I waited in line for so long for this!

As per a conversation that came up at work, what is the longest time you've ever waited on line for a show, book signing, in-store performance, sports tickets, getting your license at the DMV, whatever it is that you had to wait in line for.

Personally for me:

TMBG - "Gigantic" Documentary Shoot (Docushow) - Arrived at 10:30 AM and the show started around 8 PM. Turned out that the wait wasn't necessary as everyone got in and the rotated the crowd inside during the show.

Honorable Mention:

Dream Theater - BB King's - Arrived at 11:30 AM for 6 PM doors. Still wasn't in the front row.

Hrm... same show, I think. Except... I don't remember if I came with you or with Lawrence. So... I'm confused.

And then there's Fruvous at Irving Plaza... that was one of the days they were shooting for CBS sunday morning, though I hid from the camera because after waiting in the rain since noon I looked like a drowned rat.

Highlight being when Jian and Murray showed up around 3:30 and saw me sitting alone and soaked on the ground...
Jian (looking puzzled): Hey Gella.
me (smiling): Hey.
Murray (looking equally puzzled): Er... how're you?
me (still smiling): I'm fine, thanks.
Murray and Jian (still puzzled): Good. (they enter the venue. I continue to smile and munch on my matzah)

I came with you that day and ended up dropping off one of your Brooklyn friends along with you in two COMPLETELY different sections of Brooklyn that night. I must have driven about 2 hours in Brooklyn alone that night.

And I remember that IP show as well, I was 2nd on line at about 5 PM or so. My first Fru-show. * sigh *

let's see:

July 1986 - 7am for Monkees tickets - 10am the doors opened to get said tickets - 11:30am got said tickets no where near the stage. This is pre computers so they had whatever tickets in their possession. Had I gone to the local record store, I would've gotten better tickets. In this case I wound up with sunstroke

Those FCII shows outside of Lee's Palace for Moxy Freeze-Us. They could've let us in but chose to let us freeze.

Fruvous NYE in 1997 Niagara Falls, NY 5pm for a free concert no tickets doors opening at 8pm. It was freezing and my feet started to numb. I can't remember the temperature but I think it was in the single digits along with the wind chill factor next to the falls.

I remember those Con shows.. everyone thought I was nuts 'cause I was still up in Thunder Bay, so I was just wearing a sweater over a shirt - man those were long waits. (Of course I paid for it afterwards - looked like hell for 3 days and had no voice for a week!) Lee's Palace was bad for FCIII too as I recall.

All my really long waits have pretty much been for Fruvous or Nields - with the exception of last May. I waited for over 3 hours for a Leafs playoff ticket, and ended up in the platinums :) I'll probably never pay that price again (expensive!!), but *damn*.. 6 rows up from the ice, couldn't beat it :)

I'm not sure exactly how long it took but I waited online about six hours the day tickets went on sale for the Mets one year. This was during the mid eighties when they were a really hot ticket. I'd buy tickets for games throughout the season the first day back then. To make it for fun it was usually in the winter and it was cold and often wet.

When I was a kid it was fairly routine to wait four hours to see a movie at Radio City Music Hall. I did that to see Mary Poppins.

in a similar vein, i waited online all morning and bunked off several lessons waiting for dave-o's album to come out so i could get one of the signed copies. (and i did, btw. *grin*) :D

You could say that I waited from 4 PM to 8 PM for a Fruvous show in Cleveland once. I mis-calculated the actual driving time. This was even after going to Hooters for an early dinner.

arrived at 7:30am for 10am onsale for rush tix for titanic, the broadway musical. might not seem so bad if you don't consider that it was snowing. *BRRR*

also arrived at noon for 6pm doors at great woods/tweeter center barenaked ladies show...but dammit, i GOT front and center on the lawn---best lawn seats in the house, AND i got on the radio while waiting, AND i sweet talked one of the road managers while waiting, and it got me up on stage during the show! so all in all it was worth it. :)

some of my friends dragged me down to columbus to see rent. we camped outside the theatre to get rush tickets. yes, we sat in front of the theatre, on the fringes of downtown columbus -- from around midnight until the next morning. let me tell you, the people you see on the streets at 4 in the morning are significantly different than the people you see at 4 in the afternoon. ;)

Ooh! I slept on the sidewalk in downtown seattle a couple of times. People are so friendly there. I think I only had 4 or 5 people try to feel me up while I was asleep. I think the first time I was in line for a Green Day concert, and the other was when Rent was in Seattle.

I waited in line three hours to see "Bowling For Columbine"...the theatre wouldn't open their doors until 15 minutes before the movie, so we had to wait outside. and it was snowing, and about -15 degress outside, and I was grossly underdressed since I'd thought we'd be able to wait inside the theatre. brr. but it was a wise decision to come early, as practically everyone in Belleville came to see that movie...and it was only playing in 2 theatres for one night only at the indie movie place...so over half of the people who had waited didn't get in. And the wait was well worth it. amazing movie.

Then there was this summer when I came 5 hours early for a Bif Naked concert so I could get a spot somewhere reasonably close to the stage. It was warm outside and not snowing, and there was a lot of fun people to talk to, so I didn't really care. And the concert was great.

All day outside for Standing-Room-Only tickets to Patrick Stewart's one man "A Christmas Carol" on Broadway - the last performance of the last season he'd be performing it. I think we got there around 9AM. The show was at 8PM. I think we got our tix around 4, because I remember going to the Marriot Marquis Hotel to nap in the lobby.

It was amazing. The first few minutes, you couldn't think anything but "Captain Pickard" - but soon enough he became *every* character in the book, from Tiny Tim to the Christmas goose!

(And there's also Space Mountain...)

OOO!
I'm envious... I *so* wanted to see that.
The man is amazingly talented.

I guess the longest I've ever stood in line for anything was about 4 hours for the final Vancouver taping of the X-Files. It was at BC Place Stadium, and there were about 12,000 people there as "extras" in the chess scene. It was a gorgeous day, and people in line were really friendly. Everyone brought food and drink and there was a great party atmosphere, even though we were all sad to see the show leave town.
We got to practice running out in panic and screaming, which was fun. After the taping all the cast members came out to say goodbye to Vancouver, and Duchovney was booed. heh....
There were also 500 door prizes given out - including trips, VCRs and big screen TVs. I won nothing, as per usual. It was great fun though - and I've framed the ticket which says "Final Vancouver Episode." *sniff* So sad.

Lisa!!! Did you take any pictures?!

Alas....no I didn't. :-( I've got the ticket and a newspaper article about the whole thing, and that's it.

gah. :D i'd have killed to have been there, when i was 14 ;)