FOO F1TR fans determined to be among 150 at exclusive Niles concert

NILES

Heather Pazak was in line for tickets to Saturday’s Foo Fighters performance at Record Connection before the concert even was announced.

Pazak, of Pittsburgh, had her lawn chair in place in front of the record store in Pine Tree Place Shopping Center in McKinley Heights just

before 8 a.m. Wednesday. Joining her moments later were Amy and

Emily, also huge Foo Fighters fans who did not want their last names used because they had to play hooky from work to score the tickets.

The Foo Fighters will play a one-hour concert at noon Saturday in an empty storefront in the plaza, just a few doors down from Record Connection’s tiny shop. Only 150 people will be let in.

The band is led by Dave Grohl, who lived in Warren when he was a small child. After he moved with his mother to Maryland, Grohl visited his father in the city during summer vacations while growing up.

The Foo Fighters appearance is in conjunction with National Record Store Day, an event designed to promote independently owned record stores.

The first 150 fans who enter Record Connection when it opens today at 10 a.m. will get the tickets. Each person who wants a ticket must preorder the Foo Fighters’ upcoming vinyl record release “Songs from the Laundry Room,” which will cost $25. There will be no phone or Internet orders.

There is a limit of one ticket per customer, and each customer must provide a valid photo ID at reservation and at check-in. Tickets are nontransferable.

The Foo Fighters already were going to be in Northeast Ohio Saturday because the band is scheduled to perform at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony that night in Cleveland.

As of 1:30 p.m. Wednesday — just three and a half hours after the concert was announced on Record Connection’s Facebook page — there were seven people in line in front of the store with the goal of camping out overnight for tickets.

By 8 p.m., there were about 85 people camped out in the line that started at the record store door and continued down the sidewalk.

Pazak, the fan from Pittsburgh — her Pennsylvania license plate reads FOO F1TR, had bought herself a reclining lawn chair from Walgreen’s and a red fleece blanket too that looked like a Christmas leftover. But it was warm. The low temperature was predicted in the 40s.

She had had a strong inkling about the concert through fan research, and contacted her friends, Emily and Amy, who live in central Ohio and western Pennsylvania, respectively.

Read more about the event — and these hard-core fans — in Thursday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.