find the day of.
As I mentioned, we headed up to Denver that day without actual tickets. Once we got to Denver we stopped and grabbed a bite to eat then headed to the Aurora light rail park and ride. We figured it might be easier to just park there and ride in so we didn’t have to pay for parking or deal with the traffic. As we boarded the light rail about 30 minutes before the first band was about to hit the stage, we found some tickets for $120 each. Once we got off the light rail and headed toward Coors Field there were people outside selling shirts for $20. We thought about buying one but then decided we would catch them after the show when they are more willing to deal on the prices. Unfortunately, we didn’t see any of them selling shirts afterwards. Anyway, once we got to security they checked Jess’ purse and found a bottle of weed I had her carrying for me. They told her she couldn’t bring it in so they were going to take it or I could take it and try and hide it somewhere outside and hope it would still be there after the show. I told her I’ll do that. There was no way I was going to just let them take it. I also wasn’t going to stash it outside and hope it would still be there. Instead I stashed it on me along with my pipe, my joints and the shooters I had. I ended up going through another line to get screened because it was shorter but I still had to go back to Jess since she was the one with our tickets. When I walked up the security lady asked me, “did you get rid of that”? I thought to myself, I made it through security so yes you would have to assume I did. I didn’t say that I just told her yes.
By the time we got inside the venue the first band was just finishing their set. I didn’t catch the name of the opening band but I was glad we didn’t miss Joan Jett. Since she was up next we decided to get in line for merch, hoping to be done by the time she hit the stage. There was 1 merch table and 2 lines going in separate directions. Both lines were extremely long. After standing in line for about 15 minutes and not moving much I told Jess to wait in line while I walked around for a few minutes. I walked to the front of the line and just watched for a minute and noticed this couple walk up and go right between the 2 lines and start a 3rd line. I walked up behind her and got in line and texted Jess to come up where I was. We went from like 100 people in front of us to 3rd in line. While we were waiting there a man walked up to us and asked if he could cut in line with us and he would buy one of our shirts. Seemed like a no brainer to me, I told him sure that works for me. After we got our merch Joan Jett was already playing, so we just walked into the stadium and stood there so we could watch the last couple songs. This was my 2nd time seeing her live and I think she was great both times.
After Joan Jett’s set, Jess and I were going to seat jump. Meaning find some other seats to sit in until someone told us to move. our original seats were in the sun and it was close to 100 degrees. So we thought we would move to the other side of the field and seat jump until we got kicked out of those seats or until our side of the field was in the shade. As we made our way to the other side of the field the clouds rolled in and really cooled things off, so we decided to just go back to our original seats. Shortly after getting to our seats Poison hit the stage. I had seen Brett Michaels before, playing Poison songs, but this was my first time seeing the original band play together. They of course played all their top hits and had a lot of energy. They did a great job of engaging with the crowd and keeping them pumped up. I know after their set I was pumped up and ready to see Def Leppard, which was the band I wanted to see most that night.
When Def Leppard came out I was ready and so was everyone else. For me this was my 3rd time seeing them live. The first time I was 13 years old and it was the first concert I went to without my parents. It was also the first concert I had ever been to where I was in the pit. The 2nd time I saw them was 2018 on this exact same day at the exact same venue. As I said I was most excited to see them and they put on a great set. The singer engaged well with the crowd. They played hit after hit and I thought they sounded great live. During one of their songs I decided to do a 420 clip. Our entire section had been smoking joints around us up to this point without anyone saying anything to them so I didn’t think anyone would say anything to me. No one did while I was doing my video but when I got back to my seat as I had stepped down to the seats below us to do the clip. When I got back to my seat security came up and told me I couldn’t smoke so I put out the joint I had. Everyone in our section was surprised they told me anything since they were all smoking before me. From that point on security watched me waiting to see if I was going to smoke again. I never did, well I did puff off my wax pen throughout the rest of their set. Needless to say, Def Leppard was awesome, I thought they were clearly going to steal the show!
Though I was there mostly to see Def Leppard, well I was excited to see all the bands. I was just a little more excited to see Def Leppard. It seemed that everyone I talked to that night was more excited to see Motley Crue than any of the other bands. I have seen Motley Crue several times throughout their career. I even saw them for their “Final Tour”. They have always put on a great show so I was expecting them to do that again, which they of course did! They had great energy, and also played hit after hit. I think they did better than I expected. Though I was mostly excited to see Def Leppard, Motley Crue absolutely killed it and was the best band of the night! It was also rumored that a guy and a girl in our section, who didn’t know each other, hooked up that night. They were both so wasted and disappeared for a while together. Someone overheard the girl say she hooked up with that dude. Only at a Motley Crue concert!! One of the other guys in our group was so drunk at one point he was running down the stairs to his seat with beers in both hands. He ended up slipping, going down and losing both of his beers which were probably 13 bucks each. Oh I also managed to do another 420 clip on their last song.
Though this concert cost a lot of money to attend, it was well worth it! I am glad I got to see it and would love to see any of these bands again if given the chance.
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