Fans camp out for concert tickets
By Tillie Fong, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)
Published August 27, 2008 at 5:37 a.m.
Updated August 27, 2008 at 5:37 a.m.
Photo by Tillie Fong, The Rocky
Van Campbell, 28, of Lakewood camps out for Rage Against the Machine tickets early today at the Denver Coliseum.
Van Campbell, 28, of Lakewood didn't have a ticket for the Rage Against the Machine Concert.
So, he decided to camp out across the street from the Denver Coliseum to try his luck for a ticket later today.
"This is a once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing," he said. "That's why we're all out here."
He said that anyone who has ever heard the band would become a fan.
"Once you hear them, it changes your life," he said. "They really shake people up."
About two dozen other fans later joined him in camping out. Some brought tents, while other chose to tailgate from their trucks. One man even brought along a folding chair, which he lined with a Cinderella blanket to keep warm.
Tickets to the free concert were distributed by lottery at City of Cuernavaca Park the last couple of days. But many of the fans hope that some of the tickets would go unclaimed.
"It's first come, first served," said one fan, who identified himself as Brian J, 26, of Fort Collins. He had arrived around 3 a.m. to camp out.
He's been a fan of Rage Against the Machine because of its anti-war message.
He said he has a friend, Jason Lee, 22, of Fort Collins, who is on his second deployment in Iraq as an Army reservist.
"I want him to come home," Brian J said. "The people who have the most to say about the war are the veterans."
Although the trucks carrying the equipment for the concert were not identified as being with the band, the drivers would invariably honk at the fans camping out before they headed toward the loading docks at the Denver Coliseum. The fans would cheer in response and, sometimes, even direct the trucks where to go.
"This experience is well worth it," said Campbell before he settled down to sleep on the pavement.
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August 27, 2008
7:13 a.m.
Suggest removal
peter303 writes:
To be young and idle and without responsibilities ...
August 27, 2008
7:14 a.m.
Suggest removal
riosmom6 writes:
When I was 28, I was raising two kids and making a mortgage payment, not camping out hoping for tickets. How times have changed.
August 27, 2008
8:34 a.m.
Suggest removal
ramblinrose writes:
Peter don't assume because I'm 46 that I feel I am without responsibilities or that I am idle...as I waited for tickets! Your generalizations are just that and are not based or ground in fact. I work very hard and have quite a lot of responsibilities. How can you assume Van Campbell is without responsibilities or is idle? You know nothing about him. Both of my nieces are extremely responsible and have hard working husbands to boot. Neither are over 25. I guarantee you they waited in line and made arrangements for sitters as well. For all the hours over time they put in at their regular 9-5's it is a sad thing to see such rude generalizations made. Oh and yes, they pay for their mortgages just like any other adult. One has two children, the other 1 child and neither of them drink or drug...so your point would be?! I see times have not changed as much as either Peter or Riosmom would think. You talking about the good old days? is that when Nero fiddled and Rome burned or was it the sweat shops or factories of Charles Dickens, or the world of Angela's Ashes...heck my grandparents talk about the Great Depression as if it was hell ready to come back!...all those morals and times you talk about in the past...was that during Hitler, Stalin...ah the good old days! NOT! same thing every Millennium and the same comments to boot! Same thing!
August 27, 2008
8:50 a.m.
Suggest removal
patchsl writes:
I got up this morning at 0530... to go to work...to be a part of the "machine"... wait - am I ragin'? I feel a rap comin' on...
August 27, 2008
9:48 a.m.
Suggest removal
B1 writes:
Unless I can't find the original article, it appears that the photo has been changed (the original showed one of the "campers" wearing a Che shirt), and some of the comments were removed.
Is there a link to the original article or is this it, with some changes?
If it has been changed, I don't know why my comment was removed. I just noted, as did another comment that has been removed, the silliness of the Che shirt in the original photo. I also noted the underlying Rage shown by the camper and his pillow.