The Styx and The Bone
But the good news is, when the plane landed, I was in fact in Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas! I went to pick up my rental car, and got the usual stares when they looked at my driver's license and saw where I was from. Is it the distance, or the location? Do most people who rent cars at airports live around the corner, or is it that no one thinks that anyone actually lives in New Hampshire except a farmer and a couple of cows? Anyway, John at the rental counter asked why I was in town, so I told him I was seeing Styx at Billy Bob's that night. I got that "umm... who?" look from him, so I named off a few song titles, and he said, "Oh yeah, The Styx! I know them." Close enough. He did know all about Billy Bob's though, and told me how great it was and how much I'd enjoy it.
I drove the strangest little rental car in the world (Toyota Echo - could we put the instrument panel a little further out of the driver's line of sight?) to my hotel. I was staying in the same hotel as Laura (Lollipop) and her husband Mike, and I met them in the lobby. They were on their way back in, and I was leaving again! The show was sponsored by a radio station in town, 93.3 "The Bone." I had been listening to them online for a few weeks, and when I turned on the radio in the hotel room, of course I tuned to that station. They were broadcasting from Billy Bob's all afternoon, so I figured I'd head over there, make sure I could find the place, and see what else was around.
I got there at about 4:00 and discovered that Billy Bob's is a huge place, with video games, pool tables, the handprint wall of fame, you name it. Most of the people who were there that early in the day were sitting in the area where the radio station was broadcasting, waiting to see if they could win tickets to the show that night, which was completely sold out. I went over and signed up for the station's mailing list, then went to look at the area where Styx would be playing. Even though there's nothing you can do about it, it's never too soon to find out exactly where your seat is going to be! The entire seating area was roped off, so I went up to the ropes at the very back of the concert hall, as close as I could get, about 150 feet away from the stage, or about half the length of a football field. Because in America, when you're talking about short-range distances, the standard unit of measurement is a football field. Don't ask me why; I don't make those rules.
I was standing there behind the ropes, pretty much the only person there, because there was nothing to see except a lot of empty tables down on the concert floor. There were other people in the venue, but most of them were over where the radio station was set up. The band's gear was set up on the stage already; keyboards, drum kit and all. The stage was so small, not only would there be no room for the letters to come up, there wasn't even room for a riser at all in back of the drums. I was peeking through the setup of what's called the "alternate" or "honky tonk" stage, at the opposite end of the hall from the main stage. A house band would be performing on the alternate stage before Styx played.
The seating setup for the main concert floor was the kind with tables. There were seven rows of them, and I was attempting to count up and over and find my seat. Then out of the corner of my eye I saw movement on the stage, and when I looked up, gee... there's JY, standing on the stage talking to someone. Guess I know where the band is this afternoon! After a few minutes, they left the stage.