When I first moved to Vancouver, my cousin Frank convinced me to split a Hot Seats membership with him. Hot Seats gave us the opportunity to buy two tickets to any concerts before they went on sale to the public. I said, sure. We got to see a lot of concerts from the first few rows including: Rush, Pink Floyd, Jeff Beck, ELP, Van Halen, AC/DC, Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, ZZ Top, etc. On June 10th, 1985, Robert plant was coming to town.
Somehow, we were able to get front row center tickets. The bad news was that I already had plane tickets to Croatia for my other cousin Ivan’s wedding. I was to arrive back home in Vancouver on June 10th. Yeesh. That’s cutting it close. What if there’s a delay in the flight?
To get to my father’s hometown where the wedding was, it’s a flight to Germany and then another flight to Zagreb in Croatia. Then a looooong bus ride to the coastal town of Zadar, and then a ferry to my parents’ island.
It was a bit of a gruelling trip. I was on my own trying to navigate my way around. My Croatian is not very good, but I stumbled through it.
I remember getting to Zadar around 10 pm. I was going to stay at my mom’s cousin’s place. I had been there with my parents before, but I had no idea where they live. I had no address. I was just hoping that I would recognize the area and building.
It’s a beautifully walled city on the coast. The oldest, continuously occupied city in Croatia. I walked through the cobblestone streets hoping to recognize something that would help me find their apartment. It seemed like every other shop was a café. Out of one of the windows above me I could hear young girls singing. It was so cool because they had heavy accents, energetically singing a Beatles song. I quietly sang along, my spirits lifted for the moment. Before leaving Vancouver, I asked me mom to let her cousin know I was coming.
I came upon a building that looked familiar. Could it be the right one? I’m not sure. I wished I paid more attention when I was with my parents and siblings. I walked up the stairs, a couple of flights, and I went up to this door thinking maybe this could be the right place. I knocked on the door and I heard a Croatian voice say, “Who could that be at this hour?” They opened the door and, thank God it was my mom’s cousin Angela and her parents. They all spoke English too.
The next day we were sitting, having breakfast and she was telling me how her friend would come and visit everyday for coffee. When they finished the coffees, they would turn the cups over so the friend could “read the coffee grounds”. (My mom used to do this too.) And the last few days, she kept telling Angela that a young man was coming to visit her. She’s my mom’s age and she’s never been married. So she was thinking, “why the hell would a young man come to visit me?”
This morning, the coffee grounds told Angela’s friend that the young man was coming today. And here I was. A 24 year old young man. Didn’t my mom call? It turns out my mom got the dates mixed up and called Angela the next day. I had breakfast with them and then I caught the ferry to my parents’ island, Dugi Otok (long island). I went to the wedding and stayed for a few days. It was beautiful, relaxing, and fun. Then it was time to go back home.
I took the ferry back to Zadar where I hung out till midnight for the 7-hour bus ride to Zagreb. The seatbacks only went to my neck, so I wasn’t able to sleep on the bus, as my head would just bob. Then a flight to Germany and an eight hour wait for the plane to Vancouver. So far, no delays.
So far, I wasn’t able to sleep either. I was too uncomfortable and too nervous I wouldn’t get back in time. I left my concert ticket with my roommate Richie just in case I didn’t make it in time. Richie and Frank were buddies since they were kids, so he was hoping I’d be late, and they could go together.
Finally. I’m flying over Canada. One stop in Calgary than it’s off to Vancouver. So far, I’m still on time. Unfortunately, with a big part of the stress gone, I’m falling asleep. I can’t keep my eyes open. I don’t know how long I’ve been awake, but it was well over 24 hours by this time. I fell asleep and dreamt that I got left in Calgary and missed my flight to Vancouver.
That woke me up with a jolt. All was still okay. I landed in Vancouver on time, but I’ll skip the stressful long customs line-up and tell you how cousin Frank was waiting for me when I got out. We walked to his car where he had a cooler of ice-cold beer waiting for us (typical Frank style). Then we headed downtown.
I can’t describe the feeling of getting to the front row center seats at the Pacific Coliseum. It was wildly exciting. Then the lights went out and everybody rushed the stage. We looked at each other. Oh no. Now what?
We just stood up on our flimsy, fold-up seats. They were pretty crappy. We had to kind of hold onto the girls that were all around us standing on the floor. The chairs didn’t seem that bad anymore. We were back to being front row center at Pacific Coliseum.
I was wearing a t-shirt that I painted of Jimmy page. At one point Robert Plant kind of looked over and Frank started waving his arms, pointing out my shirt. We got some recognition from Robert and a smirk.
I took off my shirt and I threw it at him. But with my awkward footing on the flimsy chairs, I almost fell off. I missed him and a roadie came out of nowhere, grabbed it and shuffled off.
But it didn’t matter. It was an awesome show. Frank and I just hung out at our seats once the show was over and most of the people had left. It was a hell of an adventure, travelling farther than I’d ever gone to watch an awesome concert.