Gonvick High School Alumni reunite 38 years later to attend an Alice Cooper concert at Bemidji’s Sanford Center

My son, Jim Clemenson, and his former classmates thought it would be fun to re-live the memory of going to an Alice Cooper concert 38 years later so I donated the two tickets to them.. Jim ordered three additional tickets online.

Imagine five 17-year-old boys (Jim Clemenson, Dick Wittenberg, Randy Pederson, Rocky Eck, and Rick Eck) jumping into a car in Gonvick and driving 260 miles to St. Paul, staying in a hotel on their own, and driving back to Gonvick the following day. As part of a 17th birthday present for Jim Clemenson, that's what the five high school juniors from Gonvick did on April 28, 1978. They had tickets for the Alice Cooper concert and hotel reservations ordered by Jim's mother, Darlene Clemenson-Sawyer. It was the first rock concert that they had ever attended.

According to them, it was an unforgettable experience in 1978. Here is what they recall: "For that first show the five boys packed into a 2-door 1976 Pontiac Grand Prix and drove to the Twin Cities. While it was foggy and a moose in the road in Itasca State Park, the trip was relatively uneventful. Since it was their first concert, they didn't know what to expect. After checking into the Hotel Radisson in St. Paul, they went to the St. Paul Civic Center early to take in the atmosphere....such as black shirts, long hair, tatoos, and strange-smelling smokiness (they had no idea at the time that it was pot). Some concert goers offered to sell them things that they had never seen in Northern Minnesota. Once the floor show began, the boys were able to get right in front of the stage on the floor. Back then, the floor was general admission with no seating. The stage production was spectacular. Even though Alice Cooper had a "dark" reputation, the show was very theatrical. Many future musicians were inspired by him and tried to follow his successful lead in putting on great shows. As part of the act, there were spiders, dancing ghouls, large screen videos, the infamous guillotine, and his pet snake. For the encore "School's Out". Toward the end of the show, the crowd of over 15, 000 began to evacuate the building. BOOM. Someone had exploded a tear gas bomb, and the arena had to be evacuated. Trying to evacuate from a strange building, while you can't see or breathe, can be very scary. Once outside, the boys split up, collapsing on the ground , gasping to catch their breath. There were ambulances and police everywhere. The boys found each other and walked to their hotel only to be greeted by security who would not let them back in, even though they had keys. Turned out that you have to be 18 to rent a hotel room, but Mom Darlene had made the reservation and payment over the phone. Finally, they were allowed back into their room. The scrutiny was tight because Alice Cooper was actually staying in the same hotel. None of the boys were injured, but there were a dozen other concert goers hospitalized for the exposure to tear gas. The next day, the boys drove home without incident with a memory that will last a lifetime."

At the last minute, those same classmates thought it would be fun to re-live the memory. Four of the five were able to make it to the October 9th concert at Bemidji. They tried to get to meet Alice (didn't happen), but they were able to meet the lead guitar player, Ryan Roxie, to tell their story and get a picture.

It's pretty amazing that a group of friends can have a once-in-a-lifetime adventure as kids, and be able to re-live that same adventure 38 years later as adults.