When I was in high school I decided I liked Rush. Only guys liked Rush so I decided I was going to like them too come hell or highwater. This would have been late 70's.....78, 79 maybe?
Their show at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago was announced and I begged my parents to go. They acquiesced and a friend and I made plans to sit out overnight for tickets. Because that's what you did then....there were no wrist bands on online sales. Just 'good' old Ticketmaster at your local record store. Or actually....this may have been the days of Ticketron.... The day before tickets were to go on sale my friend announced that her parents had changed their mind and wouldn't allow her to wait in line for tickets with me. I was crushed because of course my parents said I couldn't go alone. I don't remember putting up a battle....I just remember being crushed. And of course, me being me, no doubt there were tears.
My parents conferred and I guess their consensus was that it wasn't fair for someone to change their mind at the last minute so my father said I could wait in line if he went with me. Well, of course I was horrified.....I was 17 for God's sake. My father finally agreed that he would sit in the car in the parking lot and not taint the line with his presence. So off we went in the white and burgandy Monte Carlo.
I stood, well sat actually, in line with all the older stoner dudes who told me stories about when they had seen Rush before. A couple of them expressed concern that I was all alone so I finally confessed that my father was in his car in the parking lot. They told me how cool they thought that was.
Around 5 or 6 in the morning my father took off and came back with coffee and doughnuts for everybody in the line. Everyone was so impressed and I didn't even mind when he called me sweetheart.
I don't know if I ever adequately thanked him for that. I don't really remember the concert but I do remember my father sitting in his car across the parking lot, keeping an eye on me....