'A Cheap Thrill' by Jan Lloyd

It was the summer of 1966 and my friend, Jenny Blake, arrived at school announcing that The Rolling Stones were playing in Shrewsbury that night. "You've got to come with me," she pleaded. I knew I hadn't enogh money so reluctantly said no.
Jenny was persistent and when it got to "play time" her powers of persuasion were compelling so I found myself agreeing to go, even though I wasn't that keen on The Rolling Stones, I preferred The Beatles.
As I walked home I desperately thought about where I would get the money to buy a ticket for the show. I knew my parents would be at work. My brother was away in Italy on a school trip. The only money in the house was in the sideboard drawer waiting to be collected by the "Pearl" insurance man who was due later that week. Could I dare to just "borrow" the money and miss the next two weeks pocket money. I opened the drawer tentatively and took twelve shillings out, the ticket was 10/6d so I could afford the bus fare and a bag of chips later. I felt a pang of guilt but hoped that the message left, explaining my dilemma and my promise of foregoing two weeks pocket money would be enough to pacify my parents. I then set about getting ready and made attempts to look older than my age of thirteen.
I called for Jenny later and we caught the bus into town. We arrived at the Granada theatre to a crowd of screaming girls and joined the queue to get in. Once inside, the atmosphere was electric and I began to sense how lucky I was to be here amongst these devoted fans. I thought about how annoyed my brother would be to miss this very important occasion.
The concert started with the supporting act, Unit Four Plus Two, I was more mesmerised by seeing this group as their single, Concrete And Clay was currently in the Hit Parade. It was one of my favourite songs so duly joined the rest of the audience by cheering, screaming and clapping along when they finished with this classic hit. They left the stage to a standing ovation then the MC announced the star line up, he had to shout out over the cacophony of noise. The Stones ran onto the stage and it all became a frenzied blur of screaming girls running down the aisles to get a closer look at their idols. Jenny and I stood up and strained to hear the first number, "Not Fade Away". We gazed in awe at the band members, Brian Jones was wearing a fur coat, Keith Richards and Charlie Watts had dark, shiny suits and ties on and Mick Jagger looked cool in a striped teeshirt, jeans and a leather jacket. Mick Jagger strutted around the stage throughout the performance playing all their well known hits. We could barely hear above the loud screeching crowd but I was enthralled by my first experience of a "grown up" concert. It finally came to an end and the girls continued to jump up and down, screaming, whilst the men in the audience remained seated, looking fed up, as they'd not heard any of their favourite music.
Afterwards, Jenny and I followed the hysterical throng to the back of the theatre where we all hoped we'd catch a glimpse of our new heart throbs. As we chanted out their names Mick Jagger suddenly appeared at a high window and waved. I swear he was waving at me and had picked me out of the mass of faces so I let out a squeal of delight. The other band members appeared one by one and leaned out, waving and grinning at the crowd below. There was a sense of sadness amongst us as we drifted away knowing that small glimpse of the stars was all we were going to get and we all felt this overwhelming need for the exciting night to continue. Instead we bought some chips and walked home, chattering about the thrilling evening. Any telling off from my parents would be worth it as I realised how lucky I'd been.
I still tease my brother about not seeing his favourite band for a mere 10/6d. He did finally get to see them, on one of their many final tours, in 2006; he paid £50.00 for his ticket!