The year was 1998.
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Employees at the WIN Entertainment Centre were running around frantically ahead of the venue’s first gig – legendary singer, Bob Dylan.
“We had so much to do and so many ends to tie up,” former WEC general manager Stuart Barnes said.
But it wasn’t just any chair.
The folk singer wanted a green recliner that he could relax on – albeit for about 30 seconds – before he went on stage.
Barnes asked local department store, Waters, if he could borrow the chair which the store eventually sold for double the price to an avid Dylan fan from Kiama.
Barnes, who retired as the WEC’s general manager in 2016, said it was still the oddest request he’d received from an artist who had played at the venue.
“Especially because it had to be green,” he said.
“But it (agreeing to strange requests) is what you do in this business.”
At 9am on Wednesday, May 23, tickets will go on sale to the general public for what will be the singer's third and likely final show at the venue.
Pre-sale tickets went on sale for 24 hours at 9am yesterday.
Barnes said it was a major coup to bring Dylan out to Wollongong in 1998 and it took a while for Illawarra locals to believe the “music legend” would actually be travelling down Mount Ousley.
“I remember walking up the street and people saying ‘he’s not (coming) to Wollongong’,” he said.
With so much to do on opening night, Barnes only caught the encore of Dylan’s 1998 gig.
He said he would likely attempt to secure one of the tickets for the upcoming show.
And if he was lucky enough to purchase a ticket, he planned to witness the whole show – not just the ending.
