The Meadowlands Sports Complex enters the diary as a concert destination reached by limousine from New York, and as a place where the show extended beyond the stage into backstage encounters and close observation of its performers.

The Concert Visit

On August 14, 1982, the driver admitted he was not sure how to get to New Jersey but would try. The party picked up Christopher and Peter and continued to the Meadowlands to see Blondie. Duran Duran and David Johansen were also on the bill, appearing before the headlining group. The diary records the trip as a specific outing rather than describing the complex itself or identifying a particular arena within it.

Beyond the Stage

The group watched from a concessionaire’s box. Warhol photographed three generations of the concessionaire’s family—the mother, wife, and child—and noted the expensive hot dogs and unusually thick milk shakes. Afterward, they went back to see Debbie Harry; she sent them away because she wanted to get dressed in Stephen Sprouse clothes. Chris Stein, whom Warhol observed there, had lost thirty pounds and had been ill.

Marianne Faithfull also appeared and read a poem she had written. When someone discouraged drug use, she said she was using cocaine; Warhol nevertheless described her as intelligent, composed, and alert, contrasting this encounter with her recent visit to the office. The Meadowlands episode thus registers not only a concert but the shifting public and private performances around it.