Well, this is my story of September 12, 1998 - a day that I shall never forget. On that now infamous postcard, I wrote some words which described my feelings on what I had experienced that day and those words were "the most exhilarating 45 minutes of my life" - and at the time they were and perhaps still are.

Going back to the roots of what turned out to be one of the craziest days which I am sure I will ever experience take me back about one month in time. I had been plaguing the Official International Queen Fan Club office for weeks, trying to discover if and where Brian May was playing his Chicago concert which was due to open his world tour. I was very fortunate that I could make it to the concert as it just happened to fall within the two week period when I was planning on touring the north-east of the United States after my summer on the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

Anyway, eventually in mid-August it was confirmed that Brian May would be appearing at the Rockstock '98 festival at the New World Music Theater just outside Tinley Park, Illinois. After a lengthy phone call to Ticketmaster, I arranged to pick up my ticket for the event at the venue - I had numerous problems with the woman on the other end of the phone but we eventually sorted them out, its really not worth going into detail, believe me.

The trip to Chicago was not in my initial plans but there was no way that I was going to let this opportunity to see my idol for the first time at the start of a world tour slip me by. It also gave me the opportunity to take in an MLS game involving would-be champions Chicago Fire at Soldier Field which was a great experience. The journey courtesy of Amtrak from Washington, DC to Chicago took around 20 hours but was not unpleasant and was well worth it.

I arrived in Chicago at around noon on September 11 and took a taxi to my accommodation which was the Arlington International Hostel - avoid it like the plague, unless you want to catch it of course. I then set about my task of trying to find out how I could get to the venue the next day as it was around 30 miles away. I received the almost inevitable response from the New World Music Theater customer services woman of "you don't have a car???!!!" After her initial shock, she suggested that I took a train out to Tinley Park - the last one which would get me there on time would leave downtown Chicago from an unknown station at 8:30AM - and then caught a taxi to the venue itself.

The next step was to discover where to catch the train from - easier said than done. I phoned the Chicago Transport Authority and asked where I would go to catch a train to Tinley Park. My misfortune with call center folk continued as the guy on the other end of the phone just wanted to talk about the decline in public transport services in Chicago over the past few years - I'm sure that it could have been a very interesting subject but it really didn't help me and I decided just to let my quarter run out and put the receiver down on him, it wouldn't be beyond the realms of possibility that he might still be talking at the moment not realising that I had put the receiver down so much was my contribution to the conversation!

That convinced me that I had made enough phone calls for one day and I decided I would sort out the correct train station to depart from the next morning. The next morning, I got up at 6:30AM and was down at the Fullerton EL station by 7AM and in downtown Chicago within 10 minutes. After discovering that there were no manned train stations on a Saturday morning and that Tinley Park did not appear on any map that I could find, a little bit of panic began to set in. At 8AM, with in my mind about a 20% chance of getting to see BM, I decided to have one last go at phoning the Chicago Transport Authority and this time I was lucky and I got a helpful woman who knew what she was talking about. Very quickly I was informed that I required to be at La Salle/Van Buren. A quick look at my street map showed that it might be a good idea to run as it was several blocks away and I had less than half an hour to find the actual train never mind the station. Fortunately, at that time of the morning on a Saturday, the streets of Chicago are pretty deserted and I was able to reach the station in around 15 minutes. And I suppose that’s when the adventure really began…

After about an hour on the Metra, I eventually arrived at the ghost town that is Tinley Park, Illinois. At that stage I was still around three miles away from the venue although I had no idea in which direction that three miles was. This was a Saturday morning and there wasn't too much activity and all the shops seemed to be shut. I decided that perhaps the simplest way to get to the venue would be by taxi. I called directory enquiries and got the phone number of a local taxi firm. To put it in simple terms, when I phoned the taxi company, I was informed that they would be unable to take me there on that particular day.

Plan A reverted back into operation and I again went on a frantic search trying to find another human being. Eventually, I found a barber's shop which was open and to my eternal thanks he was able to point me in the right direction. He certainly doesn't get too many Scots asking him for directions so I was certainly a bit of a novelty. About two miles into the trek, I found a shop which was open and I was able to grab something to eat and a couple of bottles of Gatorade which were badly needed considering the 100ºF+ temperature.

I eventually reached the New World Music Theater at just after 11AM, around 4 hours after my journey had began - but I was there, I had made it. The next task was to pick up my ticket from the box office. Thankfully, there were absolutely no complications and the ticket was in my hand well before the gates opened. My next worry was at what time would Brian May come on stage as if it were late on in the evening, all my efforts would be in vain as I had to get back to the train station by 6:30PM if I was going to be able to get back to the hostel that night.

I managed to sneak my bottle of Gatorade in and then frantically searched through the programme which had been handed to me. Brian May was on Stage B from 4:30-5:10, I could make it back to the train station with time to spare. I went round to the main stage and picked what I felt was the best vantage point. It didn't take me too long to realise what kind of music festival it was. From the attire of my fellow festival-goers, it was clear that it was on the heavy/thrash metal side of rock. The chains, spikes, T-shirt messages, etc rather gave the game away. There was the odd Queen T-shirt in the crowd which was a little comforting but still left me just a tad apprehensive. Also, my contraband (the Gatorade) was not quite as potent as some of the stuff that other people were inhaling - do you get the picture?

Anyway, the first band came on the main stage at some time around 1:30PM and they went by the name of Candlebox - never heard of them before and don't expect to ever again. Midway through the next act which was Joe Satriani (who?), I made my way to the Cheetah stage where BM would be appearing. I went early in order that I could get as close to the front as possible for when BM came on stage. Big mistake. The group on before BM were Monster Magnet and I will certainly never forget that name. They had to be positively the worst musical group that I have had the misfortune to listen to. I really shouldn't use the word "musical" in my description of them as they basically spent half an hour swearing at everyone in sight, attempted to induce a riot and highly unoriginally climaxed with setting a guitar alight. The scariest thing was that their 'fans' had even less intellect than that guitar which was set alight - and guess who was right in the middle of that crowd. I have never experienced a scarier half an hour in my life. I was absolutely terrified, however, I survived - just.

The Monster Magnet folk cleared and I was left among Queen fans. Bliss! I chatted to a few American Queenies and I gave rave reviews about BM's new Another World which did not get released stateside until the next week. We got to discussing favourite Queen albums and as always, people tended to agree with me that Queen II is the best. At just before 4:30, someone came on to sound check the Red Special and some non-Queenies thought that it was BM himself. We still had ten minutes or so to wait for that pleasure - it felt like ten years but I had waited so long for that moment that I could not possibly begrudge waiting just a little longer. After all, I was going to be standing within about ten metres of my biggest idol, the legendary Brian Harold May and the Red Special.

Then he arrived and the reaction of the crowd was amazing. Many, including myself, were living out a childhood dream which we thought we might never do - see a Queen member perform live in front of our own eyes. I really can't put into words just how I felt at that moment. I seem to remember just squealing or something - I was simply overcome by emotion. Brian & co. quickly stormed into Business which was followed by a Queen medley and China Belle. The crowd which was at first quite small, began to swell as his set went on. There were a few us over from Europe and we knew the words for the Another World tracks but the general vocal support from the crowd for them was quite muted as the Americans were just hearing them for the first time. However, everyone joined in with the Queen classics like I Want It All and Tie Your Mother Down. Going with the occasion, BM brought out the heavy artillery mainly from the Queen Rocks album. We Will Rock You almost brought the sky down (there was no roof as it was outdoors) and they finished their slightly extended 45 minute set with a fast/slow version of Hammer to Fall which did not quite work (it was much improved by the time they hit the UK).

It was truly the 45 most exhilarating minutes of my life. But that was not the end of my adventure that day. I made it back to downtown Chicago no problem by 7:30. My problem then was to find the right EL stop to take me back to the hostel. I tried to grab the attention of a guard at one station who was fast asleep. He woke up suddenly, I told him where I wanted to go and he informed me that the sound that I could hear was the last train that I could catch that night. I somehow managed to get the coins in the slot and run up the stairs in time to leap on the train. I rode my luck that day but God must have been on my side as I made it every time. Thank you Brian for a wonderful day, we luv ya!!!

[THE END]

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Well, that is my story of September 12, 1998. If you are reading this and happened to be at Rockstock that day too to see BM, then I would love to hear from you. Alternatively, if you have had a similar crazy experience of a Queen-related concert then I would love to hear from you too.