CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARBULLETIN.COM
University of Hawaii at Manoa students and visitors gathered outside of Hale Wainani dormitory to try to get a glimpse of the Toyota 50th Anniversary concert yesterday evening. The private concert featuring Stevie Nicks and Aerosmith was held at the Les Murakami Baseball Stadium for 6,000 U.S. representatives of Toyota.
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Rockers show sweet devotion
Oahu resident Jack Schwartz and his wife went to Maui earlier this week hoping to see Aerosmith in concert, but the concert was canceled.
So Schwartz wasn't going to miss out when Aerosmith performed at a private concert for about 6,000 Toyota dealers and guests last night, even if he had to listen from the parking lot at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
"I had to see them tonight or I would have shot myself," Schwartz said while sitting on a rail on the Hale Wainani dorm parking lot overlooking Les Murakami Stadium at the lower campus.
Schwartz was among 50 or so die-hard fans listening to the band from the outskirts.
Toyota Motor Sales paid $500,000 to the UH Manoa athletic department to use the campus and spend thousands more for the band and to turn the baseball stadium into an exclusive concert venue complete with tents, stage, food and drink.
Stevie Nicks opened the show about 7 p.m., following a light rain. Aerosmith took the stage after 8 p.m. and played for about 90 minutes, said Dave Machell, who visited friends in the dorms to listen to the show.
CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARBULLETIN.COM
The Toyota logo illuminated the stage prior to private concert that featured Stevie Nicks and Aerosmith.
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"It was good," he said. "If we were inside it definitely would have been a good concert. We could hear the music, but the acoustics were all messed up. They had a good lineup. They closed with 'Walk This Way.'"
The entire lower campus was sealed off yesterday so there wouldn't be any party crashers.
Toyota even removed the speed bumps on the roads so convention attendees would have a smoother ride onto campus. Toyota will replace the speed bumps, school officials said.
Hale Wainani roommates Rachelle Ventura and Katrina Leano hung a banner supporting Aerosmith out their window, but had to take it down to avoid a fine.
The roommates said they invited friends to their dorm room with a view of the stadium below, and prepared cupcakes, lumpia and steak for the show.
Ventura said she was OK with the south field closing because the school was getting paid, and she hoped it would improve the student gym.
One student said she walked a 30-minute detour along Dole to University to shop, when normally it would have taken her 15 minutes to cut across the field. Still, Marina Ruiz said she didn't mind and said would watch the show from her dorm room.
Student Peyton Standefer said the school closures inconvenienced him on his weekend when he has time to go to the gym.
"It's kind of demeaning," he said, adding that if he wanted to watch the show, he'd have to watch it "like a gorilla" through the trees.
