DATE: Sunday, October 5, 1997               TAG: 9710050083

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B3   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY CRAIG SHAPIRO, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   63 lines

MUSIC - BUT LITTLE ELSE - RETURNS TO FOREMAN FIELD

What a difference 23 years make. The last concert at Old Dominion University's Foreman Field brought fans out early.

Hundreds spent the night in sleeping bags on the neat front yards bordering Bluestone Avenue. Others, like ODU sophomore Karen Scherberger, were in line by 3 a.m. to see Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young play that afternoon.

Saturday's Foreman Field Fall Music Festival also brought fans out early - maybe 30 minutes before the gates opened at noon.

Scherberger was back on Bluestone, too. Her two-way radio crackling, the executive director of Festevents watched as dudes with green hair, chicks with pierced noses, and moms and dads with little kids filed in to see the R&B trio SWV and alt-rockers the Foo Fighters.

``I can probably walk out to the field and show you where I sat,'' she said.

More than 30,000 fans packed Foreman in 1974. It was hot and humid - August in Norfolk. The temperature wasn't the only difference Saturday. Performers played on separate stages at separate times to audiences that paid separate admissions. Capacity for each show was roughly 7,000.

Scherberger said she had to learn what moshing and stage-diving were before she had signs made forbidding both. ``One of the big differences for me is this radio I'm carrying around now.

``There were 100 policemen at Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young,'' she said. ``We have 15 out here today. That says a lot about how well the crowds behave.''

Terry Howard's husband was on the festival security staff. Not exactly an SWV or Foo Fighters fan, the Virginia Beach mom decided nonetheless to make it a family affair. Son Timothy and stepdaughter Jennifer provided the expertise.

``I'm not in touch,'' Howard said. ``I hadn't heard of either one until they told me. But we found some good parking.''

Many of the early arrivals milled around a vendors' area set up outside Foreman Field.

One radio station held Twister contests; neo-hippies played congas and bongos. The American Massage Therapy Association showed folks how to relax.

The Student Senate, the Young Democrats of Old Dominion University and the Old Dominion College Republicans (``the best party on campus'') held a voter-registration drive.

``In the last election, only 20 percent of the 18- to 25-year-olds voted,'' said freshman Will Giandoni, a member of the Senate. ``That 80 percent could really change an election.''

``Everyone says their vote doesn't count,'' added senior Amy Hopkins, chairman of the College Republicans. ``If everyone got out, Washington would have to listen. We need to be heard.''

Liz Kakara, Kim Russell and Jen Dalberg came with an agenda: They drove 13 hours from Clearwater, Fla., to see 98 Degrees, the New Kids-like quartet that opened for SWV.

At the moment, Kakara was looking for directions to Blockbuster Music at Wards Corner, where 98 Degrees would be signing autographs after the show.

``Two days without sleep,'' Russell said.

Kakara laughed. ``I'm hoping they'll pay for the speeding ticket we got in South Carolina.'' ILLUSTRATION: CAPITOL RECORDS photo

Alt-rockers the Foo Fighters performed at the first concert at Old

Dominion University's Foreman Field since 1974. Also performing at

the music festival on Saturday were the R&B trio SWV and 98 Degrees.

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