It’s A Strait Line, But No Joke For Country Fans They Camped Out At Arena For Tickets To Singer’s April Concert
Hamburgers and hot dogs sizzled on the gas grill, tents dotted the grass like dandelions, and everyone hunted for a private place to go to the bathroom.
It seemed like a summer camp-out. It was really a winter line.
Several hundred people formed a raggedy string in front of the Spokane Arena on Sunday. Many had been in line for days. They waited for this morning, when tickets go on sale for the George Strait concert April 11.
“You can’t be a country fan and not know who George Strait is,” said Adam Townsend, sporting a black cowboy hat. “He’s ‘The Man.”’
That’s the motto for Strait fans. He’s better than Garth Brooks. He’s cuter than John Michael Montgomery.
“He’s Elvis and the Beatles combined,” said Jeff May, his own voice turned to gravel by eight packs of cigarettes in two days. “He’s it.”
On Sunday, country music wafted softly over the Arena parking lot. Fans traded trivia: about Strait’s shyness, the death of his daughter, the theft of his dog. They argued what year certain songs were written. They also tossed Frisbees and taught each other line-dancing steps.
“This is our one chance to do something a little stupid,” said Chad Hendrickson, who came to the Arena Friday after his chemistry class at Eastern Washington University.
Eric Knowles, 28, left Kellogg, Idaho, about 9 p.m. Saturday. He reached the Arena about four hours later, after hitching a ride with a trucker. Knowles had no money. He had no tent. He was supposed to meet a friend, who told him all he’d need was a sleeping bag and a blanket.
On Sunday night, Knowles was still waiting.
“She said she’d be here,” said Knowles, who spent Saturday night curled up on the pavement, breathing in exhaust fumes from idling cars in the parking lot.
It’s tough to say who’s the biggest Strait fan. Everyone in line claims to own all 19 albums - or are there 20? They all remember their first Strait song. Women want to kiss the handsome Texas cowboy. Men want to ride horses with him.
“I just want to touch his butt,” said Georgia Dierks, waiting for tickets with her husband, Jeremy, and some friends.
The first person in line arrived in a motor home about 9:30 a.m. Thursday. She’s been to five other Strait concerts, always in the second row, never in the first. She hoped this time would be different.
“We can’t have our names in the paper,” said the woman’s friend. “Work doesn’t know we’re here.”
Some fans skipped college. Some cut high school, citing straight-A status as an excuse. Others called in sick to work.
Some came in full fan attire.
Jeremy Dierks wore his Bud Light George Strait baseball cap and T-shirt. He rolled up his left sleeve to show off a tattoo of Strait’s name and two tears, because Strait sometimes sings sad songs.
Dierks talked tough about getting a tattoo of a “Pure Country” belt buckle on his chest. He wasn’t interested in a tent.
“I’m not sleeping,” he said. With a stash of 36 Three Musketeer bars and a reserve of Mountain Dew, he might be wired for days.
Tired fans slept on the grass, in tents, in cars and motor homes.
Townsend didn’t bother with any of those comforts.
“The concrete’s a little hard,” he said, “but if you’re drunk enough, you don’t feel it.”
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo