I'd run across Reevesy and family at Whitsunday Coast en route to the show and mentioned the possibility of a beer or two before the show, but these things are invariably hit and miss unless you've made definite arrangements regarding places and times.
There were queues forming all over the place, which I'd initially thought were people after prime positions in the General Admission standing area, and I was standing off to the side of the one for Door 11 when I noted someone who looked strangely familiar.
It's a good thirty years since a chubby Townsville teenager named John Watson was working in Gary Hunn's record shop (Wavelength), and I'd noted his involvement in a rather classy band called The Spliffs who'd moved to Sydney for a shot at the big time around 1986. Having ended up in major label A&R he'd run across this trio from Newcastle, gone on to manage them and turned into a successful independent music entrepreneur.
In any case, given the assumption that the queue just over there would be making their way into the GA when the doors opened, which should be, I thought, any time now, it made sense to hang around until they'd gone in before claiming my own seat, so it was highly likely there'd be a break in the conversation this bloke was involved with that might allow verification of suspected identity.
My question about blokes who'd worked in record shops in Townsville produced a that'd be me and a subsequent discussion about things in general and recent Neil Young shows in particular. His mate commented that Neil had apparently played Cortez the Killer in Melbourne the night, and my observation that he'd also played Barstool Blues and Dangerbird produced a Bastard!
That confirmed significant players in the industry can be just as fan obsessive as the rest of us.
Oh, and significant players in the industry aren't above GA tickets...
The concert itself, as noted here, was later than anticipated in kicking off, and the E. Streeters took a bit of time before they really hit their straps, but it turned out to be a great show. Once it was over, knowing the drill, I hotfooted it to Boondall station, managed a seat on the first train and was back at Central around midnight, a substantially tired but definitely happy camper.