The year was 1998.
Bob Dylan had been confirmed as the first act to be held at the WIN Entertainment Centre.
Employees at the venue were frantically preparing for his arrival when the WEC’s former general manager Stuart Barnes received a strange phone call.
“We had so much to do and so many ends to tie up,” Barnes said.
We had so much to do and so many ends to tie up. Then (the promoter) tells me Bob wants a chair.
- Former WIN Entertainment Centre general manager Stuart Barnes
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 at the WEC
Barnes asked around and found a chair that fit the bill at nearby department store, Waters.
The store said Barnes and Dylan could borrow the chair for the night. It proved to be a wise business decision as the chair was eventually sold to an avid Dylan fan from Kiama for double the original price.
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 this morning, 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 on Monday, May 21.
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 that received mix reviews.
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.