road trip!

I recently went to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, which was in Brooklyn on March 29. And why did I go? To see my favorite band, Def Leppard, inducted in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame! It was a once-in-a-lifetime event and there was no way I wasn't going to go. We got the cheap seats months ahead of time, my sister got a big discount on the hotel room (she works for the chain), and breakfast was complimentary. All we had to pay for was gas for the car and our food at the venue, so it was a pretty cheap trip overall.

My sister decided to drive to my house in the night before and then we drove to Brooklyn the next morning. I have to say, driving in Brooklyn was really tough. It's just so much more congested than any city in my area. I managed, though. When we pulled up to the hotel there was nowhere to park at all so I circled the block. When we came back around, there was a spot on the corner. I have no idea if it was really a parking spot, but I didn't care. I was just glad there was *somewhere* to pull over. My sister went into the hotel to find the valet while I sat in the car with the flashers on, hoping and praying no one would hit me as they came around the corner. We finally got the valet to come out so we grabbed our stuff and went inside. Check-in took forever! It turned out the person at the desk was new, so I couldn't get too upset, but those helping her were pretty slow, too. Very nice, but so slow. We finally got up to the room and just hung out until it was time to change clothes and leave.

We took an Uber to Barclay’s Center, which cost about $30 (it was peak time for an event); he was very friendly and a good driver thankfully! It was our first time taking Uber and even though it was more than I would have liked to spend, it was so, SO worth it to not have to drive in that traffic and then find parking. Getting to the hotel and figuring out where the valet was was enough for me! We were going to try taking the subway to Barclay’s; however, neither of us had been on one in about 20 years and we just didn’t want to deal with figuring out how it works, or risk getting lost and being late. (Yup, we chickened out.)

When we got to the venue we hung out outside for a few minutes in hopes of finding somewhere we wanted to eat. We ended up going inside and splitting an order of chicken tenders and fries. We each got a bottle of water at $7.00 a pop! Of course, they took the caps off so we had to be super careful we didn't spill it once we got to our seats. Guess who spilled 2/3 of hers?? Me. That sucked because I knew I'd be thirsty and I wasn't about to pay another $7.00 for another bottle. I sipped slowly!

The event itself was fun, but very long–over five hours! (I'll be interested to see how long it is when it airs on HBO in late April.) Our seats were on the second tier, which was very high and very steep and we both had a feeling of vertigo while trying to get to our seats. Stevie Nicks opened the show and she really was fantastic. She did a duet–Leather and Lace–with Don Henley, and Stop Dragging My Heart Around with Harry Styles. She also sang Edge of Seventeen and Stand Back. Radiohead and Janet Jackson didn’t perform. The Cure, The Zombies, and Roxy Music all performed. I didn't know any of their songs, so that made it seem much longer. It was enjoyable, but not my taste.

And then it was time for Def Leppard! They were inducted by Brian May of Queen. The acceptance speech was touching, as Rick Allen got really choked up when Joe Elliot talked about their tragedies and how Rick was able to come back from his accident, and had he not, there may not have been a Def Leppard. They performed their set, which was Hysteria, Photograph, Rock of Ages and Pour Some Sugar on Me. The all-star jam ended the night. Def Leppard brought out Brian May, Rod Argent and Colin Blunstone of The Zombies, Stevie Van Zandt of The E Street Band, Roxy Music’s Phil Manzanera and Susanna Hoffs of the Bangles. And.....the surprise of the night was Ian Hunter of Mott the Hoople. They sang Mott the Hoople's All the Young Dudes, which is Joe's favorite song I believe. It was a great performance. 

Here are some of the pictures.  Almost all of the pictures I took were of the video screen because our seats were so high up.

Part of the video montage. Look how young they were!!

Brian May giving the induction speech.

Def Leppard on stage.

The all-star jam.

Joe Elliot with Ian Hunter singing All the Young Dudes.

And then it was all over! Time to head back to the hotel. This time we braved the subway since we didn't want to have to try and find the Uber driver in all the traffic. We had to really pay attention to the signage, but we made it to the right train and got back to the hotel in one piece.

I’m so happy to see Def Leppard get into the Hall of Fame finally, and I’m thrilled I was able to go. I got to see history in the making. It’s amazing that they’ve been making music for 42 years and they’re still going. It's going to be a sad, sad day when they finally stop touring. Hopefully that will be a long way off!

So what's my only regret?  I didn't have any pizza while I was in NY--NY style is my favorite! I did, however, have an authentic NY bagel so I can't be all that upset.