When Pink Floyd rocked 52,000 in Hamilton

(Or “Mr. Floyd,” because the four-man British rock band was referenced by one sq. Hamilton politician.)

But it was positively a bummer when an explosion within the stadium shattered home windows of close by homes, and had a promoter fearing somebody had murdered the band.

It’s laborious to imagine it occurred in any respect: that Pink Floyd, one of the crucial well-known bands on this planet, legendary for its reside present that includes cutting-edge encompass sound and particular results, performed open air to an viewers of 52,000 on June 28, 1975.

Floyd appeared the last word illustration of a style referred to as progressive or house rock, outlined by the band’s sonic masterpiece “The Dark Side of the Moon,” one of many greatest promoting albums in historical past.

Back then, the album — with its celestial prism and rainbow beam-themed cowl — occupied a spot in most each milk crate of data curated by youngsters throughout North America.

Pink Floyd’s 1975 North American tour, that includes songs from the album in addition to their forthcoming “Wish You Were Here,” began in April in Vancouver, and included 5 straight nights in Los Angeles.

A present on Thursday, June 26 in Montreal was to have been the finale, however a date was added for 2 days later, in a working class Hamilton neighbourhood on a Saturday evening.

Steeltown, nonetheless within the shadow of Toronto, didn’t appeal to big-name rock bands in these days.

The information was greeted with euphoria and worry.

Would or not it’s the best evening ever, or a catastrophe?

This story is advised in an oral historical past fashion, using the voices of those that have been on the live performance or had involvement within the occasion. Quotes are gathered from interviews, emails and written accounts, and have been edited for size and readability.

In the spring of 1975, Jean Garofoli, a flashy Hamilton entrepreneur and promoter who drove a Rolls Royce and a bike, met together with his agent,“Ramos,” in New York City. They talked technique about bringing a star performer to Ivor Wynne Stadium that summer time.

Jean Garofoli: “I didn’t have a clue who to get, however I actually was going to work laborious at making an attempt to get the most effective. We kicked a number of names round, the likes of The Rolling Stones or Barbra Streisand. Ramos couldn’t imagine that I had unique rights to our stadium. I stayed in New York a few days at his condominium. His spouse was actually beautiful … they each did cocaine, proper there in entrance of me.”

Ivor Wynne, wedged within the coronary heart of Hamilton’s east finish, was residence to the Canadian Football League’s Tiger-Cats. The stadium had lately been expanded to carry 34,500 followers for soccer, synthetic turf was put in, and metropolis leaders yearned to spice up income with concert events. In March, council voted to provide Garofoli the inexperienced gentle to signal an act. In addition to his promotions enterprise, Garofoli owned a automobile dealership and furnishings retailer. Some believed he was linked to the Mob. His reminiscences on this story are quoted from his unpublished memoirs, shared by his daughter, Leslie Bradford-Scott, who’s writing a ebook about her relationship together with her controversial father.

Garofoli: “The public liked the thought of getting main occasions within the stadium, and council had voted 16-5 in favour of me doing gigs within the facility. I liked it. Me, the poor Parisian boy that got here on a ship from France, was on high of the world.”

Ken Edge, metropolis councillor, in The Hamilton Spectator April 2, 1975: “Concerts of this magnitude will expose Hamilton as a rising, bold metropolis. Young folks have two locations to go right here: to a bar or an X-rated film. This will allow them to see the worldwide names they worship, within the flesh …We retain the suitable to veto after every efficiency ought to something go mistaken, however we don’t envision something going mistaken.”

Garofoli met in Toronto with Bill Ballard, son of Harold, the kingpin of Toronto’s Maple Leaf Gardens, in addition to Michael Cohl, with Concert Productions International (CPI). Cohl was 27 and had been within the enterprise since 1969. He went on to “pioneer the modern-day mega tour,” together with selling The Rolling Stones’ large 1989 Steel Wheels tour, and now heads S2BN Entertainment and lives in New York City.

Garofoli: “(Cohl) regarded very shabby, he was sporting a torn T-shirt, had a scruffy trying face, and hair all the way down to his bum. I discovered that he drove a Rolls Royce. A yellow one. He was a person of my coronary heart.”

Michael Cohl: “I nonetheless have denims and a T-shirt on. And I did have extraordinarily lengthy hair, even for these days, and a bushy beard. (Sportswriter) Trent Frayne wrote that I regarded like ‘an unmade mattress’; my mom wished to assassinate him for that.”

Garofoli: “I simply sat there, curious as hell. Ballard opened the dialog by asking if I had the rights to the Hamilton stadium. I nodded. His eyes lit up, and Cohl took over: ‘Jean, I’ve a proposition for you. I’ve an act that I wish to have in that facility. It is Pink Floyd.’”

Cohl: “We had been trying to have a gig in Ivor Wynne and we would have liked somebody from Hamilton to be our face; we didn’t need to be the large dangerous monsters coming in from Toronto … We had achieved different reveals with Jean, he was a very good man. We mentioned, ‘we’ll rent you because the native promoter and let’s work collectively.’”

The Hamilton Spectator April 19, 1975: “British heavy rock band Pink Floyd is coming to Hamilton. Floyd will star within the first ever out of doors leisure enterprise at Ivor Wynne Stadium, on June 28. ‘We predict a crowd within the area of fifty,000,’ mentioned (promoter) Jean Garofoli. ‘The stadium seats 34,500 and the remainder will probably be down on the sphere itself, which will probably be specifically coated by an asbestos tarp.’”

Garofoli: “For the love of me, I didn’t know who the hell Pink Floyd was. I placed on ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ and the rattling factor appeared like a cross between Brahms and Chopin, being performed by a philharmonic orchestra consisting of a 50-piece band. Pink Floyd had solely a complete of 4 musicians. They actually didn’t sound like the sort that may usher in hippies.”

Ken Reid, 25, lived on the central Mountain: “It shocked us to listen to they have been going to play in Hamilton. Toronto received all the large reveals. So it was about time, and we received our tickets fairly fast. I had ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ and their earlier stuff, I listened to them lots. It was like stoner music, completely different from everybody else, that spacey-type music. If you have been below the affect of one thing, you’ll focus on the music and get proper into it.”

Ellen Spring, from Ancaster, was 16 and had tickets together with her 21-year-old brother, Jim: “I felt the anticipation, the joy, and likewise — I don’t know if it was being scared, however my mom was saying: ‘All these folks in a single spot? How is that going to work?’ And all of the destructive press was constructing, in regards to the neighbours worrying. But my mother didn’t say to not go. She purchased the tickets for us at Sam the Record Man downtown; $8.50. Our dad and mom have been fairly liberal. They have been like, ‘if one thing occurs, we’ll come and get you, however take the bus as a result of we’re not driving you.’”

Kathleen Wilkie, Ivor Wynne neighbourhood resident, in The Spectator May 12, 1975: “I don’t need this live performance. We can deal with drunks at soccer video games however not medicine. At Grey Cup time we had folks urinating round our home. When we spoke to them we have been threatened.’”

Linda Corkill, who lived subsequent door to the stadium: “We lived on the nook of Balsam and Beechwood. Anything that occurred on the stadium was just about a part of our lives … The soccer video games, sure, we heard them, however we liked soccer. We loved it when the video games have been on, as a result of we might watch from the third flooring window in our son’s bed room. We might see three-quarters of the sphere. I used to be a younger mother of two boys ages 5 and two. My husband labored at Dofasco and was on a 4-to-12 shift, so I used to be alone when the live performance occurred.”

Gordon Torrance, Hamilton police chief, in The Spectator May 13, 1975: “The mistaken kind of individuals might attend this live performance. It is my data that the sort of individual attracted to those concert events is usually a drug-taker or a member of a bike gang. They will probably be coming with no lodging and tenting out. There could possibly be immoral acts, injury to property and the like.”

Charlie Cupido, metropolis councillor, in The Spectator May 14, 1975: “No one is taking challenge with Pink Floyd. I don’t even know the person. He’s in all probability a really good man.”

By showtime, 52,000 followers had crammed the stadium. Some purchased tickets for reserved seats within the bleachers, others “pageant” or “rush” tickets to jockey for place on the tarp-covered discipline. By 9 a.m. on the Saturday of the live performance, greater than 3,000 followers have been ready outdoors. Some had slept subsequent to the stadium, others had camped in Gage Park or slept below billboard indicators alongside King Street East.

Vic Zwirewich, Hamilton police officer, in The Spectator June 28, 1975: “Things received a bit boisterous round 4:30 or 5 a.m. however these children have been a shock to us all. I’ve walked by them repeatedly and never as soon as did I hear any shouts of ‘pig’ which is what one can often anticipate. In truth, would you imagine I discovered most of them well mannered?”

Margaret Ryan, 21-year-old fan from Toronto: “Four of us camped out in entrance of the stadium for 4 days. We wished to stand up entrance for rush seating; no tents, we simply lay on the pavement. Everyone was ingesting tequila and smoking dope and passing out on the pavement. I handed out, however my purse was nonetheless there at my ft after I awakened. We had a (digital camera) tripod, and once they opened the gates, there was all of the pushing to get by, we held up the tripod and everybody received out of the way in which.”

Laurie Repchull, 15-year-old Lord Elgin High School pupil in Burlington: “We slept over at my grandmother’s (close to the stadium) and received up at 4 a.m. to camp out on the sidewalk. We felt so hip and grown up. We every had a bottle of Pepsi and a wineskin crammed with Baby Duck glowing rosé. By midday, it was over 80 levels and we found that heat wine just isn’t precisely thirst quenching. Suddenly, by a haze of cannabis smoke, I noticed my grandmother strolling down the sidewalk. She was carrying an enormous platter of sliced watermelon. Nothing has ever tasted as candy. Fellow live performance goers swarmed my poor little grandma and he or she was a hero for a day.”

Linda Corkill: “People have been doing motorbike wheelies up and down Beechwood Avenue. There have been porta-potties throughout the road, however not sufficient for that crowd … I by no means had any downside with the Ticat video games, possibly as a result of it was a neighborhood crowd that attended. But (Floyd followers) have been just about throughout place, on our entrance verandah and within the yard. It was form of an invasion … It was horrifying. Police have been milling round, they advised me it was finest to disregard them.”

Jean Garofoli: “The day of the live performance, the telephone woke me up, it couldn’t have been any later then 6 a.m. It was (co-promoter) Mike Cohl. He mentioned, ‘I don’t know easy methods to put this to you, aside from the present could also be cancelled for those who don’t provide you with some cocaine. The group is hooked on cocaine and they won’t do their gig with out it.’ I mentioned, ‘We can’t cancel the present, we’ll have a bloody warfare on our arms, man. There are 1000’s of individuals ready on the market and tons of have been right here for days; they may hold us excessive.’”

Michael Cohl: “I don’t keep in mind that, and if it did occur, it wasn’t me who referred to as. We had a process in these days, the band would by no means ask you for medicine, it might be the street supervisor or roadie or any person who was delegated with that process. And I by no means received in the course of it, I’d have certainly one of our manufacturing folks on the stadium do it. And as a rule it was a roadie in search of cocaine, and utilizing the title of the band.”

Ken Reid: “To get to the stadium that day, me and my buddies slid down the large water pipe on the escarpment from Mountain Brow park. It was quicker than the Wentworth stairs. It would take about 15-20 minutes, however you needed to be cautious to not go too quick, as a result of there have been massive drop-offs in some spots. The pipe was easy and slippery and also you needed to be careful for the large couplings that maintain the pipe collectively; these have been ball busters. Pretty difficult whereas below the affect, and we had smoked a little bit of pot and received into some acid, we have been equipped for the live performance. The pipe took you proper down by Gage Park, we walked to the stadium from there. And then it was like: have a look at all of the folks, an entire completely different crowd than for soccer.”

Ellen Spring: “My brother might have gone together with his buddies, however he went with me. My dad and mom wouldn’t let me go together with my buddies, they have been too apprehensive about all of the folks descending on the stadium … Jim smuggled in a thermos holding two beers, and it lasted him two minutes. He mentioned he ought to have introduced a case, as a result of it was so open, you may see alcohol all over the place, they have been making an attempt to confiscate it however it didn’t work out too effectively. There have been wineskins, and anything you may usher in.”

Helen Gower, 31, lived within the North End: “We took the bus to Ivor Wynne Stadium every day main as much as the present to celebration with different followers … It was chaos the day of the live performance. The folks on the gates appeared overwhelmed. Some have been capable of sneak in with out a ticket. People have been hollowing out watermelons and pouring in alcohol; take a drink and move it alongside.”

Jim Foley, 27, from Hamilton, went together with his girlfriend : “It appeared like a catastrophe within the making with out seat assignments … (But) the gang was orderly; gents have been relieving themselves on no matter was out there, some on town property in entrance of native houses. This could be reported with nice horror; I assumed it odd contemplating the identical native people would mean you can park your two-ton automobile on the identical entrance yard grass to see a soccer recreation.”

Emily DeBenedictis, 18, lived strolling distance to the stadium: “It felt prefer it was one other Woodstock in our personal metropolis. I bear in mind the sleeping baggage, tents, and the rubbish; there have been no moveable bogs out there and plenty of stoned and drunk followers. The metropolis wasn’t ready to cope with the variety of attendees who arrived from far and vast. With basic admission, it made it much more chaotic. The mess actually left a destructive mark on the neighbourhood. But the live performance was superb.”

Ryan: “I had seen them reside earlier than, in 1973, in Carnegie Hall in New York, once they have been debuting Dark Side, however have been nonetheless calling it ‘Eclipse,’ they hadn’t modified the title but … I ended up seeing Floyd 12 instances, however the Ivor Wynne gig was arms down the most effective of the most effective. It was their ethereal music, and the way in which they introduced: no-nonsense, no want for further instrumentation, simply the 4 of them and three girls who sang backup. They have been so tight, they’d perfected the sound, and Dave Gilmour’s guitar pierced, it was so highly effective and clear.”

Corkill: “Oh sure, I might hear it … I used to be mainly hiding in my home, largely strolling across the flooring. If my husband had been residence with me it may not have been so dangerous, however there wouldn’t have been something he might have achieved … Our sons went to sleep finally.”

Repchull: “We discovered a great place on the 30-yard line. The tarp was quickly coated with a slimy concoction of vomit, beer and urine. We misplaced our sneakers. Pills have been being popped, pipes have been being handed round and quite a lot of folks have been handed out. But there was no violence. No fights. No arguments. We have been all simply so rattling completely happy to be there. The music was like nothing we had ever heard earlier than. ‘The Dark Side of the Moon’ actually is the soundtrack to my technology. The whole evening was a euphoric drink- and drug-infused blur, and we didn’t need it to finish. Sadly, it will definitely did, so all of us straggled out and proceeded to hitchhike residence. In our naked ft.”

The Spectator reported that greater than two dozen folks have been handled for circumstances reminiscent of over-exposure to warmth and substance use, and that “a freaked out speeder, stark bare, was carried off to an ambulance chanting ‘Woodstock, Woodstock.’” Bernice Price, volunteering with St. John’s Ambulance, assisted a fan to hospital who was in labour.

Paul Casey, a fan from Cooksville west of Toronto: “Southern Ontario was inundated with LSD that summer time, and all people on the present was on that stuff. A bunch in entrance of us had a 40-ounce bottle of Southern Comfort laced with 40 tabs of MDA (a psychedelic) and have been passing it round. One man was swigging on that jug and after the present, three of his buddies carried him out bare and sideways, like they have been carrying a wood log.”

Reid: “We have been sitting up below the press field, the stage was all the way down to the suitable of us, and close to the top of the live performance, I see this little rocket factor on hearth, sliding down a wire, to the again of the stage, and kaboom! … It landed form of proper behind the drummer, the place there was additionally this massive big spherical factor, a gong, or some visible factor; I used to be fairly stoned by then. But anyway, the rocket went off like a bomb. We heard it did main injury to the scoreboard. It scared the hell out of me as a result of I used to be fairly excessive on acid.”

In truth it wasn’t the crashing jet prop impact that broken the brand new stadium scoreboard. It was a a lot bigger explosion that got here later.

Spring: “The gentle present was unbelievable, and the smoke and fog, after which the jet prop; I don’t know if it was purported to crash prefer it did, however everybody thought it was a part of the present. It was like: wow, cool.”

Casey: “My buddy had rented a Winnebago for the live performance. We managed to seek out it after the present, and drove slowly by the mobs on the road. Bonus: we had chilly beer within the fridge, a lot to the envy of the stoned-out hordes peering in our home windows. It was just like the march of the zombie apocalypse on the market; mouths agape, eyes glazed and dilated, shuffling alongside the sidewalks and street with arms hanging at their sides.”

Reid: “I don’t bear in mind how I received residence. But it was a unbelievable live performance.”

Joe Aref, 14, lived on Emerald Street North, two kilometres west of the stadium: “Many of my buddies had gone to the live performance, however I labored in my grandfather’s stall on the Hamilton Farmers’ Market and needed to stand up at 4 a.m. to work and was too drained to go. The window of my second flooring bed room on Emerald Street North confronted east, and I might hear the live performance (two kilometres away). I bear in mind falling asleep listening to the music.”

Once the two-hour plus live performance had ended, and followers had cleared the stadium, a catered barbecue Cohl had organized was held on the sphere to mark the top of the band’s tour. After the barbecue, a particular results man for Pink Floyd — from this evening ahead, dubbed “Crazy Arthur” by Cohl — lit up leftover explosive materials from the jet stunt, close to the highest of the stadium.

Garofoli: “They did it at about two within the morning. It appeared like a nuclear blast.”

Cohl: “I’m below the stands and we’re doing the settlement (of money from concession gross sales), and there’s two policemen for the pickup of the large bag of money, and we hear the explosion, and odor the smoke, and the policeman places his hand on his gun, and I’m operating outdoors pondering: any person simply killed Pink Floyd. I run to see what occurred, and the band is popping out of their dressing room, all people is ok. It’s a miracle nobody received damage.”

Nick Mason, Pink Floyd’s drummer, from “Inside Out: A Personal History of Pink Floyd”: “Our urge for food for stage results was extreme … Some over-zealous crew member determined the simplest method to eliminate the remaining explosive was to connect it to the stadium’s illuminated scoreboard and hearth it off. The explosion was devastating. The board erupted in smoke, flame and scores of a thousand targets a aspect. Not solely did we’ve to pay for a substitute scoreboard but additionally a substantial amount of glass for the neighbouring homes. Fortunately we made our excuses and left earlier than the locals tracked us down. We then rushed to England on a very crazed timetable.”

Cohl: “The (band) supervisor mentioned, ‘any probability you possibly can hold this out of the newspaper?’ I mentioned no, it’s unattainable, however I’ll make sure that we settle with everybody so we don’t should fiddle with the insurance coverage firm. Some of the neighbours got here to the backdoor of the stadium, and I sat there for hours, until after 4:30 a.m. with my associate Billy Ballard; we despatched different folks across the neighbourhood with pads and cash and affords for tickets to reveals, Tiger-Cat video games, to settle this. So it was an incredible evening however it had a really tense ending. At the time it was: holy shit, what have we achieved?”

Linda Corkill: “Ivor Wynne Stadium actually by no means ought to have been the venue for such a scenario. The subsequent day my husband and I, together with different neighbours, took a stroll by the stadium destruction. There have been so many cigarette burns within the lately bought Astroturf, and tons of rubbish … tampons, beer bottles, you title it, together with the broken scoreboard …We moved 4 years later as much as the Mountain. That was a part of the explanation we wished to maneuver, we have been afraid there could be extra concert events.”

Margaret Ryan: “The followers have been benevolent, everybody was very respectful to one another, and sort and completely happy, not one of the stuff you hear about taking place at the moment. Everyone was stoned and completely happy, and there was good acid going round, and dope, sharing joints. That was the character of that period, the flower energy period.”

Jean Garofoli: “The live performance was a serious success. Debbie and I drove residence, on my motorbike. I skilled an amazing sense of aid driving residence that it was throughout … I talked to Debbie for some time as a result of we couldn’t get to sleep.”

Paul Casey: “There have been no fights, no public shows of impolite behaviour, no rioting, nothing. In truth, I didn’t see any interplay with the police in any respect. This crowd was too stoned to trigger any hassle, so I don’t know why Hamilton complained a lot and banned concert events for 4 a long time after this present.”

Ken Edge, metropolis councillor, in The Spectator June 30, 1975: “I’m completely happy there have been no critical incidents or crowd management issues, however many residents have been harassed … I’ve to suggest that no extra rock concert events be held right here.”

Charlie Cupido, metropolis councillor, in The Spectator: “I’m totally disgusted with the behaviour of a few of these children … Definitely not one other rock live performance at this stadium.”

Ian Stout, metropolis councillor, in The Spectator: “There have been some rowdies however you all the time get these; their conduct was higher than that of a soccer crowd. I see no purpose why there shouldn’t be future reveals on the stadium … I’d suggest they need to be on a reserved seat foundation, and I wish to see extra washrooms and rubbish containers.”

Garofoli: “The media painted a bleak image of the live performance … The photos (revealed) have been those they took earlier than the clean-up had began. It regarded dangerous. Really dangerous … What a bunch of bastards.”

Ivor Wynne by no means hosted one other large live performance. Council voted to ban rock concert events within the stadium, however 4 years later, in 1979, accredited an look by Rush, limiting ticket gross sales to fifteen,500. Pink Floyd went on to play reveals in Canada many instances — together with a live performance in 1977 earlier than 78,000 at Montreal’s Olympic Stadium, that impressed their album, “The Wall” — however by no means returned to Hamilton.

Michael Cohl: “(Pink Floyd) was the final of the massive reveals there; it might have been good if there have been extra. On the opposite hand, it’s laborious to promote it, when neighbours say ‘we by no means purchased into having rock concert events subsequent door to us’ … I bear in mind it as a unbelievable present. It nonetheless stands out, and I proceed to work with Pink Floyd, a thousand years later … But we have been all studying about stadium reveals again then, we didn’t know what we have been doing, it was like: ‘wow, is that this going to work?’ I’d by no means try this present at the moment, since you study to not drive one thing on a neighbourhood they don’t need. But again in these days, no person wished the reveals.”

Laurie Repchull: “The evening was magical, the reminiscences so vivid. Maybe it was the paranormal nature of the music. It was a end result of so many issues. It occurred proper after the final day of college, and we have been bonded in friendship with out a care on this planet. It was the time of our lives and appeared to suggest all that was fabulous … I’ll be 63 years previous subsequent month, and I’ve seen a fair proportion of A-list concert events. Nothing will ever examine to Pink Floyd. And my 25-year-old daughter has strengthened my conviction. She has ‘The Dark Side of the Moon’ in her vinyl document assortment, and it’s certainly one of her favourites. Like my reminiscence of that evening, it has stood the take a look at of time.”

In 1986, Jean Garofoli was convicted for conspiring to visitors cocaine, however fled two weeks into the trial.

And then, The Spectator reported, “the one-time jet setter who promoted a Pink Floyd live performance at Ivor Wynne Stadium, was re-arrested close to the Quebec/Vermont border.”

Ultimately, after an attraction and a Supreme Court ruling in his favour, Garofoli’s sentence was diminished from 15 years in jail to 3 years probation, and someday in jail.

A federal prosecutor mentioned that whereas the sentence might sound “unduly lenient, we don’t reside in an ideal world.”

Garofoli died from most cancers in 2013.

That identical yr, Ivor Wynne was demolished, triggering a lengthy and contentious search by town to pick a location for a brand new stadium.

In the top, it was in-built the identical east finish neighbourhood.

In 2018, the band Arkells performed the biggest rock live performance in Hamilton since Pink Floyd, at Tim Hortons Field.

That evening, earlier than about 25,000 followers, the lead singer paid homage to the Floyd present.

Ellen Spring cheered. She had been there in ’75 together with her brother, Jim.

In the summer time of 2021 she misplaced him. He died at 67.

Dr. James Spring had been a naturopath, with a follow in Dundas, and taught as effectively.

He was capable of die at residence, and he or she received to speak with him and say goodbye.

In a kind of conversations, she talked about their live performance.

“I mentioned to him, ‘bear in mind Pink Floyd?’ It was one thing simply the 2 of us had shared. He mentioned ‘I used to be simply excited about it the opposite day.’ And I mentioned, we’ll all the time have the Pink Floyd live performance, and he smiled.”

Joe Aref, {the teenager} who fell asleep in his mattress to the spacey sounds of Pink Floyd, is now 62, and has labored as a trainer for 36 years.

What stands proud most in his thoughts from 1975, is what occurred 4 days after the live performance.

It was Wednesday evening, and the neighbourhood was cleaned up and again to regular.

The Tiger-Cats have been scheduled to play Toronto in an exhibition soccer recreation at Ivor Wynne.

Aref stood amongst a bunch of followers outdoors the stadium. He waited together with his buddies for his or her probability to hop the queue with out paying, as was their routine.

A van turned off Cannon Street East onto Melrose Avenue North. It pulled as much as the curb subsequent to the group.

“We’re pondering, why is it getting so shut?” says Aref. “It had California plates. It was what I name a Scooby Doo-style van.”

The van door slides open. He hears music, and guys singing.

Four of them get out, a imaginative and prescient of lengthy, stringy hair, ragged garments, wineskins, and vibrant blankets wrapped round shoulders.

“We’re right here for Pink Floyd!” mentioned certainly one of them with pleasure. “Who has tickets?”

Aref will always remember the look of stone-cold disbelief on the man’s face.

“It was Saturday,” somebody replied. “You missed it.’”