1985-09-19 Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, Oakland, CA

Andy Schuon

I was working in Reno as a rock radio DJ and brought a whole busload of contest winners to that show. As we approached Donner Summit headed toward Oakland, I reached into my pocket to look at the tickets. I could not believe my eyes. The tickets, for 50 winners, were for the show last night on the 18th. In a panic, but not letting the winners know, I asked the bus driver to stop and the next exit so I could get to a payphone and call my boss. The show was sold out. I was told to just go to the Oakland Coliseum and ask for our rep from Columbia Records. The plan was, if I could not get in to the show with my winners, I was to take them to Fisherman's Wharf for a nice dinner which meant I would surely be beaten by a mob of angry drunken winners if this did not work out. We got to the parking lot of the Coliseum, I still had not told the winners there was a problem. I told them to remain in the bus. I went to look for the guy from Columbia Records. I found him! He said Bruce heard about the problem and laughed. He had an allotment of tickets for friends and family and he gave them all to us. We ended up having better seats, sat next to Robin Williams, and Bruce gave us a shout out from the stage.