Let me take you down, 'cause I am going to . . . . Wrigley Field!

For many years, there has been a rumor chasing around Chicago that Paul McCartney would come back to tour but only visit small, intimate halls or theaters. Today, he made good on that rumor and announced two dates when he will perform along the historic ivy of a baseball icon, Wrigley Field. Hopefully, someone won't buy the Cubs in the meantime and change the name of the park before the concert. But I digress.

Paul has visited Chicago with three different groups - The Beatles in 1964, 1965 and 1966; with Wings in in 1976 and with a never ending collection of musicians during his solo efforts in 1989 and 1993. After his wife Linda passed in 1998, there were thoughts that he would never tour again - how could he without Linda? In 2002, he returned to the stage with his Driving USA tour and followed it up in 2005 with the Back in the US tour. He made several appearances in other cities in the late 2000's but Chicago was not a tack on the map for a stop.

When did I first see a Beatle perform live?? Well, not in the 1960's. Preschoolers normally didn't attend rock concerts in that day nor would my Dad spend the $5 for my ticket - that I am sure. In 1976, I was interested in all the news coverage of Paul's Wings Over America tour, stayed up late to see appearances on the Tomorrow show and the Midnight Special, but still too young to attend anything like a rock concert in my parent's eyes. In 1989,as a newly married twentysomething, I wanted and had planned to go, but with my due date for my first child was only weeks away and seemed a bit silly to be bumping into folks unintendedly while dancing in the aisle. Didn't think that would be too lady like a move on my part. By the time 1993 came around, with two children under the age of 4 and mounting bills, responsible parenthood made me give up the idea of ever seeing a Beatle perform live. I was turning 30 that year, and something about turning that age made me think that perhaps, my concert going days were now behind me.

In spring 2002, everything changed with one email.

I was by then a successful mom of two pre-teen girls, a girl scout leader, church and school volunteer and part-time employee. The news of Paul's return to America with new music and new band was more than I could bear. When I heard that Chicago was a stop, my heart sank at every news report about ticket sales. One morning, as I listened to the radio, I couldn't take it any more. Spike O'Dell, Chicago's number one radio personality in the morning and like-minded Beatles fan was sharing on the air about how he had tickets - how his whole family had tickets and how they were just so excited about going to see the show. His enthusiasm and his glee over having those tickets made me just about throw my radio out the window until a thought occurred to me. I was going to send him a sort of "Beatles" cease and desist notice - from one fan to the other.

On that fateful Tuesday morning, just two days before the first Paul McCartney concert performance, I had enough of Spike's joy and excitement that could not be contained. I sent an email, polite in wording but stern in message. "Spike, you must stop sharing with your audience your happiness about having the Paul McCartney tickets. I am a girl scout leader and mom of two so my chances of ever seeing Paul in concert are zero and quite frankly, I just can't take hearing about it any longer!" I stepped away from my computer to take the girls to school, satisfied that if anything, my plea was sitting somewhere out there in the vast internet universe.

A few hours later, I returned to my desk and opened my email to see if there were any new messages. There was a reply message from Spike. "I have got two tickets, do you want to go? You will have to pay for them, but you can have them. If you want them, give me your number and we can talk!"

What???

It was a Tuesday morning and the concert was in two days, on Thursday.

After a few more back and forth emails, Spike arranged for me to go to the radio station on Thursday morning to pick up the tickets. I nearly emptied my saving account and took the train to Chicago to meet him at the WGN studios. A time was set to meet at about 8:30 am, during the news break while Spike was off air. I signed in at the security desk in the Wrigley building and was escorted by a staff member through the offices of WGN to Studio B, the non-Michigan Avenue facing studio. When I turned a corner near the engineering studio, there was Spike, full of life and excitement with the two tickets in hand. I paid him the face dollar of the tickets and started to cry. He gave me a big hug and said that I could come into the studio for the next segment to see how the show was pulled together. So for nearly 10 minutes, I sat in the corner, next to Sports Direct Dave Enett as they broadcasted from Michigan Avenue on WGN. The tickets were in my hand and I looked down on the floor while the "on-air" light was on for fear I may cough or sneeze and that it might be heard on the air. I was thrilled with the invitation to join them both to see them work, which didn't seem like a lot of work since they laughed their heads off the whole time!

After Spike's show ended and before I left the studio, I gave Spike a present for being so kind to me. I knew of his Beatles collection in the basement of his house and thought I could add something he might not have had. I had 10 Beatle harmonica cases, produced with a harmonica and book as a Beatles collectible in the 1960's. They came originally from my Dad's warehouse, when he worked for Hohner, the famous harmonica manufacturer in the 1970's. I decided to give Spike one of those collectible cases. He thanked me for the gift, told me it was a pleasure to meet me and said "so now I will see you again at the concert!" He challenged me with one last question. "Can I talk about going to the show now on the air?" he quipped. Yeah, I thought that was okay.

On a Thursday night in April, 2002, I got to see a Paul McCartney Concert, my first Beatles live performance. The show started with the song "Hello, Goodbye" and that's when I started to shake and started to cry. It made me think of me back in the day, sitting alone in my bedroom with a record player, listening to Hello Goodbye for probably a hundred times while pouring over the front and backs of the record cover. Now, this suburban mom of two was hearing the songwriter himself sing the song to 25,000 people at Chicago's, United Center. I quickly took out the bank withdrawal slip that I got when I took my savings out to pay for the tickets to jot down the set list as the concert progressed. I wanted to properly remember it all after the concert ended.

In 2002, at the age of 39, I started going to Rock Concerts. I saw Paul twice that year in Chicago - once with the tickets Spike had given me and then later on in the fall when the tour came back and made a return visit. In 2005, I saw Paul's Back in the US show at the United Center, surrounded by Beatles friends dotted all over the stadium. My first Ringo Starr live concert was also close to home at the Rosemont Theater in 2006 with his All Starr tour stop. I ran into all sorts of Beatles friends at that show and made some new ones as well. In 2009, I got to see Ringo and Paul perform on the same stage for the first time in 40 years at the David Lynch Foundation fundraising concert not in Chicago, but in New York City. At that show, my seat ended up right next to The Fest for Beatles Fan organizers, Mark & Carol Lapidos. To the left of me was a lovely couple, in their early 60's from Virginia, life long Beatles fans. We chatted before the show started about our mutual good taste in music. When the concert started, they held hands and never let go.

Now the big announcement has come and it is time for me to see another Beatle perform his music live and on stage. Wrigley Field seems a nice enough venue and I hope I get a good seat. Won't matter where I end up tho, I will be dancing in the aisle, making new friends and visiting with old Beatles pals and having the time of my life at age 48.