Riding the Storm to See Pink Floyd
Side One
Riding the Storm to See Pink Floyd
You know you’re a die-hard fan when not even Mother Nature herself can keep you from a Pink Floyd concert. Back in the day, my buddies and I had tickets to see them live—a once-in-a-lifetime kind of show. The problem? The weather had other plans.
A massive storm system rolled in that afternoon, bringing torrential rain, hurricane-force winds, and, just for fun, a few tornadoes spinning around the area like they wanted to get in on the action too. Now, most sane people would’ve taken one look at the radar and thought, maybe we’ll sit this one out. But not us. Oh no. We had a concert to get to.
We piled into my old beater of a car, which had all the structural integrity of a soda can, and took off down the highway. The rain was coming down so hard the wipers were just there for decoration. Lightning was flashing like some over-the-top stage production, and the wind was throwing road signs around like frisbees. But did we turn around? Nope.
At one point, we had to stop under an overpass because a tornado warning was blaring on the radio. Some folks were parked there, eyes wide, clutching their steering wheels like life vests. We, on the other hand, were debating if we could just "gun it" and outrun the storm.
Eventually, we made it—soaking wet, probably traumatized, but still standing. And as if the weather was just trying to test our commitment, the second we got inside the venue, the storm broke. The skies cleared like nothing had ever happened.
Then, the lights dimmed, the first chord rang out, and just like that—we knew it had all been worth it. Pink Floyd took us on a trip that night, but hell, we'd already survived one just getting there.
