foreigner fail. but the music sounded great.

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My intentions last night were to see Kansas, Foreigner and Styx at Chastain Park. But as you know, some things don't always go as planned.

An hour and a half I sat in traffic. Not regular Atlanta traffic. Concert traffic. All people snailing along in their cars looking for a $15 place to park and walk a half mile to the venue. Windows rolled down, I hear a crowd roaring in the distance. Kansas had just gone on. "Dammit! Dammit!" I cursed to myself as I struck the steering wheel with my hands. Still stuck in traffic. No signs of relief. Or a ticket to the show, which I was sure I'd find for practically nothing given that it was Monday night and probably not sold out.

After another fifteen minutes in traffic and no signs of tickets, I wheel into a nearby restaurant. I told my friend who was with me, "I'm throwing in the towel. I'm over it. Let's just have a beer here and go home." So we did. Two appetizers later, we signed the check and walked to my car. I could faintly here the music from afar, and it was killing me. "C'mon" I said. "Let's just walk up there and see if we get lucky."

We didn't. The people at the gate we'rent willing to "just let us in, man" and the cheapest ticket at the box office was $90. That's like more than I'd spend on a car. Plus we'd already missed Kansas and half of Foreigner. But then I heard it - the opening licks to "I Want To Know What Love Is". I could hear it fine, really almost as good as if I were in the venue. I hatched a plan. A lame plan.

Down the hill was a spot of the fence where, if you stood on your tiptoes, you could see in the show and hear the music really well. There we stood for half an hour, peeping in like perverts at a daycare. In addition to hearing "I Want To Know What Love Is" we heard "Hot Blooded" and "Jukebox Hero", all songs that I"m coo coo for coco puffs over. I kind of count getting to hear "Urgent" too since that's what was playing while we were walking up.

So did I get in the show? No. Was it a huge pain in the ass? Yes. Was I glad I at least got to hear those songs? Yeah pretty much. It would've been ten times cooler to have actually been in there instead of being a peeping tom by the dumpster. But at least I saw Foreigner. Sort of.