I'm not generally the spontaneous type. Although I do enjoy the thrill of occasionally walking out to Border's on a whim, most big events require a very precise plan and a lot of phone calling to make sure everything will work out.

Imagine my surprise, then, to find myself planning a trip to New York City to see a Sting Concert on less than a day's notice!

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It was one of those rare days...

...when my workload seemed managable, particularly with spring break just a few days away. Diana had called our friend Louis in New York in anticipation of our spring break stop in the Big Apple, when he informed her that he had free tickets to see Sting perform in the theater at Madison Square Garden the following night at 8pm.

Diana had an exam the next morning, but I was feeling relatively free. I instantly called my friend Amy to begin plans. She was skeptical, but then, I wasn't too sure about the whole thing either. I could only think of one thing: if I missed out on this for lack of trying I was going to crawl into a corner and let my pitiful self fade away.

Four hours later...

Things were beginning to look up. I'd found a car to borrow, managed to obtain directions to Hoboken, called Louis to tell him to hold the tickets and secured Amy as my companion. I tried to do a little work, but eventually gave up and went to sleep feeling rather proud of myself.

The next morning, however...

...my plans we thrawted. Amy couldn't come. Now I've been to the city a couple times before and I wasn't afraid to go with a friend, but there was no way I was going to go all by myself. Reorganization was imminent.

It was now lunchtime on the day of the concert - where was I going to find anyone to go to a concert in New York City on such short notice? I wandered around the dinning hall trying to answer that question. And happened to mention in to Mellissa.

"How much did you say the tickets were?"
"They're free."

She walked away and came back ten minutes later.
"O.k., I'll go."
"Really?" She didn't look too sure of herself - I could tell she felt the same kind of shock at making such a sudden decision.
"And I have a car we can take. And I live right outside Hoboken, so we can stay at my house." This was getting better all the time. We planned to meet at her room after our labs and went off to finish eating.

Another four hours passed...

After lab I threw a few things in a bag, grabbed my toothbrush and ran over to Melissa's room. She did a similar job on her own stuff and we were on the road. Other than a brief stop for some fast food we made a straight shot for Hoboken, and managed to get there in time to catch the 7:20pm PATH into the city. The train seemed to take forever to pass under the river. I kept looking at my watch and assuring myself that there'd be an opening act and we wouldn't miss the real show.

"We're in New York City!"

Melissa murmmered in wonder as we shuffled down the street to meet Louis and get our tickets. "It's Wednesday and we're in New York City!" I just laughed a little and tried to walk faster.

Louis was looking a bit anxious when we arrived, but handed us the tickets in an envelope - I took them out to look at them. I could barely believe it.
"How do we get to the Garden's from here?" I asked him. He waved his arm to signal a cab.
"You see that cab over there?" We nodded. "O.k., now run." We called thank yous over our shoulders as we hustled into the cab. Melissa asked for Madison Square Gardens and then gave me another shocked look.

We arrived late, but the opener was still playing...

...and half the crowd was still in the aisle being guided toward their seats. We joined the general flow and eventually managed to sit down.

"These are good seats" Melissa whispered to me.
"I know."

Melissa went off to call her parents and I watched crowd and listened to the opener. Everyone was dressed so classy - I definately felt like an alien in my t-shirt and jeans. Melissa returned with good reports about our lodging for the night. I went off to call my parents, more to hear their reaction than anything else.

"Hi mom. Did you hear about my plan to see the concert?"
"Oh, yes, are you going to do that?"
"O.k., so I'm in Madison Square Gardens" There was an exclamation of surprise on the other end of the line, followed by a muffled explanation to my father. Meanwhile the lights started flashing - the REAL show was about to start.
"I have to go - we're staying at Melissa's - I'll tell you about it later." *click*

The Show begins...

The lights dimmed, clapping started and then...

...a blue light came up on the stage and Sting was playing the guitar. It was "Mercury Falling" the tour's title song, and I smiled.

As concerts go, it was a rather subdued one. Most of the crowd stayed in their seats the whole time, with the notable acception of "Roxanne" which had everyone on their feet. He played a mixture of the old and the new, most of which were farmiliar. He sang "Mad About You" - one of my favorites - and dedicated "Fields of Gold" to his wife who was in the audience. He brought a bunch of people on stage to sing "I'm so happy I can't stop cryin'" most of whom didn't even know the song - but it was funny.

I became mesmerized by the sax and trombone players, who seemed to somehow manage to dance and play simulatenously. The lights were beautiful, the seats were good, the music incredible.

We sped home the next morning and arrived in time to be only 5 minutes late to class. "How was it?" Tinsley wrote on the top of my paper as I plunked down into a seat in Embryology lecture.
"Great" I wrote "I'll tell you about it later."

Last modified: 5/2/97
Susan Hunt