Posted Dec. 06, 2003
Early birds set up camp for chance to buy front-row concert seats
By Thomas Rozwadowski
trozwado@greenbaypressgazette.com
An emergency appendectomy or Shania Twain tickets?
For rabid Shania fan Karen Petersen — and perhaps even those without pop-country inclinations — the choice would be the latter.
But when duty called for the Oconto resident to drive her daughter to Bellin Hospital to get her appendix removed Friday morning, Petersen’s plan to camp out for tickets hit a snag.
“I planned on being here earlier,” said Petersen, who returned at around 4 p.m. to the Resch Center line, which was about nine tents deep.
“But I had to take my daughter to the emergency room by 10 a.m., so we’re a little further behind than we planned.”
Instead, the designation of “No. 1 crazy person,” or rather, first in line, went to Michelle VandeHey of Green Bay, who had been camping out since 4 p.m. Thursday. But then again, even she had a plan that prevented her from shirking all her responsibilities on Friday.
While VandeHey left to give skating lessons in De Pere in the evening, her mother, Renetta Benedum, and aunt Tami Koebach held down the tent. Koebach, who had been keeping VandeHey company all day, said the bonding experience, let alone the chance for front-row tickets at the June 3 show, made the experience worth it.
“We fell asleep, got a little fried in the sun today … it was just a beautiful day to be out,” Koebach said.
“It’s my first time doing something like this, and I would gladly do it again.”
While making a quick cell-phone check to her mom, VandeHey said that despite the concrete sleeping arrangements Thursday night, it’s a rush to know that come noon today, she’ll be first in line.
“I had to have front-row tickets,” said VandeHey, who will be seeing Shania for the fourth time. “My parents used to listen to country music, and I vowed never to like it. But once I heard (Shania) on the radio, I became a huge fan.”
Terry Charles, a spokesperson for PMI, said that crossover appeal coupled with the fact that country music concerts do extremely well in Green Bay, puts the success rate for today’s sale off the charts.
“We anticipate it being a quick sellout,” Charles said. “It’s one of those talk-of-the-town things.”
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