The Wayfarer
Friday, November 15, 2024 Entry #129
It is said that you learn something new every day. Previous to being in Canada, I had seen Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band from the standing room only general admissions area, colloquially called “the pit,” seven times since the tour premiere in early 2023. The fan run, honor system procedure, which I have attempted to describe in a number of posts here (Here is how I wrote about it on the opening night in Tampa in Entry #8), takes some navigation skills and “best practices.” Some of these I have figured out over time, but I am sure there are others that remain illusive. My revelation for today was the discovery of a private Facebook group called “Springsteen Pit Roll Call Info Group.” More experienced folks than me (it is not unusual to meet people on the tour who have been to literally hundreds of Springsteen concerts) post on the group page to subscribers that are filled with vital information about the timing and location for the all important GA line-ups. I signed up, and immediately I was receiving advance notice of helpful details that I used to find out about too late, only after arriving to the arena.
The main thing to emphasize about the above post is that I received it today, Friday morning, still more than 24 hours before the concert is slated to begin. And yet, right there on the “Springsteen Pit Roll Call Info Group” page, is the helpful news that the first GA ticketholder showed up at the Calgary arena as early as Wednesday to become number one in line! According to the ethical code of the pit, the fan who gets to the venue first also takes the responsibility to check in everyone who arrives afterwards. That person then gives out numbers (and often numbered bracelets) to each fan who arrives (which necessitates being on site for much more time than the rest of us who can usually come and go in between roll call check-ins), and by that order people will eventually be let onto the floor to choose and claim their space. This numero uno person also establishes (with cooperation from the venue) how long folks need to stand in line at a stretch, and the frequency and timing of “roll calls,” when everyone is expected to return to form the line again. Those that fail to show up to a roll call lose their treasured number. While my GA practice was to show up as early as I could on the day of the concert, I always had a hunch that those who received the rarified lowest numbers started lining up days beforehand. The Facebook group I had just discovered confirmed that to be a fact.
Therefore, when I picked up my brother-in-law Ken at the Calgary Airport, our first stop was the Saddledome, where in fact, a line had already been formed. Still, it wasn’t that many people who arrived earlier than us, as we still got great numbers in the high 20’s, certainly portending coveted spots on the rail. Thanks to social media, for the first time I checked into the GA line at a concert earlier than the day of the show, and it paid off!
After the 3:00 check-in, we were again allowed to leave the line until the evening roll call. Ken and I walked all over the city. We checked out the Calgary Tower and the Inglewood neighborhood. We also heard about the Canadian Music Hall of Fame within the nearby National Music Center and made a mental note to try to check it out tomorrow if we had enough time. We ended up back at the Ironwood, where I had seen a band the night before (See Entry #128), and we had an early dinner at the bar.
While we were ambling around, Ken discovered that the NHL’s Calgary Flames were playing that night at the same arena where we had been doing all our lining up today, the site where our Springsteen concert would be taking place the very next night. In addition to being a Springsteen fan, Ken loves hockey, and he asked how I would feel about taking in the game. Hockey is not my favorite sport, but I am usually up for just about anything (I was on sabbatical after all!). Also, since hockey is Canada’s special pastime analogous with the USA and baseball, it seemed like a cool idea to take advantage of the opportunity to see the pucks flying and the sticks striking the ice while I was here.
So, during the 7:00 PM roll call and brief line up (our numbers had grown significantly since the afternoon, to well over 100 fans), we scored Flames tickets on the phone and made our way inside the Saddledome one day earlier than we thought we would.
The game was fun, and the hometown Calgary Flames ultimately beat the Nashville Predators 2-0. In between periods, there was an exhibition scrimmage put on by local youth hockey standouts. It was special to see how incredibly enthusiastic the kids were, and it put an exclamation point on the authentic Canadian experience I was having.
Turns out at least one other person at the game was planning on returning for (what both Ken and I certainly considered to be ) the main event. A Flames-Springsteen fan posted from the arena in the “Spring-Nuts” fan page his amazement that the Saddledome would be converted for a rock concert in such a short time.
After the game, Ken and I walked back to our hotel for a drink and then called it a night. Tomorrow it’s showtime, and we have an early roll call in the morning.
Day 5