The World's Greatest Littering Party

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On September 17th, 1982, a group of us made the 75-mile drive from Colorado Springs to Denver to see Rush at the old McNichols Sports Arena. The band was touring in support of their Signals album, and the show had sold out quickly. The late Rory Gallagher opened the concert with his stellar guitar play, and his set was well-received. And then we waited. And waited. And waited some more. We waited about two hours or so, while technicians worked on some of Rush's high-tech equipment. As we grew more restless, the first four rows started a paper fight. Someone from whichever local radio station that was hosting the show was inspired enough to instruct all 17,000 of us (or so) to grab as much paper and cardboard trash as we could, and on the count of three, we were all to throw it into the air. The goal was to set the world record for biggest littering party. On three, we all sent everything we had airborne. It lasted only a few seconds, but seeing all of that flying trash was really cool. I have no idea if we set a record, but a neat photo of it did make the morning paper. Eventually, Rush made it onstage, Geddy Lee apologized, and they played a great show. Still, all these decades later, whenever I think about that particular concert, it's the thousands of us throwing paper in the air that I remember first.