The day after the show at Radio City Music Hall on Friday, June 29, 1984, INXS opened for The Go-Go’s at a show in Boston. That day, I waitressed at the Emerson Hotel from 5pm until 1am. The restaurant closed at one but if I still had customers I would have to stay until they left. If I was scheduled to work until 2am, that meant I would have to stay until after all the customers left, and then put all the chairs on top of the tables before vacuuming the entire dining area. The only reason I survived the summer of 1984 was because I was 19. And even so, I almost didn’t survive because I almost fell asleep while driving home from my 11th INXS concert in August. More about that in a future post.
On Saturday, June 30, 1984, INXS opened for The Go-Go’s at the Jones Beach Theater at Jones Beach on Long Island. Jess, Terri, Jackie and I had tickets and as usual, we went early to be there before INXS arrived to do a soundcheck. Soundchecks tended to happen in the afternoon, so we often showed up before 3pm. That meant getting on the road around noon, depending on where we were going. Jess had to come get us and drive us in her car because Terri’s car had to be fixed after the incident coming back from greeting INXS when they arrived in New York City three days earlier.
The theater in Jones Beach is about 57 miles from Hillsdale, NJ and because one must drive through New York City to get there, it takes an hour and a half to two hours to do it.
Jones Beach Theater website:
https://www.northwellatjonesbeachtheater.com
Waiting for INXS behind a dumpster
When we arrived at the theater, Jess drove the car into a parking lot that was close to the backstage area and parked the car behind a dumpster so we would not be seen because we were not supposed to be in that lot.
Then we waited, and waited, and waited, and waited for quite a long time. Somehow, we knew what the RV that the roadies for INXS used to get around looked like and noticed when it arrived at the theater.
I decided to get out of the car and move closer to see if anything interesting was happening while trying to stay hidden by crouching behind the other cars. When I got close to the road, two guys saw me. I could tell that they saw me, and I had nowhere to go so I decided to bluff my way out of it by walking over to them and asking if there was a bathroom nearby.
One of the guys walked me out of the backstage area parking lot to the front of the theater. He asked me if I had parked in the lot where he had found me. There was no way I was going to divulge where my friends were still hiding so I told the guy I was there by myself, and I had parked my car “out there” while waving my arm towards the parking lot in front of the theater.
Waiting for my friends to come out from behind the dumpster
There was nothing I could do but stand around and wait for my friends. I had no ticket, no money, and mosquitos were eating me alive. Two other girls were also waiting in front of the theater, so I spoke to them. They told me that they were supposed to be going backstage, but they couldn’t because Atco had not put them on the guest list. Again. So, they were annoyed.
Eventually, Jess, Terri and Jackie drove out from the backstage area because it was getting late and INXS had not arrived. By the time INXS arrived, it was too late for a soundcheck. We were standing near the road to the backstage area and when their bus drove by we waved at them, and they waved back at us.
A clever plan
We had a situation with our seats where Terri had a seat down in the front section of the venue and the rest of us had seats on a higher level. Once we went into the theater, we devised a plan so we could all get down in front. The great thing about INXS being the opening act was that there were plenty of empty seats near the front of the stage that we could take if we could get down there.
So, we all went to the concession stand and we all bought soda and popcorn, so our hands were full. Then we walked down to the section where Terri’s seat was, and she showed her ticket stub to the usher. She told him that we were with her, so the usher let us follow her. It worked exactly as planned and we found ourselves seats on Timmy’s side of the stage in the third or fourth row.
INXS on stage
INXS arranged themselves on stage in the same way at every show. If you are looking at the stage from the audience, Jon, the drummer was in the center at the back. Garry Gary, the bassist, was to the right of Jon. Andrew, the keyboardist, was to the left of Jon. At the front of the stage, Michael, the singer, was in the center, and the two guitarists were on either side- Timmy to the right and Kirk to the left.
Kirk Pengilly was my favorite member of INXS, but I almost always watched the show from either the center or the right side where Timmy and Garry Gary were because I went to concerts with Terri and Jess and their favorites were Timmy and Garry Gary, respectively. So, I was outnumbered.
The concert
Once the show started, the guys doing the security for the theater did their best to make sure the audience did not have fun. They were jerks who constantly came around and told people to sit down.
Michael Hutchence kept making comments like “seatbelts off!” because he wanted people to get up and dance. I would stand up again whenever the security guy walked away after making me sit down. Michael even gave that guy the middle finger when he made people sit down.
I wrote in my diary that Kirk came over to our side of the stage when he was playing a guitar solo. He looked at us and raised his eyebrows a few times.
The last song
INXS was known for ending their sets with the song “Don’t Change.” That didn’t always happen, but it usually did. Certainly, every show I saw in 1984 ended with “Don’t Change.”
When INXS started playing “Don’t Change”, I left my seat and went into the aisle so I could dance. The security guy came over and told me to go back to my seat, so I did, but only for a moment. I went back into the aisle again and I decided I would stay there.
There’s an instrumental break in the song where Jon is only playing the bass drum- two beats in quick succession and then three even beats. During that part I raised my arms over my head and clapped my hands to the beat of the bass drum. I watched Timmy while I was doing this.
The security guy came over and started yelling in my face to go back to my seat, but I kept clapping. Then he grabbed my arms while they were still over my head and started pushing me backwards. At that moment I looked at Timmy and he smiled at me. I smiled back at him and started walking backwards to my row while the security guy was still holding my arms and threatening to kick me out. I felt very defiant and heroic.
INXS video of Don’t Change
This video of INXS playing “Don’t Change” live during the portion of Live Aid that was performed in Australia in July 1985 shows where the band members typically stood on stage. Also, it shows Timmy doing the clapping during the instrumental break. It’s also a performance where Michael gets the words slightly mixed up. “Don’t Change” is a simple song and it was one of their most performed, but Michael often messed up the lyrics. It was one of the first things I noticed about him. I knew the lyrics better than he did.
The Go-Go’s
It would not have mattered if we had been kicked out because we were leaving anyway. We did not stay to see The Go-Go’s perform. Not that day or any other.
A history of The Go-Go’s:
The Go-Go’s on the Tonight Show with Joan Rivers, August 7, 1984 after INXS split from their tour.
Near the backstage door
We walked outside to where there was a backstage area of sorts and stood around waiting outside of a chain link fence. I did not want to be outside waiting for the band because I didn’t think it was cool to be waiting there with a bunch of screaming girls. Expressing my displeasure didn’t do me any good. My friends wanted to do it, so we did it. Terri had something she wanted to give to Garry Gary or to have signed by Garry Gary-something like that.
The t-shirt guy for The Go-Go’s (the guy who sold their merchandise) talked to me. About what, I no longer remember. My diary says that I told him that I wasn’t waiting for INXS-my friends were waiting for them.
I also talked to Tony, the guy who sold the INXS t-shirts. Tony was looking around for the 14-year-old girl he wanted to pick up. Disgusting! In my diary I wrote, “it made me ill to listen to them” talk about the girls who were there. But I never called them pigs or said anything about how disgusted I was by what I saw and heard. I only noticed all of it, and wrote it down, and remembered it. The 80s were a time when women and girls smiled, laughed, shrugged it off, took it. I wish I had done more fighting or screaming or something.
Tony asked me if I wanted to dance and I said, “not now” and he said, “Oh, after the guys go by?” I said to him, “I don’t care.” Because I didn’t care if I saw INXS or not. I had already met them, and I didn’t want anything from them. Kirk had a girlfriend, and she was with him.
When INXS came out from the theater, Terri yelled “Garry!” several times from where we were behind the fence- trying to get his attention. Later we found out that Gary Grant thought that Terri was yelling at him to try to get him to come over. I have no idea if Garry Gary or anyone came over or not because I didn’t write it down. I don’t think anyone did.
Following the bus
We ran off to get into the car so we could be ready to follow the tour bus when INXS left Jones Beach. At the time, we did not know where they were staying. I was embarrassed that we were following them like they were the Beatles, and we were crazed fans because we were not. While our car followed right behind them, we could watch the movie that was playing in their tour bus. There was a TV, and we could see it through the back window of the bus. It was National Lampoon’s Vacation, a comedy that starred Chevy Chase and that was released in July 1983.
I think this gave Jess and Terri the idea to tape TV shows and movies for INXS to watch while they traveled by tour bus. It wasn’t me because I didn’t own a VCR. My family had cable TV but no way to record anything. Money was too tight to buy a VCR. Later on, they presented the band with videotapes. I remember that Jess gave them a tape with the mini-series Shogun on it. There were others but I don’t remember how many or what was on them.
The Holiday Inn, Rockville Centre
The bus arrived at the hotel and so did we. I was so embarrassed about following INXS that I didn’t want to get out of the car. But everyone else was getting out and then when we saw Timmy, he invited us to come to the bar and have a drink with him, so I got over it.
Andrew, Timmy, and Jon Farriss were the only members of INXS who were on the bus. Gary Grant also came back to the hotel after the show but the other three did not. We heard that Kirk and Karen went off on their own to New York City. Michael and Garry stayed with The Go-Go’s and also went to the city. My internalized misogyny makes an appearance in my diary from time to time like when I wrote that “Michael and Garry were in NYC with The No-Go’s and fat Belinda.”
The bar was in a building that was separate from the hotel rooms. Walking in, the bar was at the back of the room with the long side facing the door. It wrapped around on the left side and met the wall, and it had an opening on the right side for the bartender to go in and out. On the right side of the room there was a small open area with a jukebox, a drum kit, and dance floor. There were several tables on the left side of the room.
I ordered a drink right away and met the bartender who was an old guy named Danny. He had white hair, so he seemed to me to be over 60. The guy was chatty, and he made a lot of jokes.
Tim Farriss
Andrew, Timmy and Jon sat at the bar. Timmy was with a woman named Barbie and we were told that she was from Boston and in the music business. She must have traveled with INXS from Boston since that’s where they were the night before. In my diary, I called her a bitch. She was unfriendly and I don’t think she wanted us around.
Terri offered to buy Timmy a drink, but he wouldn’t let her. I walked up and introduced myself to Timmy like I had done with Andrew in NYC-told him my name and offered my hand for a handshake. I’m sure there was much more conversation than what I managed to remember and write down in my diary. There always was.
Timmy thanked Terri several times for the “Stay Young” t-shirt that Terri made for James Lee, Timmy’s firstborn son, who was only about two years old. James Lee was taking after his uncle Jon, according to Timmy. He told us how James Lee took cooking pots and set them up on the floor in the kitchen and then asked for sticks so he could bang on them.
Gary Grant
The first thing Gary Grant did when he saw us in the bar was to yell at Terri about what she had done earlier in the day. It was not okay for her to call him over. He didn’t want people to know who he was, and also- he was busy. Terri apologized and explained that she was trying to get Garry Gary to come over and not him. Then she said she understood that he had a hard job and bought him a drink. All was forgiven.
Gary Grant then started joking that he had terrible problems; his wife had been raped, his house and kids had been burned, and he was going to die in an hour.
In the spirit of the Monty Python skit where four Yorkshiremen sit around and tell increasingly horrible stories of what they endured in order to outdo the other guys, I told him I was going to be tortured and die in three hours. He said I beat him.
The Four Yorkshiremen Monty Python sketch
Soon it was just us, Jon, Gary Grant, and a roadie for INXS named Vance in the bar. Timmy left with Barbie and never came back. I don’t think Andrew stayed long in the first place. Andrew wasn’t sociable and he didn’t seem to want to be on tour, so we mostly left him alone.
Vance the roadie
Vance was a good-looking guy; also, Australian. I noticed that he was “giving me the eye” like he was interested in getting to know me. I deliberately avoided making eye contact with him because I was not interested.
After a while, all I wanted to do was go home because I had to start work at noon the next day and work straight through until nine at night. It was a strenuous job-on my feet all day and walking around carrying heavy trays full of plates. I didn’t know how I was going to get through my shift. I was bored and tired, so I walked outside where I sat on some steps that led to the rooms. My head was down, and I was resting when Vance came out to talk to me.
I complained to him that I was tired, and I had to be at work the next day. Bars in New York stayed open until 4am so it was possible to stay out very late. Most of what we might have talked about has been forgotten. What I wrote down was that Vance told me to look on the bright side of things and he suggested that I should have another drink.
That seems like an innocuous thing to say, right? But it’s not. It’s the kind of thing that predatory men do so they have a better chance of getting what they want. Maybe I would loosen up or become interested if I drank more alcohol. When I went back into the bar, I didn’t have another drink.
Gary Grant, on the other hand, was quite drunk. He was singing along to the song “Mona Lisa” that the jukebox was playing and that was funny. Either I blurted out that it was Nat King Cole, or someone asked if I knew who the singer was, and I said it was Nat King Cole. Anyway, Jon was surprised and impressed that I knew it was Nat King Cole.
Mona Lisa video
That was one of many, many things that annoyed me out of everything that happened. Because Jon was only three years older than me and no one in INXS was even born when “Mona Lisa” was released in 1950. The song was a big hit. It was number one for five weeks and it won an Oscar. Why wouldn’t I know it?
Playing the drums
At some point, I got so bored with being in this bar that I took a seat behind the drum kit, picked up the brushes that were there, and started playing along to the music from the jukebox. I was playing a cymbal with my right hand and the snare drum with my left hand.
Gary Grant took a bowl from the top of the bar and placed it on the floor in front of the drum kit. Jon came over and gave me some pointers and complimented my drumming quite often. He told me to use my left hand for the cymbal and my right hand for the snare, so I started drumming that way. But when he told me to start playing the bass drum with my foot too, I was too scared to try because I thought it would be too difficult and I would fail.
Jon told me that I needed some practice, but I would be stupid if I didn’t take up the drums. He said I have rhythm and “when you have it, it’s easy.” “When I show you something, you pick it up right away. A lot of people would sit there and say ‘duh.’”
Truth be told, I never mentioned that my youngest brother had played the snare drum and the bass drum in the school band-marching in the marching band and such. We never had any drums at home and my brother didn’t play a drum kit, but he had drumsticks and a practice drum pad, and I was already quite good at playing drum rolls on it.
When I finished playing, I picked up the bowl. I made 47 cents and a piece of popcorn. Not bad.
Finally, it was time to leave. Danny, the old guy bartender, said he would take me to see the next INXS concert and then we would hang out with Jon in the bar and Jon would give me more drum lessons. As usual, I humored this old guy-just laughed along and agreed. It was just easier to go along in the moment and then either not take it seriously or just not do it because I didn’t want to. I didn’t even know if it was meant seriously anyway.
You Never Used To Cry
Jackie started to cry after Jon kissed her goodbye. She loved him. I did the same thing to Jon Farriss that I had done to Andrew and Timmy. I held out my hand and told him my name. “Hi, I’m Donna!” Jon and I shook hands. Then we left and drove back to New Jersey.
Don’t Change official video