The doors at the United Center opened at 5:30 for us in the Meet & Greet VIP group, and they served us a very nice meal. We could hear Bette doing her warm-up before they let the crowd in at 6:30. We got 4th row center seats, which were great. After the show we went back to the same VIP room and lined up to meet Bette, who came into the room without delay. Unfortunately we didn’t get as much time with Bette as others here have reported, perhaps because the Meet & Greet group was twice as large as normal – 57 people. A man asked your name and introduced you to Bette. Unfortunately, he got my name wrong. He said “Bette, this is John.” Well, no. That threw me off a little bit. I corrected him, and showed Bette my ticket from The Rose premiere that I attended in 1979 and two photos I took. She recognized her date for that evening, actor Peter Riegert and commented how long ago it was. Then the photographer asked me to step to Bette’s right for the photo, we took the photo, and I wished her well and was on my way. Her handlers rushed people along, I thought – we got a minute at most – but then everyone wants MORE time with Bette Midler, right? She was lovely and it was a magical evening.
