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It was November 1981 and one of the best rock bands of the era was coming to Jackson—FOREIGNER. Yes , Foreigner was coming, hot off the success of their singles “Waiting For A Girl Like You” and “Urgent”
My brother Steve and I were as excited as anyone could be about it! All the area radio stations were talking about the big event, giving away tickets and promotional items.
As luck would have it , I was fortunate enough to be working for one of those stations. Our station had been given tickets, some to give away on the air and some to share with the staff. I was given two of those tickets, one for me and one for my brother.
I’ve never seen him more excited than the day I told him we were going. For weeks we listened to Foreigner music, we talked about Foreigner, we were so keyed up and ready to go.
Then came the night of the concert. Getting down to the Mississippi Coliseum was a traffic nightmare. We finally inched our way down to the fairgrounds and by way of a shear miracle, found a parking space. We jumped from the car and took off running for the main entrance door.
The show was great. We sang with the group to every song. We yelled and screamed at the end until the band came back out for one more song.
Sadly all things must come to an end. The show was over and the band was leaving the stage for the last time. We were all making our way to the exits. Steve turned to me and ask ” Do you remember where we parked? I said ” No , I thought maybe you knew! ”
As it turned out, we were so excited about the group neither one of us had taken the time to check our surroundings. We circled the coliseum, we walked up and down rows and rows of cars . We had to wait until almost every car had left the parking lot to find ours.
It was a lesson learned. Each time after that we always parked in front of the Mississippi Trade Mart building….Regardless!!!
Don is a Magee native and former radio announcer for several area stations. He is now a C T Technologist and lives in Virginia. Don can be contacted at ddwalker88@comcast.net
