ah, the old days

I've just been transported back to late November 1979.  35 years ago when at the age of 15 my sister took me to my first ever live rock concert.  I suspect it may have been her first proper concert as well but she pretended she'd been to loads.

And we didn't just choose any old band to go and see either.

No, not ones to do things by half we went to Birmingham for the day to see Queen perform the opening night of their Crazy Tour.

My abiding memory of the day?  Not for me the lights, the swirling smoke, the sheer noise (which rendrerd me near deaf for 2 days) .  No, being sent back the 2 miles or so to where we parked the car because Corinne thought she'd somehow forgotten to lock it.  By the time I got back to our place in the queue, it had started to move towards the doors to the hall and although she remained calm on the outside, my sister has since told me she was terrified I had been abducted at some time during the journey.  Not terrified enough to move along with the queue though.

My unexpected journey meant there was no time to buy a tour tee shirt (a must in those days) though we were able to get a program which I still cherish to this day. It's up the loft - somewhere.  I think.

The reason for my memory being jogged?  Brian May was just on the radio talking about a new Queen album out next week.  It's not for me though.  The band died the day Freddie Mercury did and I like to cherish my memories of the greatest band in the World - the ones with him in it.

I saw Queen a number of times after that first show and have some tails to tell from my travels to get to see them.  But I will never, ever forget getting back to my sister's red Mazda that evening.

And yes, it was bloody locked.