A Story Idea Each Day for a Month — Day 18

This is the fourth year in a row I’ve run this series in April.

Today’s story: The Who Fans Redeem Tickets 33 Years After Canceled Concert:

More than 30 years after The Who was forced to cancel a show in Providence, R.I., fans of the British rockers [The Who] are being given a much-belated chance to see the music legends in action, the Associated Press reports.

The band had planned to play in Providence in 1979, but the city’s then-mayor Buddy Ciancicanceled the performance, pointing to a fatal stampede ahead of a Who concert in Ohio, which killed 11 people.

The band never made it to Providence in the decades since, but they will be making a stop at the city’s Dunkin Donuts Center in February, as the band wraps up its Quadrophenia tour.

Earlier this month, Dunkin Donuts Center general manager Lawrence Lepore announced the venue would honor tickets to the 1979 show. He assumed most fans turned in their tickets after the 1979 cancellation to receive a refund, but believed a few hardcore fans held onto them.

“Somewhere, someplace, someone’s got it stashed,” Lepore said. “The question is, are they willing to give that up? If they are, we’re willing to take it.”

Once or twice each year in this series, I post an idea that seems like a complete and total no-brainer. This is one of them. Take three Baby Boomers, lifelong friends who still have tickets from the canceled concert of a legendary rock band. Put them in a compressed time frame, one night to recapture their youth. Mix in a healthy dose of simmering hostilities due to past grievances turning into conflict and ultimately stupid acts of aggression. Add multiple surprising complications and reversals. All laced with pot, booze, pills, sex, rock and roll. What’s not to love?

It’s Old School meets Woodstock.

What would you do with this story conceit?

Each day this month, I invite you to join me in comments to do some brainstorming. Gender bend, genre bend, what if. Take each day’s story idea and see what it can become when we play around with it. These are all valuable skills for a writer to develop.

See you in comments. And come back tomorrow for another Story Idea Each Day For A Month.

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