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I'm A
Real Riot Ronnie Dee
(c) Copyright 2026 by Ronnie Dee
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Some folks like to say that real life is funnier than the movies. I have to agree. There was one incident that I am proud to have had a hand in starting. It happened at a Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter concert back in the late seventies or early eighties. Back when Waylon and Willie were the hot tickets and everybody wore cowboy hats. Yeah, it was in the "Urban Cowboy" era.
The concert was at the Kentucky Fairgrounds, in Freedom Hall. Our friends Judy and Charlie accompanied Donna and me to the big show. We had fairly decent seats. They were on the main floor, seventeen rows from the stage, in the middle. Not bad seats at all.
Jessi came on and did her set and everything was humming along. Then Waylon came on and the audience's interest picked up. Waylon, of course, was one of the original "outlaws" of country music. There was him, along with Willie Nelson, Jerry Jeff Walker, Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson, and David Allan Coe. They were outlaws only in the sense that they were fighting for creative freedom from the Nashville establishment, not because they held up gas stations. Nonetheless, people loved them and flocked to their shows.
Other than Waylon, there were no other Highwaymen present on this particular night, but there was a rowdy group of fans up in rows two and three, where the giveaway ticket people sit. They were all in their cowboy hats and were obviously trying to draw attention to themselves, thus interfering with the actual performance. They were up and down, waving their hats and whooping and jumping around, jostling with each other and being loud.
There was one guy who was particularly annoying. They weren't that far in front of us, so when they started their little act, it was bothersome to those of us behind them.
At one point, the man sitting to my left started a little tete-a-tete for the next few minutes when he said, "Damn, that guy is really annoying."
I concurred.
A short time later, he said, "That guy needs to sit down and shut up."
Once again I concurred.
Other people around us were yelling at them to shut up, but they paid no heed. My new friend said, "Somebody ought to go down there and shut that guy up."
This time I became more vocal, and replied, "I know it. That guy is disturbing the whole show."
He comes back with, "For two cents I'd go down there and shut him up."
I egged him on by saying, "Well I've got the two cents in my pocket."
He smiled and then said, "Well, if he keeps it up, I am going down there."
I poured on more fuel: "I don't blame you. I can see why you're mad, Hell he ticks me off, too. He's ruining the whole show for everybody."
At one point, the perps continued cavorting and carrying on and my friend nudged me and said, "Excuse me buddy," and edged past me and went out to the aisle. Suddenly, I catch onto what is happening, and I watch him make his way down the aisle to the row the rowdies are in. I am staring wide-eyed at this guy as down the row he goes until he gets up to the object of his anger and punches him right in the face. The guy goes down and everybody within several rows seems to jump on top of them and starts throwing punches and chairs and pushing people over seats and instantly a huge brouhaha is raging and people are fighting and cussing and hollering and thrashing around and we have ringside seats.
After a few minutes, I am thinking, "Oh man, I think my guy is getting pummeled in the bottom of all this."
When, to my amazement, I look up I see who I think is him creeping up the aisle. When he gets to our row, he signals me to notify his female companion, so I get her attention and he motions for her to come out with him. So she shimmies down the row to where he is nervously waiting, and he grabs her hand and they beat a hasty retreat although the concert is barely halfway over.
The police came and restored order and took a few more people out and the concert continued, with hardly any interruption for most of the large crowd.
At that point, I was astounded and perplexed as to how my man got out of that melee seemingly unscathed, and escaped the whole thing. Why couldn't I have been that lucky a few years earlier? I guess I'll never know whether he and his girl found another seat or just decided to skip the rest of the concert.