In the summer of 1983, I camped out with a friend, so we could be "first" into the Tacoma, Washington, Synchronicity concert. The Police had toured through Seattle twice before, but I was too young to see them. They first played at the Showbox, a small club in Seattle's red light district, and several years later played the Paramount, an old downtown Seattle theater. We intended to be front and center for the Tacoma Dome show, so we "slept" on the pavement in our mountain tent next to loud drunk fans.

After an memorably awful night, a girl for whom we had saved a place in line, was sweet enough to bring morning coffee. To an 18 year old she seemed like an angel (after all, I was only 18!) The passes were handed out by noon, and we cleaned up in her motel room. By dinnertime, the first 100 fans we were let into the show.

The bouncers sat us down on the floor of the Tacoma Dome, but we all made a dash for the wooden barrier in front of the stage long before the show started. We remained, front and center, at the barrier, with 20,000 Police fans trying to get to the spot where we were hanging on for dear life. Exhausted fans were passed up over the crowd to the barrier to the bouncers. Most were dropped directly on our heads. I distictly remember Sting, several feet away shouting at the roadies.

Well, we lasted halfway through the show, before escaping over the barrier and retreating to empty seats in the back of the stadium. Sting eventually brought out his acoustic bass for a song or two. Eventually the band took a tea break. It was projected on the big screen. I suppose this was the beginning of the end for the band, though we had no idea at the time.

By "mcclurer16"