Famous Ankles

I made the title very straightforward. I didn’t see the Bon Jovi free concert in Central Park. In fact, as I write this, the concert has just started and I’m at home well across town.

I did go, though. Well, sorta. An old tradition of mine is to see how close I can get to some of these events. In this case, I got a close as Fifth Avenue and 70th Street or so. The concert is clear across the park.

As soon as I got to 5th Avenue, I saw the line.

In truth, I originally thought it was for non-ticketholders. They said that the tickets were for the Great Lawn, but Central Park is big and there’s lots of space around the Great Lawn and I thought it was for those of us who didn’t get the free tickets or who refused to buy them on Craigslist for thousands of dollars.

I know I’ve heard and enjoyed Bon Jovi music. But, honestly, I can’t think of the name of a single song or album. And it just isn’t worth it for me to look for it. I just wanted to see if I could see.

I went in the direction the line was heading and ran into a nice cop who told me that the entrance to the Park that the ticketholders were heading was at 72nd or so. Actually, it was more like 70th and was a teeney tiny entranceway that was fiercely guarded by cops and Park staff. No joke. As I was taking pictures of the entranceway, shouts and all rose up where some people jumped in line and the cops and staff started yelling and pointing at them to get out and head back to the end of the line. I don’t know why I didn’t capture the event on camera, but it only took about three seconds and mostly consisted of yelling (which really doesn’t show up in a picture).

Below is one of the pictures I was taking. Another picture (not shown) was a closeup of the sign. It was hilarious. No weapons allowed, no radios, no recording devices, no large bags or backpacks, no umbrellas, no glass or metal containers, no cameras, no strollers, no alcohol, no coolers, no chairs, and “no other items prohibited by the city and concert promoters”. Maybe they wouldn’t have liked my hat or my socks. And are weapons okay in CP apart from the concert? No strollers? No cameras? You just have to love it. I presume they are seizing everyone’s telephone because most of them have cameras nowadays and lots of them can record just fine. Hilarious.

It was about 630pm when I went by. The line stretched back to 65th Street where people were still starting to line up. I had heard that the area had opened at 2pm for early birds and the like and that they might have other music playing; but that was just a rumor.

I know I could have gotten into the park. They didn’t, and certainly couldn’t, block the whole thing off no matter how much they may have wanted. But, like I said, I’m not really a fan and I just wanted to see how close I could get by just walking up. I was a little surprised not to see some scalpers around. Maybe if I had looked a little more desparate and held up some cash…

No. I’m way too cheap to pay for a free concert by a group whose music isn’t really any sort of passion of mine. And I really can’t think of a single song of their’s. I know I’d recognize some, and I’d probably like it…but nah. Ain’t worth it to me.

-H

This entry was posted on July 12, 2008 at 7:40 pm and is filed under Central Park, Events, Manhattan, Wanderings. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.