The ’70s: Teen Made His Own Backstage Passes and They Worked

WCSX listener, Mike Young, has a lot of stories from the late ’70s and early 80’s when he was going to an insane amount of concerts. He wondered how he could get more access… backstage passes, of course! Here’s Mike’s Story in his own words. buckle up because Mike’s life reads like a Cameron Crowe movie.

The thing that every concertgoer envies is seeing someone with a backstage pass. In the ’70s, many passes were cloth or vinyl stickers you wore on your clothes. I did not know anyone in the music/radio business, so I asked myself, “How do I get a backstage pass?”

Being a high school kid, the answer to my question was obvious: I’ll make my own. I had seen many passes at shows! I started taking pictures of these passes to find out what kind of info was needed. Then it was off to the photo booth in the mall. (Remember the photo booth?)I needed a headshot. Then I bought stick-on letters, sheets of laminate, and I was ready to make my backstage passes.

I knew what backstage passes should say. With a picture attached, they looked ” official” enough. At the time, I thought they looked totally official; I was just a high school kid. My girlfriend, Tami, and I would dress up to the nines and sell as if we belonged. Tami would help distract the guards with a little flirtation. Dressed in my white shirt, tie, vest, and signature fedora, we would sell it.

We belonged backstage. If we believed, they believed. Most of the time, we had purchased nosebleed seats, but with the fake pass and all dressed up, we got to the main floor. But there were some definite standout moments.

Our two best adventures were when we got backstage and right outside the dressing room of the J. Geils Band. The guard at the side of the stage grabbed my pass and gave it a close look. (it was held on with a taped-on safety pin lol) He looked at me, looked at the pass, looked at Tami, my girlfriend, said ok, and stepped aside.

The other time it worked incredibly well was at the Silverdome. We used to get a bite to eat in the main event restaurant at the dome, and one day I realized there were stairs in the restaurant that led to some doors that put you at the very top of the last row in the dome. When ELO was in town, I tested the security, and with a pass on my vest and camera in hand, the guy opened the door. I was in. I chatted for a minute, then said I’ll be back. I went back into the restaurant, told my group I’ll see you guys inside, and went back up and got in without having my ticket torn. It was fun, and I realize now that security back then was not really that secure.